Clark Davis Adams (July 23, 1969 – May 21, 2007) was a prominent American

freethought Freethought (sometimes spelled free thought) is an unorthodox attitude or belief. A freethinker holds that beliefs should not be formed on the basis of authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma, and should instead be reached by other meth ...

leader and activist.

Early life

Adams was born in July 1969, in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

. As a child, he attended Catholic school, but became skeptical of the church's teachings at an early age. After reading material from American Atheists, he became, in his words, "a pretty hard core atheist" in

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ...

Career

While attending a "Freethought Blitz" weekend in the

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...

, area, he became friends with many influential atheists. The same year, he became active with the Alabama Freethought Association and the Atlanta Freethought Society. He served as the primary organizer of the annual celebration Lollapalooza of Freethought. He also became the moderator of the

newsgroup A Usenet newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system for messages posted from users in different locations using the Internet. They are not only discussion groups or conversations, but also a repository to publish articles, start ...

alt.atheism.moderated and organized three real-life meetings with participants of alt.atheism. For many years, Clark Adams was a member of the Internet Infidels board, serving as its public relations director for many years and then as president. He was also, in his words, a freethought "conference junkie", attending and often speaking at many events within the community of freethought. Clark Adams actively promoted the Secular Student Alliance and briefly sat on the Board of Directors for the group. He was also one of the founders of the Secular Coalition for America. In his hometown, he founded and was deeply involved with the Las Vegas Freethought Society, which he described as "a local group of fun godless heathens in Sin City." After Adams' suicide the organization made a Clark Adams memorial page. He was also for a time president of the Humanist Association of Las Vegas and Southern Nevada, a chapter of the

American Humanist Association The American Humanist Association (AHA) is a 501(c) organization, non-profit organization in the United States that advances secular humanism. The American Humanist Association was founded in 1941 and currently provides legal assistance to defe ...

. Shortly before his death, he became an AHA life member. Clark Adams is one of many American freethinkers listed in Warren Allen Smith's satirically titled book, ''Who's Who in Hell''.

Death

Adams had a track dedicated to him in comedian Doug Stanhope's album From Across The Street; Adams deliberately postponed his suicide so he could attend Stanhope's show.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Clark 1969 births 2007 deaths 20th-century atheists 21st-century atheists American atheism activists Freethought writers Writers from Louisville, Kentucky 2007 suicides