Benefits of local atheist organizations/groups

[southernhybrid]

In addition to being a member of a Humanist group, I'm a member of a freethought society. I feel that at least in the US where religion has been increasingly encroaching into the public sector, it is important to organize with other nontheists. The benefits as I perceive them are as follows.

1. To create a community where people that identify as nontheists can offer each other emotional support and socialization.

2. To promote the image of nontheists in the larger community.

3. To organize for activist issues such as civil rights for gays, the separation of church/state, improving the science curriculum in the public school system etc.

4. To provide volunteer opportunities by atheists and to promote secular charities.

5. To provide educational opportunities to the members of the group, and facilitate intellectual discussion.

The organization that I am a member of is the AFS (atlantafreethought.org). This is a very energetic group that has experienced quite a bit of growth in the last year. We've had so much growth that we are currently having a fund raising drive to increase the size of our space. To me this suggests that despite the naysayers, nontheists can be motivated to organize and form groups just like other humans.

I would be interested in hearing from others who are members of similar groups and how they have impacted their lives. I feel that membership in my group has had a positive impact on the quality of my life and has helped me feel even more self confident as a nontheist living in a very Xian area of the country. Without this group, I would never have had the opportunity to meet many interesting people that identify as freethinkers irl.


Has anyone started a group on their own and if so how successful were you? I am an hour away from the AFS and have considered trying to organize a smaller group on my side of Atlanta metro. I have thought about starting by just getting people together to socialize on a regular basis. Establishing social bonds seems like a good way to motivate people toward the formation of a more formal group. I'd love to hear your opinions and your experiences with atheist groups. I'd also strongly encourage you to give your local freethought group a try if you have one available in your area. What do you have to lose?

[WNCAtheists]

SH,
It is refreshing to hear others taking up a cause that I've personally been working on for the past year.
Here's a link to the article that was published in The American Atheist Magazine on this topic:
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m0OBB/4_41/111268804/p1/article.jhtml

And further, a survey of existing organizations that I conducted in the last quarter of 2003 to gain information that could help local groups to form and continue to grow:
http://www.wncatheists.com/NBSurvey2003.htm

The first thing that you need to do if you're starting a local group, is to define the geographical area that you intend to cover.
Per the Survey, about 95% of active memberships will fall into a travel radius of 10-30 miles. This radius is smaller if you are in more metropolitan areas, and larger in rural areas. It is most logical to include the upper limit of 30 miles as your affective group radius. (I've noticed on a couple of group websites that this is now being taken into consideration).

The next thing that you need to consider is who the target audience is.
If you seek the largest membership, you have to consider what will attract those individuals to the group.
Per the survey, Social and Educational activities have a stronger correlation with group membership and active membership than do Activist functions.
In short Activism is NOT a significant attractor for local organizations.
This is NOT to say that Activism is unimportant, or to be totally avoided, BUT that when determining the "Primary Focus" of the group, Social and/or Educational activities should be central.

Next up is advertising and "recruiting" memberships.

Groups that don't advertise don't prosper.

The survey lists numerous forms of advertisement, with use of Print Media as at least appearing to be one of the BEST forms of advertising.
For my OWN part, I have found DIRECT solicitation via personal profiles on services such as YAHOO, and AOL to be a pretty good way to find local atheists/agnostics/freethinkers/humanists/etc. in the area. Tough not ALL do, many individuals either BOLDY state their non-belief, or HINT at it in their profiles. There are a few web-sites out there (including singles sites) where non-believers have listed themselves. I have listed several such sites at our group web-site:
http://www.wncatheists.com
(just click on "Find Others" in the toolbar to the left.)

You WILL very likely contact individuals who AREN'T interested in the group idea, even though they ARE non-believers. DON'T let this discourage you. There are MANY out there who WILL be interested. Particularly in "Bible Belt" country, the desire among non-believers to know that they are NOT alone appears to be strong.

Not ALL members who voice an interest, or join the group will be immediately ACTIVE in the group. This is a point on which more study is needed.
Gathering non-believers together has often been related to "herding cats". This is a very poor analogy, for it assumes that first we are "herding", or attempting to force individuals to go in one particular direction (this is often put forth by individuals or groups focused on Activism, and most non-believers are NOT activists).
My own response to the 'cat herders', is to try salmon. In other words, we have to provide the non-believers with activities, and groups that they ARE interested in.
Every non-believer out there is a HUMAN BEING. We humans have NEEDS, including social needs. We ARE a social species. Social activities, therefore are a good place to start. From there, find out from the members what THEY are interested in. MANY of us are interested in educational activities. INQUIRE within your group.
You may find more ideas.

When you've determined what sorts of activities your group will be involved in, how you will advertise, and other services that you may offer members, then you may need to consider the politics of the group. - What sorts of funds or other resources that you may need to help maintain the group (fees or donations). How those funds will be accounted for, allocated to activities, and determining those activities as well (You may need to consider tax exempt status if collecting fees or donations). AVOID dictatorship. Early on, you may be the one makeing most or ALL of the decisions, but where possible, seek input from members, and be willing to relinquish control to others.
If others are willing to take on responsibilities for the group, LET THEM. The more help you have, the easier it will be on you.

If you have ANY questions, contact other local groups in you area or around the country.

You can contact me at:
WNCAtheists@yahoo.com
or
Darrell@wncatheists.com

Darrell

[southernhybrid]

Thanks for your input Darrell. If some of us start a group south of ATL, we would have to keep the geography pretty large. I am thinking we may have to include at least four or five counties to make it worthwhile, and it attract members. There are times when I am convinced that my husband and I are the only freethinkers in our town of about 25,000. Many of the members of the ATL groups travel over 50 miles just to attend. ( myself included ) A group was started by the members in north Georgia about a year ago, and while it remains very small, the members seem to feel it's been a success.

I totally agree with your other points. Socialization with like minded people has been my primary reason for joining the ATL groups. We have however had several potential members leave as they have expressed a desire for activism. One of the two groups has a very activist focus while the other lacks that element. The group that is more activist also has many more socials and many more members so perhaps both of these elements are very important. I agree that the herding cats analogy is inappropriate. One of my favorite things about these groups is the rich diversity of our members. We have creative, intellectual, cultural, and personality differences among our members that make the group very attractive.

I'm going to give this more thought and see if I can get enough interest from the current members of the ATL groups that live on the southside. My plan is to start out simply having regular socials. I just need to start planning the first social and see where it leads.