Oklahoma Atheists

09/25/2021

AOK is tabling at 39th Street Pride this weekend! We'll be here all day today so come say hello! Or, check us out in the parade tomorrow. Happy Pride!

03/28/2021

The American Atheists annual convention is next weekend, folks, and sign-up is still available! This will be a virtual conference using the Hop-in platform, which is intuitive and easy to use. They will have all kinds of speakers and activities in which to engage, I'm excited about it! The cost to attend for the weekend is $25 (and includes a one-year membership to American Atheists, a $35 value), or $10 for students and those with limited incomes (no proof required). Check it out here!

American Atheists is proud to present one of the most diverse and compelling line-ups of speakers, activists, community leaders, academics, and artists you’ll see at any atheist events in America. As always, we’re committed to bringing brand new stories you’ve never heard to our stage!

02/09/2021

Please join us in congratulating our own AOK Board Member and Oklahoma State Director for American Atheists, Tim Ward! Tim won the 2020 State Director of the Year award from American Atheists for his tireless work in activism. Tim works 'round the clock to help correct separation of church and state violation that he sees and that are reported to him. He is also in constant contact with state legislators about problematic bills that are anti-science, anti-equal rights, and violate the church-state boundary. He supports AOK in its own activism events. He does all of this while working a full-time job, raising a family, and going to school. This man is a powerhouse! Tim, we are so grateful to you for all of your hard work. Thank you for doing what you do! (Tim is the second from left in the group picture, in the pink shirt, at a recent AOK activism event.)

11/01/2020

Volunteers finished up AOK's weekend of service today by cleaning up a lot of downed trees at Oliver and Friends Animal Sanctuary, and then worked at 3 more houses clearing limbs.

This weekend AOK members worked hard for 13 hours, had a total of 14 volunteers in 3 groups, and helped clean up 1 animal sanctuary and 10 community and AOK member homes!

AOK President Alex Newman said, "I am so proud to be a part of this fantastic community! I cannot thank our volunteers enough for all of their hard work, time, money, and sweat. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!"

10/31/2020

Oklahoma Atheists members & their friends spent today helping local community members clear downed trees from their yards! Twelve volunteers split into 2 teams and helped clear out trees at seven houses in seven hours.

AOK would like to say a huge THANK YOU to the volunteers who spent their day working to spread positive atheism and help our neighbors, friends, and families. This will be an exciting weekend of service, as tomorrow, AOK volunteers will be at Oliver and Friends Farm Rescue and Sanctuary, doing more of the same.

"We are just glad we can help," said AOK President Alex Newman. She continued, "We are a community, and we wanted to show that to both our members and our neighbors. Communities help each other when there is need, and our fantastic members showed up today and did just that. I am so humbled and grateful to be a part of this."

10/30/2020

AOK President Alex Newman and member Jared Hurley passed out free snacks and water to voters at the Oklahoma County Election Board! AOK was happy to provide a little relief to people waiting hours in line to make their voices heard, and spread positive atheism to our local community!

Also, it can't be said enough - how are you voting in this election? It's so important to make a plan and get it done!

10/07/2020

Hello, Friends!

What a year 2020 has been! Now, more than ever, keeping our government secular is paramount to preserving the freedoms promised to American citizens in the Constitution. Oklahoma Atheists is asking all who are eligible to vote to make sure your secular voice is heard by participating in all elections. As we move into the final days before the general presidential election, we’d like to remind everyone of the resources available to eligible voters.

First thing’s first - are you registered? Is that registration up to date with your current address and desired political affiliation? If not, you can register or update your voter registration here: https://www.ok.gov/elections/Voter_Info/Register_to_Vote/index.html! You have until the end of the day Friday, October 9th, 2020, to register or update your registration.

Absentee voting:

There is a lot of misinformation circulating about absentee voting these days. Election officials want to ensure that they can point voters to accurate sources for information about voting. Look for the hashtag . More information can be found here: https://www.ok.gov/elections/TrustedInfo2020.html

If you would like to vote absentee/send in a mail-in ballot for any reason, the deadline to request one for the upcoming presidential election is by 5 pm on October 27th, 2020. The ballots need to be returned to your county election board by 7 pm on the day of the election, November 3rd, 2020.

Governor Stitt has extended the State of Emergency order so that mail-in ballots no longer require a notary signature in order to be counted. You only need to include a copy of your state-issued ID or your current voter registration card.

You can request your absentee ballot at the Oklahoma Voter Portal here: https://okvoterportal.okelections.us/Home

In fact...you can do a ton of things at that Voter Portal! If you request a ballot and mail it in, you can even track it on that website and see when it is received and your vote is counted! The Voter Portal only needs your first and last name and your date of birth to find you.

