American Atheists is an anti-religious advocacy group that advocates for a complete separation of church and state and support for left-of-center social issues such as LGBT interests, removing government recognition of religion, and promoting comprehensive sex education. ^{1 2 3}

American Atheists was founded by the controversial Madalyn Murray O’Hair, called by Life magazine “The Most Hated Woman in America.” O’Hair rose to prominence in 1963 after successfully fighting in court to ban prayer and Bible reading for non-academic purposes from public schools. ^{4 5 6}

Madalyn Murray O’Hair

Madalyn Murray O’Hair founded American Atheists in 1963 following a campaign to end prayer and the reading of Bible verses in public schools. According to O’Hair, this campaign began when her 14-year-old son William J. Murray complained of being bullied by classmates and teachers for refusing to pray with the other students. Her suit, Murray vs. Curlett, would later be combined with Abington School District vs. Schempp, and would end in a U.S. Supreme Court decision banning prayer and Bible reading for non-academic purposes in public schools. ⁷

The suit publicly elevated O’Hair, and she founded American Atheists in 1963. She led the organization as its first president. Her son, Jon Gar Murray, eventually took control of the organization. During her tenure as president, O’Hair filed unsuccessful suits to remove the motto “In God We Trust” from American currency and to end the tax-exempt status of religious organizations. ⁸

O’Hair cultivated a reputation for being brash and foul-mouthed, and was featured on the cover of Life magazine with the caption “The Most Hated Woman in America.” She once famously stated “I love a good fight. I guess fighting God and God’s spokesmen is sort of the ultimate, isn’t it?”  ^{9 10}

O’Hair disappeared in 1995 under suspicion of having embezzled funds from American Atheists. According to employee David Travis, O’Hair was siphoning money from the nonprofit by liquidating assets and relocating them to overseas banks. Travis reportedly made this discovery after he opened a letter from New Zealand Guardian Trust revealing information about an account containing more than a million dollars. ¹¹

O’Hair’s son William Murray also claimed that his mother had diverted $10 million from American Atheists into offshore accounts, although this claim was disputed by former American Atheists president Ellen Johnson. ¹²

It was later discovered that O’Hair had been kidnapped, tortured, and murdered along with her son Jon Gar Murray and granddaughter Robin Murray O’Hair in 1995. The crimes were reportedly part of an extortion scheme led by former American Atheists office manager David R. Waters, who extracted over $600,000 from O’Hair’s bank account over the course of a month. O’Hair’s story was later the subject of a 2017 movie, titled The Most Hated Woman in America. ¹⁰

Activities

Atheist Monument

In June 2013, American Atheists unveiled a monument dedicated to atheism in front of a Bradford County, Florida courthouse. The first of its kind, the monument consisted of a bench which was inscribed with quotes from Madalyn Murray O’Hair, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin, and was erected as part of a settlement following American Atheists’ suit to remove the Ten Commandments from the courthouse property. American Atheists claimed this was the first ever atheist-sponsored monument erected on government property in the United States. ¹³

Godless Americans PAC

Godless Americans PAC was an initiative of American Atheists started in 2005 to support non-religious candidates. According to Open Secrets, the PAC donated roughly $1,000 to Democratic politicians and $0 to Republicans in the 2006 election. Its most active year was in 2008, when it donated $2,500 to then-U.S. Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) and $1,000 to U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY). ¹⁴ Donations from the group declined to $2,260 to Democratic candidates in 2010 and $250 to Democratic candidates in 2012. As of 2025, Godless Americans PAC has not been active since the 2012 election cycle. ¹⁵

American Atheists Legal Center

American Atheists’ litigation arm, American Atheists Legal Center (AALC), deals with reported claims of undue favoritism to religion. Its website also offers a portal through which users can report possible violations of religious neutrality by government entities. AALC partners with other atheist groups including American Humanist Association, Freedom from Religion Foundation, and Center for Inquiry to bring these cases. ¹⁶

The website also features a running list of cases in which AALC has prevailed, many of which involve preventing public prayer at graduations or during other civic events, ordering teachers or police officers not to pray with students, or preventing the erection of nativity scenes or crosses in public spaces. ¹⁷

Sex Education

American Atheists supports universal comprehensive sex education curricula and encourages its members to challenge school systems that do not provide its preferred style of sex education. It advises members to inspect schools’ sex education curricula to determine if the curricula are in line with its social-liberal views. American Atheists also encourages parents to attend school board meetings, run for board seats, and stage protests with their children if they attend schools without left-of-center sex education curricula. American Atheists recommends the Planned Parenthood or Advocates for Youth curricula, as well as MTV’s “It’s Your (Sex) Life” as resources for students¹⁸

American Atheists also provides a toolkit that lists recommended talking points and advice on dealing with the media and conducting interviews. It includes the assertion that abstinence until marriage is harmful to youth, and claims that 85 percent of parents and youth are in favor of comprehensive sex education.  ¹

Scholarships

American Atheists offers a series of scholarships for students from high school through graduate school. It offers two $1,000 O’Hair scholarships, and two scholarships of $500 each for atheist LGBT activism. Applicants need not be members of American Atheists to apply, but they are required to join the organization to accept the grants, with the first year of membership offered for free. ¹⁹

