ATHEIST FOUNDATION
Frances E Loeber
(Investigator 60, 1998 May)
The information below is a revision of a pamphlet titled The Atheist Foundation of Australia Inc and is taken from the AFA web-site.
WHAT IS THE
ATHEIST FOUNDATION OF AUSTRALIA INC?
About us...
The Atheist foundation of Australia Inc is a group of concerned people who collect and distribute factual information, presenting a considered alternative to the religious doctrines of our culture.
The Foundation began in 1970, in South Australia. It is directly descended from a rich culture of free-thinking groups which have survived through the centuries in various forms appropriate to the times.
We consider that dependence on religion limits the growth of a human being both personally and socially and can inhibit their intellectual development. Members of the Foundation present secular views on topical issues, making these ideas more accessible to the public.
Topics such as religious indoctrination in State schools, uncritical religious bias in the media, and proper respect for the rights of non-believers are among our concerns.
The Foundation publishes a quarterly magazine and at least eight newsletters per year, holds regular monthly meetings, and holds at least two social gatherings each year.
Why have an organisation for atheists?
There are many people prepared to say "Yes, I'm an atheist". Then they will add: "But what’s the point of joining a group?"
The Atheist Foundation is a purposeful organization providing opportunities for members to express their views, compare ideas, and to act on issues of concern as an organized group.
Within the Foundation there is a diversity of opinion, and differences in our approach the issues which confront us. We also share some very important things in common – these are expressed in our statement of The Philosophy of the Foundation.
PHILOSOPHY OF THE ATHEIST FOUNDATION OF AUSTRALIA
Our Philosophy …
The Atheist Foundation of Australia recognises scientific method as the only rational means toward understanding reality. To question and critically examine all ideas, testing them in the light of facts, leads to the discovery of truth.
As there is no scientific evidence for supernatural phenomena, atheists reject belief in 'God', gods and other supernatural beings. The universe, the world in which we live, and the evolution of life, are entirely natural occurrences.
No personality or mind can exist without the process of living matter to sustain it. This life, here and now, is the only one we have. All that remains after a person dies is the memory of their life and deeds in the minds of those who live.
Atheists reject superstition and prejudice along with the irrational fears they cause. We recognise the complexity and interdependence of life on this planet. As rational and ethical beings we accept the challenge of making a creative and responsible contribution to life.
AIMS OF THE ATHEIST FOUNDATION OF AUSTRALIA
Our aims are …
To encourage and to provide a means of expression for informed free-thought on philosophical and social issues.
To safeguard the rights of all non-religious people.
To serve as a focal point for the fellowship of non-religious people.
To offer reliable information in place of superstition and to offer the methodology of reason in place of faith so as to enable people to take responsibility for the fullest development of their potential as human beings.
To propagate atheism.
Quotations …
We ought not to act on faith, for faith is assuming a certain belief without reference to its probability.
Richard Robinson
That the world is in bad shape is undeniable but there is not the faintest history to suppose that Christianity offers a way out.
Bertrand Russell
The appeal to faith solves nothing and explains nothing; it diverts attention from the crucial issue of truth.
George H Smith
Blasphemy is what an old mistake says to a new truth.
R G Ingersoll
Once a doctrine, however irrational, has gained power in a society, millions of people will believe in it rather than feel ostracised and isolated.
John Dewey
The Church believed that faith should dominate - Galileo believed that truth should persuade.
J Bronowski
The Christian resolution to find the world ugly and bad has made the world ugly and bad.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Religions are the children of ignorance and they do not long survive their mother.
Arthur Schopenhauer
The only happiness, the only fulfìllment, the only total living, is right here and right now.
Madalyn O'Hair
Religion is against women's rights and women's freedom. In all societies women are oppressed by all religions.
Taslima Nasreen
Faith is not a function of stupidity but a frequent cause of it.
Wendy Kaminer
Redemption through the Cross is worse than damnation, because of the terrible burden it imposes upon humanity, because of the effect it has on the human soul, fettering and paralyzing it with the weight of the burden exacted through the death of Christ.
Emma Goldman
For me religion is serious business – a farago of authoritarian nonsense, misogyny and humble pie, the eternal enemy of human happiness and freedom.
Katha Pollitt
Why do women remain second class citizens? Why is there a religion-fostered war against women's rights? Because the Bible is a handbook for the subjugation of women.
Annie Laurie Gaylor
The being cannot be termed rational or virtuous, who obeys any authority, but that of reason.
Mary Wollstonecraft
It is impossible to exaggerate the evil work theology has done in the world.
Lydia Maria Child
Ethical teaching is weakened if it is tied up with dogmas that will not bear examination.
Margaret Knight
Free thought has always been the best friend woman had.
Susan W Wixon
Of all human beings a woman should spurn the Bible first.
Helen H Gardener
There was a time when religion ruled the world. It is known as the Dark Ages.
Ruth Hurmence
We would be 1,500 years ahead if it hadn't been for the church dragging science back by its coat tails and burning our best minds at the stake.
Catherine Fahringer
People who believe in a divine creator, trying to live their lives in obedience to his supposed wishes and in expectation of a supposed eternal reward, are victims of the greatest confidence trick of all time.
Barbara Smoker
If Christianity turned the clock of general progress back a thousand years, it turned back the clock two thousand years for woman.
Margaret Sanger