Godless Group Forms in Hickory, NC

HICKORY, N.C. - Aug. 5, 2013 - PRLog -- Hickory, NC – Nonreligious residents in the Catawba county area have formed a new humanist group where they are finding support and taking part in social activities just for them. The Hickory Humanist Alliance (http://hickoryhumanist.org/) (HHA) is inviting humanists, agnostics, atheists, skeptics, and freethinkers to join them to engage in social interaction, local activism, and to meet like-minded people.

The Hickory Humanist Alliance is focused on not only giving nonbelievers a community to belong, but changing the negative perceptions toward those with no supernatural beliefs. A recent Gallup poll found the Morganton-Lenoir-Hickory area is the 10th most religious metropolitan area in the country, making it difficult for those without a religious belief to be properly understood.

The work of the Hickory Humanist Alliance includes educational outreach opportunities as well as support for humanist ideals that include the separation of government and religion, social justice, opposing bigotry, encouraging egalitarianism, educating the public about the importance of secular democracy, and critical thinking. The group plans to include activities such as sponsoring charitable events and strives to be a positive asset to the community.

The Hickory Humanist Alliance is a chapter of the Washington DC-based American Humanist Association, a nonprofit organization which advocates being “good without a god.” Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association, said, “Groups like the Hickory Humanist Alliance provide a welcoming place for humanists, atheists and anyone who is not affiliated with a religion or questioning their religious beliefs.”

For more information about the Hickory Humanist Alliance, visit www.hickoryhumanist.org.