Women of color remain the most consistently religious group in the nation.  At the same time, the majority of women of color live in highly segregated communities that cut across class lines.  For many African American and Latino women of all backgrounds, faith and religion are intimately woven into their daily lived experiences, community contexts, social and civic ties and sense of mental health and wellness.

As part of the national Day of Solidarity for Black Non-Believers on Sunday, February 22nd Black Skeptics Los Angeles will host a Women of Color Beyond Faith forum at CFI L.A. at 11:30.  The forum will focus on the cultural, social, political and personal issues that inform the choices some women of color have made to question/reject organized religion.  It will also highlight the challenge and promise of forging alternative secular spaces that are culturally responsive to the needs of WOC.  Some of the questions and issues that this forum will explore are:

• How do WOC navigate secularism/atheism/humanism in historically religious communities and families?
• How do WOC find and create safe spaces for secular lifestyles and belief systems (given the challenges of the above)?
• How are the experiences, world views and sociopolitical agendas of WOC secularists distinct from that of white secularists in general and white women secularists in particular?
• How does WOC secularism/humanism/atheism relate to social justice activism or belief?
• How are WOC secularists interrogating the “colorblind” ethos of mainstream atheism?

Moderated by Sikivu Hutchinson, the forum will feature BSLA member Toni A. Bell, Donna Perkins of the Unitarian Universalist Church, Sandra Boooker, host of the radio show American Vernacular, and Staci Goddard of the L.A. Women’s Atheist and Agnostic Group.