Opposition to Health Worker Conscience Rights Legislation

In March 2021, American Atheists opposed proposed healthcare worker conscience-protection legislation in Kentucky. American Atheists suggested that this legislation, and similar legislation proposed in Arkansas could allow a receptionist to refuse check-in for an overweight person for heart disease treatment, or allow researchers to refuse to publish results not in line with their religious beliefs. AALC claims “There is simply no evidence that health care workers are regularly forced to provide health services that violate their religious beliefs.”  ²⁰

Target Pride Displays

After Target Corporation announced that it would reduce pro-trans and LGBT pride merchandise sold at its stores following customer backlash, American Atheists joined with more than 200 other left-of-center organizations criticizing Target and calling for it to restore its pro-LGBT merchandise to its stores and champion “equity and inclusion.” Other groups that signed on to the anti-Target statement with American Atheists include Accountable for Equality, the Capital Pride Alliance, the Fairness Campaign, the Human Rights Campaign, the Interfaith Alliance, the National Education Association, the National Association of Social Workers, the National Center for Transgender Equality, Ultraviolet, and Women’s March.  ^{21 2}

United We Stand Summit

In 2025, American Atheists sponsored the “United We Stand Summit” in Johnson County Kansas that discussed ways that religious principles could be kept out of government. Other sponsors and partners of the summit included Mainstream Civic Engagement Foundation, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Southern Poverty Law Center. ^{22 23}

Controversies

In April 2018, American Atheists fired then-president David Silverman following allegations that Silverman had engaged in sexual and financial misconduct. Several women accused Silverman of non-consensual sexual contact at both the American Atheists convention and the Secular Student Alliance convention. Silverman denied the allegations of sexual misconduct. ²⁴

In 2023, an American Atheist board member, Andrew Torrez, resigned following accusations of sexual harassment. Torrez stated that his resignation was due to his lacking time to commit to American Atheists board duties and told Religion News Service that he was unaware of complaints being raised about his behavior at atheist conventions. ²⁵

In 2024, American Atheists went to court with the Freedom From Religion Foundation in a dispute over the will of Ronald Pelley. The original will was notarized by Pelley and did not include any disbursements to American Atheists. However, Pelley’s son, Robert, later produced a handwritten note allegedly by his father that reduced the amount given to the Freedom From Religion Foundation while adding American Atheists and Planned Parenthood to the list of beneficiaries of the Pelley Trust. The case was settled in 2025 with American Atheists receiving, in the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s words, “substantial additional payouts.” ^{26 27}

People

Nick Fish is the president of American Atheists, having previously worked as its program director and primary spokesperson. He is also the former program director of the Secular Coalition for America, and led call-center fundraising for the American Civil Liberties Union, Democratic National Committee (DNC), Amnesty International, and the LGBT activist group Human Rights Campaign. ²⁸

The vice president of programs for American Atheists is Debbie Goddard. Previously, she worked at the Department of Campus and Community Programs at the Center for Inquiry (CFI) and became the outreach director for CFI in 2012. ²⁹

Financials

According to tax filings, in 2022, American Atheists reported $1,069,540 in revenue, $1,650,229 in expenses, and $1,566,357 in assets. Of its expenses, the organization reported spending $1,123,097 to promote atheism through conventions, newsletters, and media. Of its income, American Atheists reported receiving $41,695 from membership dues and $870,563 from gifts, grants, and other contributions. ³⁰

1. “Medically Accurate Sex Education Talking Points.” American Atheists. Accessed November 29, 2021. https://www.atheists.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/20171114-Sex-Ed-Toolkit-Talking-Points.pdf
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3. “Fighting Abstinence-Only Sex Education.” American Atheists. Accessed November 29, 2021. https://www.atheists.org/issues/sex-ed/
4. Vile, John R. “Abington School District v. Schempp (1963).” MTSU.edu. Accessed November 29, 2021.  https://mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1/abington-school-district-v-schempp
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19. “Scholarships.” American Atheists. Undated. Accessed November 29, 2021. https://www.atheists.org/activism/scholarships/
20. “Stop State Lawmakers from Using Beliefs to Deny Healthcare.” American Atheists. March 4, 2021. Accessed November 29, 2021.  https://www.atheists.org/2021/03/state-bills-deny-healthcare/
21. Cavale, Siddharth. “Target removing some LGBTQ merchandise following customer backlash.” Reuters. May 24, 2023. Accessed August 7, 2025. https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/target-remove-some-lbgtq-merchandise-after-facing-customer-backlash-2023-05-23/.
22. Hicks, Dane. “How to Attack Christianity: Atheists Lead Horde of Leftists in Weekend Joco Workshop.” Kansas Informer, November 12, 2025. https://kaninfo.com/news/how-to-attack-christianity-atheists-lead-horde-of-leftists-in-weekend-joco-workshop/.
23. “United We Stand Summit Partners and Sponsors.” United We Stand. Accessed November 17, 2025. https://www.uws-summit.org/sponsors.
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25. “Smietana, Bob. “American Atheists board members exit, dogged by misconduct allegation.” Religion News Service. February 1, 2023. Accessed August 7, 2025. https://religionnews.com/2023/02/01/american-atheists-board-members-exit-dogged-by-misconduct-allegations/.
26. ^[1] Friendly Atheist. “Two influential atheist groups are in court battling over one man’s large donations.” Substack. June 28, 2024. Accessed August 7, 2025. https://www.friendlyatheist.com/p/two-influential-atheist-groups-are.
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