Margaret Downey
Encyclopedia
Atheist Alliance International
Atheist Alliance International is a global network of atheist organisations around the world. AAI was founded in 1991.AAI's vision is "to transform society into one that understands and respects atheism; that supports and respects a worldview based on the values of reason, empiricism and...
and founder and president of the Freethought Society (formerly Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia). She also founded the Anti-Discrimination Support Network, which reports and helps deal with discrimination against atheists.
Early life
Downey grew up with a Puerto RicanPuerto Rican people
A Puerto Rican is a person who was born in Puerto Rico.Puerto Ricans born and raised in the continental United States are also sometimes referred to as Puerto Ricans, although they were not born in Puerto Rico...
mother and an Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
father. When her father left, she adopted a family friend "Uncle Floyd" as a father-figure who encouraged Downey into atheism.
Activism
Downey has been active in a variety of causes including feminismFeminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
and anti-smoking campaigns before becoming a public representative of atheism.
Her first major involvement as a publicly active atheist was when her son Matthew Schottmiller was not allowed to renew his membership in the Boy Scouts of America
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...
since he was raised in an atheist household. This led to Margaret Downey v. Boy Scouts of America, which did not go far in the courts before the United States Supreme Court's 2000 decision in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale
Boy Scouts of America v. Dale
Boy Scouts of America et al. v. Dale, , was a case of the Supreme Court of the United States overturning the New Jersey Supreme Court's application of the New Jersey public accommodations law, which had forced the Boy Scouts of America to readmit assistant Scoutmaster James Dale...
that the Boy Scouts constituted a private organization and could thus choose their own membership criteria, thus preventing Downey from taking her case further. Since then Downey has been a prominent public representative of atheism in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as well as representing atheists and other non-theists at United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
conferences. Her work has been incorporated into United Nations reports on religious discrimination.
Downey is also affiliated with a variety of other organizations that promote atheism and the separation of church and state
Separation of church and state
The concept of the separation of church and state refers to the distance in the relationship between organized religion and the nation state....
such as Freedom From Religion Foundation
Freedom From Religion Foundation
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is an American freethought organization based in Madison, Wisconsin. Its purposes, as stated in its bylaws, are to promote the separation of church and state and to educate the public on matters relating to atheism, agnosticism and nontheism. The FFRF publishes...
of which she is a board member and the American Humanist Association
American Humanist Association
The American Humanist Association is an educational organization in the United States that advances Humanism. "Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life that, without theism and other supernatural beliefs, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that...
of which she is a past board member. She is also well known for her fight to maintain a secular presence in the Free Speech Zone in Philadelphia by erecting a "Tree of Knowledge" each year, a large spruce tree decorated with the covers of well known books on atheist, scientific, or free-thought themes.
See also
- Boy Scouts of America membership controversiesBoy Scouts of America membership controversiesThe Boy Scouts of America , one of the largest private youth organizations in the United States, has policies which prohibit atheists and agnostics from membership in its Scouting program, and prohibit "avowed" homosexual people from leadership roles in its Scouting program as directly violating...
- Discrimination against atheistsDiscrimination against atheistsDiscrimination against atheists includes the persecution and discrimination faced by atheists and those labeled as atheists in the past and in the current era...
External links
- Freethought Society official website
- Downey taking part in the Blasphemy Challenge with Brian Sapient and Kelly O'Connor of the Rational Response SquadRational Response SquadThe Rational Response Squad, or RRS, is an atheist activist group that confronts what it considers to be irrational claims, most notably those made by theists, particularly Christians. The most visible member of RRS is co-founder Brian Sapient...
- Dogma Free America podcast interview with Margaret Downey