Here are just a few other useful things you can do in the voter portal:

Verify Voter Registration Information
View Voting Districts
Find Polling Place Information
View Sample Ballots
View Your Voting History (dates you voted, not your actual votes)

You can also find contact and location information for your County Election Board.

This may be useful for many reasons, not the least of which is the opportunity to VOLUNTEER! Get involved, if you feel comfortable and motivated to do so! All county election boards have a great need for volunteers to help work polling places. If you are interested in volunteering to be a poll worker, you can find more information and a link to your county election board here: https://www.ok.gov/elections/Voter_Info/Poll_Worker_Opportunities/

There is still time to sign up for the presidential election in November. We have been advised that they will be taking precautions for poll workers in accordance with caution due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For more information, contact your county’s board directly; you can find their contact information at the link in the last paragraph.

The Oklahoma State Election Board has issued specific protocols for voting in person with the COVID-19 pandemic in effect. Information on these and mail-in ballots can be found here: https://www.ok.gov/elections/Voter_Info/Covid-19_and_2020_Elections.html.

Lastly, voting is just one way you can be involved in government on both a federal and local level. If you would like to contact your representatives on any of those levels, about any issue, you can find the names and contact information for all of them just by entering your home address here: https://www.commoncause.org/find-your-representative/?doing_wp_cron=1601791923.2628509998321533203125

In addition, if you have an opinion about the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s vacated seat on the United States Supreme Court, you should contact your U.S. State Senators’ offices to share that opinion. That link at Commoncause.org will provide you with their contact information. In Oklahoma, those senators are:

Sen. James Lankford
202-224-5754
Email link: https://www.lankford.senate.gov/contact/email

Sen. James M. Inhofe
202-224-4721
Email link: https://www.inhofe.senate.gov/contact

Visit the Oklahoma State Election Board website for more information!

Thank you for helping promote secular visibility and making your voice heard with your vote. Wishing you all happiness and health,

Alex Newman
President, Oklahoma Atheists

Here you can find your representatives, how to contact them, bills they’ve introduced, committees they serve on, and political contributions they’ve received. Enter your full address below to get started.

07/28/2020

"In 2016, Americans donated more than $120 billion to religious organizations...Because there is a lack of transparency, citizens, the government, and even congregants have no idea how this money was spent." Here is a hard-hitting and accurate take on the massive privilege enjoyed by churches under our current tax system by Oklahoma Atheists Board Member and American Atheists State Director, Tim Ward. Thank you, Tim!

JUL 27, 2020 - The Paycheck Protection Program offered by the Small Business Administration was intended to help small businesses in forgivable loans for payroll, benefits and taxes on compensation. With the urging of the Trump administration, churches and faith-based organizations were classified a...

07/01/2020

Taxpayer money going to religious private schools? This is horrendous.

Washington D.C.—Today, the church-state separation watchdog American Atheists condemned the Supreme Court’s Espinoza v. M***ana Department of Revenue ruling as an attack on the constitutional principle of religious freedom. The 5-4 decision severely limits the no-aid-for-religion clause in M***a...

06/30/2020

As we’ve continued to see a rise in the number of COVID-19 cases in Oklahoma and several restaurants have closed due to employees testing positive for the virus, AOK has determined that we will continue to hold off on most of our in-person events for the month of July. In our tentative re-openings last month, we determined that the Heathens Helping the Homeless gardening event allowed for easy and natural social distancing, so that is the one in-person event that we will hold in July. We will continue to limit the amount of members in that event and keep our 6 feet of social distance when we garden.

Otherwise, we will be hosting more virtual events in July after the success of last week’s virtual Happy Hour. Please keep an eye out on the Meetup page for more information.
We are prepared to continue to hold off on most in-person events in order to help preserve the safety of our members, their families, and the community at large. Please continue to follow CDC recommendations in washing your hands regularly, socially distancing, and wearing a mask in public places. We hope that all of our members will stay safe and healthy!

06/19/2020

Since last week, Oklahoma has seen a spike in the number of COVID-19 cases in our state. Oklahoma City mayor David Holt has noted that the spike in cases seems to be mostly among the 18-35 demographic, and has not resulted in a spike in hospitalization cases. He has recommended that we continue to engage in safe practices such as social distancing, wearing masks, and washing or sanitizing our hands regularly.

With this in mind, the AOK board has decided that we will resume cancelling in-person events for the rest of the month of June. We will have several online events, so please keep an eye on the Meetup for those. While we understand that things might not seem as severe currently, we do not want to contribute to any rise in cases if at all possible.

We hope to see you soon, first online and then eventually back in person! Everyone please stay safe and healthy!