RationalMedia Foundation board of trustees and the lack of Black representation

Christianity is experiencing explosive growth in Africa. See: Religion and Africa

The RationalMedia Foundation's board of trustees does not have a single Black board member.

RationalWiki is a politically left leaning website that skews towards atheism/agnosticism in terms of its worldview.

The RationalWiki Foundation (RWF), rename to the RationalMedia Foundation (RMF) pending, owns and operates the RationalWiki.org website.

In 2021, RationalWiki did not have a single Black candidate running to be on the board of trustees for the RationalWiki/RationalMedia Foundation. To Conservapedians' knowledge, the RationalWiki Foundation has never had a Black editor on the RWF's board of trustees.

Black atheists and the token efforts to offer them leadership positions in atheist organizations

See also: Black atheism and Western atheism and race and Atheism and leadership and Atheist organizations

On October 9, 2014, the atheist Sikivu Hutchinson declared:

“

Despite frequent tokenistic calls for “diversity” within the “movement,” there are virtually no people of color in executive management positions in any of the major secular, atheist, or Humanist organizations —notable exceptions being Debbie Goddard of Center for Inquiry and Maggie Ardiente of American Humanist Association. People of color are constantly bombarded with claims of separatism, reverse discrimination, and “self-segregation” when they point to the absence of social justice, anti-racist community organizing, coalition-building, and visibility among secular organizations. After the Washington Post article, the vitriol and denialism among the “We are All Africans” white atheists was off the chain. This illustrates yet again that sticking a few of us on conference panels or secular boards is nothing but cheap appeasement.

”

Sikivu Hutchinson's criticism of RDF and Center for Inquiry merger

See also: Center for Inquiry

Sikivu Hutchinson speaking at the Center for Inquiry.

Atheist Sikivu Hutchinson wrote:

“

The recent merger of the secular organization Center for Inquiry (CFI) and the Richard Dawkins Foundation (RDF) has been dubbed atheism's supergroup moment. Acknowledging the two organizations' outsized presence in the atheist world, Religion News Service acidly declared it a "royal wedding". The partnership, which gives Richard Dawkins a seat on the CFI board, smacks of a vindication of Dawkins' toxic, reactionary brand of damn-all-them-culturally-backward-Western-values-hating- Muslims New Atheism. As one of the most prominent global secular organizations, CFI's all-white board looks right at home with RDF's lily white board and staff.

”

The secular humanist document Human Manifesto II, which was written in 1973 by Paul Kurtz and Edwin H. Wilson, decried racism and it declared: "The beginnings of police states, even in democratic societies, widespread government espionage, and other abuses of power by military, political, and industrial elites, and the continuance of unyielding racism, all present a different and difficult social outlook. In various societies, the demands of women and minority groups for equal rights effectively challenge our generation."

Richard Dawkins family fortune and Jamaican slavery

See also: Richard Dawkins' family fortune and the slave trade and Atheism and slavery and Atheism and forced labor

On February 20, 2012, the British newspaper the Daily Mail reported that Richard Dawkins' "family fortune came from the slave trade". On February 19, 2012, The Daily Telegraph reported that Dawkins is being called to make reparations for his family's past.

Atheist organizations: Focus on church-state/creationism issues - urban poor largely ignored

See also: Black atheism and Atheism and charity and Atheism and science

Sikivu Hutchinson

In June 2014, the black atheist Sikivu Hutchinson wrote in the Washington Post that atheist organizations generally focus on church/state separation and creationism issues and not the concerns the less affluent African-American population faces. Hutchinson also mentioned that church organizations do offer significant help to poor African-Americans.

Also, according to a video posted at Freethought Blogs storefront churches provide assistance to local residents including women, and this partly explains the dearth of Hispanic and African-American women atheists in America (Atheists give less to charity than Christians. See: Atheism and uncharitableness).

Kimberly Winston wrote in the Religion News Service article entitled Black atheists say their concerns have been overlooked for too long:

“

Organizers say social justice is a greater concern to atheists of color than the church-state separation issues the broader organized atheist community often focuses on. Why? Because social justice issues are more pressing in their communities. “There are people in our community that, while they may not believe in God, they are only going to sit down and listen to you talk about separation of church and state for so long,” said Kimberly Veal, a Chicago-based black atheist who helped organize the conference. “What is really on their mind is decent housing, feeding their children and affording school clothes.” “Atheism,” she continued, “is not enough.” It is often faith-based organizations that tackle social problems in communities of color, running food banks or day care centers or job training programs through churches.

”