Atheist group Freedom From Religion Foundation to meet in Seattle

When some 600 atheists, agnostics and other nonreligious folks gather in Seattle starting Friday for a Freedom From Religion Foundation convention, there will be an emphatically nonprayer breakfast.

Not to mention hundreds of provocative bus ads, including one with Santa saying: "Yes, Virginia ... there is no God."

The ads may seem in-your-face to some. But the Wisconsin-based organization has never shied from controversy. It has filed lawsuits on state-church separation issues and sponsored "Imagine No Religion" and "Reason's Greetings" billboards in Seattle, Olympia and other cities.

Last winter, it put up an anti-religion sign in the state Capitol building that raised a furor, eventually involving FOX News personality Bill O'Reilly and prompting thousands of phone calls to the governor's office.

All that publicity resulted in more members for the foundation, said co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor, who noted this 32nd annual convention, running through Sunday, filled up faster than any in the organization's history and is sold out.

But even as the visibility of the nonreligious has risen dramatically in the past several years, what's also becoming more visible is the debate within the community about whether such aggressive tactics and hard-line anti-religion stances are the most effective.

Some go so far as to say, in discussions or newly released books, that religion has its good points.

Greg Epstein, humanist chaplain at Harvard University, has written a new book, "Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe." It explores the lives of those who live with purpose and meaning without relying on religion.

But Epstein also acknowledges that "religion can provide humans with good things: congregation, community, an organized way to pursue that which is meaningful in life."

Phil Zuckerman, associate professor of sociology at Pitzer College in Claremont, Calif., said people are beginning to see that the nonreligious community is just as diverse as the religious community. Both the moderate and hard-line voices are "being more vocal and out," he says.

Zuckerman himself is involved in the debate. Self-described as a culturally Jewish agnostic, he's working on a book about why people leave their faiths. He's a member of the Freedom From Religion Foundation and will be speaking at the convention on "the Goodness of Godlessness." But he also thinks religion can serve some good.

And he's not a fan of an increasingly prevalent tactic used by some atheist groups to get their viewpoint across: bus ads and billboards.

Some among the nonreligious "find billboards are wonderful tools to change minds," Zuckerman said. "Others are ashamed of them," seeing them as "emulating what we don't like about popular religion" — the marketing.

Besides, he wonders about the wisdom of keeping the focus on religion.

"Most people who self-designate as atheist are still engaged in the religious debate," he says. "They still feel the need to argue about religion, debunk religion." But there are many more people who are simply indifferent to religion or identify as spiritual but not religious.

The debate over tactics played out recently among Seattle Atheists, a 200-member group that will, coincidentally, also be running bus ads starting this week. Their first Metro bus-ad campaign this spring focused on putting a positive face on atheism. But this time around, most members wanted a stronger, more strident message, said president Paul Case.

Hence their newer ads will feature such quotes as this from Thomas Jefferson: "Religions are all alike — founded upon fables and mythologies."

Gaylor says her foundation's members — about 14,000 nationwide, including some 900 in Washington — are for the strong stance taken by the group.

"Our members don't think religion is a good thing — overall it's more bad than good," she said. "And they feel they shouldn't be stifled in saying that. ... We need to be everywhere, just like religion, (or else) we let religion win by default."

Among the speakers at the convention will be radio-show host Ron Reagan and author Ursula K. Le Guin. The event will be at the Red Lion Hotel in downtown Seattle.

And that nonprayer breakfast?

First, the breakfast speaker will explain: "'You've all been to gatherings where you've been told to bow your heads and have a moment of silence. Well, here's your chance to fight back,'" Gaylor said.

Then there will be a "moment of bedlam," when members hoot, holler and tap on glasses, making as much noise as possible, she said. "People look forward to it."

Janet I. Tu: 206-464-2272 or jtu@seattletimes.com