I'm glad I went. They're a group of amiable, approachable people, they're all at least a little bit nerdy, and I felt welcomed among them as a fellow nontheist. I'll be going to more HCCO events for sure - next up is a "Bleed & Feed" at the local Red Cross Donation Center.
One of the humanists at the brunch was showing a printout of images of a very familiar design - billboards for the Freedom From Religion Foundation's "Out of the Closet" campaign, featuring the smiling faces of atheists from right here in Columbus! The billboards are going up around town this week; I'll be sure to look for them and cheer silently to myself when I see them. Atheists cease to be a scary bogeyman or a scorned fringe group when we stand up and make ourselves known as friends, family, neighbors, and colleagues among the religious majority.
It's obviously a little late to be selected as one of the few faces going on the billboards, but I did make my own mini-banner on the FFRF website:
It's obviously a little late to be selected as one of the few faces going on the billboards, but I did make my own mini-banner on the FFRF website:
I'm excited to see the atheist community gaining visibility in Columbus, and I'm excited to be involved with a group like the HCCO that unites the nonreligious to go out and do good.
