Among the Atheists
Playboy Africa|April 2022
A former minister immerses himself in the American Atheists convention, bearing witness to the nonbeliever movement as it rises from the ashes of 2016
By J.W. Holland
Among the Atheists

Touching down at Will Rogers airport in Oklahoma City, I request a ride; within minutes a young woman named Sandra pulls up to take me to my hotel. Contemporary Christian music plays quietly from her radio, a cross hangs from the rearview and a Bible peeks out from the door pocket at my feet. I recognize Sandra, though not personally. Sandra is me several years ago, back when I was on a mission to save a world doomed to hell by any means necessary. Planting seeds, we called it.

What she doesn’t know, and what I don’t bother to tell her, is that I was ordained as a minister in the Southern Baptist Convention. Sandra might have admired me back when I was attending dinner parties with Judge Roy Moore and riding on Herman Cain’s bus. Now she probably wouldn’t be a fan. About six years ago, after a long stretch of mounting self-hate and force-fed guilt, I became an atheist. Today, Sandra’s passenger is in town to attend the 2018 American Atheists National Convention.

I was raised to believe that Madalyn Murray O’Hair, founder of American Atheists and subject of the recent Netflix docudrama The Most Hated Woman in America, was a drug-addled, devil-worshipping sex maniac. So I honestly have no idea what to expect at this convention except maybe drug-addled, sexcrazed devil-worshipping. Just a few years ago I might have been in the street, protesting such an event, and now I’m a registered attendee.

What a time to be alive.

This story is from the April 2022 edition of Playboy Africa.

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This story is from the April 2022 edition of Playboy Africa.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.