Confessions of a Black Atheist

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(Usual Disclaimer - posted in the Atheists/Agnostics Group, a safe haven. Please check religious privilege at the door.)

Posting this because of the recent discussions about atheism being mostly a White Boys Club. The author is the founder of Black Nonbelievers Inc., Mandisa Thomas. Who is - WHOOPS! - a Black woman.

I'm a white guy myself, who recently re-located back to the Deep South after living many years in Los Angeles. When I wasn't living in various Islamic paradises in the Middle East.

This subject interests me because, if you've never lived in the South, I don't think you can understand just how pervasive religion is down here, in both the White and Black communities. Practically the entire social network is built around religion. To overstate only a little - if you don't go to church you're not going to have much of a social life. Ms. Thomas addresses that in her article:

Confessions of a black atheist

By Mandisa Thomas, special to CNN

(CNN)—I am atheist -- and I am black.

Yes, we exist -- even if many in the media sometimes don't notice us. In a CNN special that aired on Tuesday, for example, people of color were not as well-represented as American atheism's more familiar face: You know, white males.

In fact, African-American atheists represent a still small -- though growing -- segment of American atheists at large. Does this mean that blacks and other minorities generally just don't gravitate towards nonbelief, or are there other factors which keep us hidden?

There is a harsh truth to face here.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/28/living/black-atheist-confession/