Margaret Downey

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Atheist Alliance International President Margaret Downey, at the Great American God-Out in Manhattan, November 15, 2007.
Atheist Alliance International President Margaret Downey, at the Great American God-Out in Manhattan, November 15, 2007.

Margaret Downey is an atheist activist who is the current President of Atheist Alliance International and the founder and former president of the Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia.[1][2] She also founded the Anti-Discrimination Support Network, which reports and helps deal with discrimination against atheists.[3][4]

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[edit] Early life

Downey grew up with a Puerto Rican mother and an Irish father.[1] When her father left, she adopted a family friend "Uncle Floyd" as a father-figure who encouraged Downey to think for herself. [1]

[edit] Activism

Downey has been active in a variety of causes including feminism and anti-smoking campaigns before becoming a public representative of atheism.[1]

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 since he was an atheist.[1][5] 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 that the Boy Scouts constituted a private organization and could thus choose their own membership criteria, thus preventing Downey from taking her case further.[1][5][6][7] Since then Downey has been a prominent public representative of atheism in the United States as well as representing atheists and other non-theists at United Nations conferences.[1][4][8] Her work has been incorporated into United Nations reports on religious discrimination.[9]

Downey is also affiliated with a variety of other organizations that promote atheism and the separation of church and state such as Freedom From Religion Foundation of which she is a board member and the American Humanist Association of which she is a past board member.[4]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Steven Wells. "Taking the Christ out of Christmas", Philadelphia Weekly, 2007-11-19. Retrieved on 2008-02-08. 
  2. ^ Walter F. Naedele. "Following own way, and mind", The Philadelphia Inquirer, 2008-01-27. Retrieved on 2008-02-08. 
  3. ^ Anti-Discrimination Support Network. Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia. Retrieved on 2008-02-08.
  4. ^ a b c Secular Celebrations Presents Margaret Downey. Secular Celebration. Retrieved on 2008-02-08.
  5. ^ a b Margaret Downey (11 1999). "Challenging the discriminatory practices of the Boy Scouts of America". The Humanist. 
  6. ^ "Secular Parenting in a Religious World: An Interview with Margaret Downey", Margaret Downey.com, 2007-11-19. Retrieved on 2007-02-08. 
  7. ^ "Supreme Court says Boy Scouts can bar gay troop leaders", CNN, 2000-6-28. Retrieved on 2008-02-08. 
  8. ^ Matt Purple. "Atheists Assail Bill Recognizing America's Religious History", Crosswalk.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-08. 
  9. ^ Margaret Downey. "Discrimination Against Atheists:The Facts". Free Inquiry magazine 24 (4). 

[edit] External links


Persondata
NAME Downey, Margaret
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION atheist activist
DATE OF BIRTH
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
Languages