- North Texas Church of Freethought
-
North Texas Church of Freethought 
Type church Founded 1994, Dallas, Texas, U.S. Headquarters Dallas, Texas Key people Tim Gorski, MD, Pastoral Director Website www.churchoffreethought.org The North Texas Church of Freethought (NTCOF) was founded by Tim Gorski and Mike and Marilyn Sullivan in 1994 to serve the psychosocial needs of atheists, agnostics, and other non-religious people in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.[1][2] The first service was held at what was then the Wilson World hotel in Irving, Texas; currently they are held at the Sheraton Grand DFW Airport North in Irving, Texas. Sunday School classes are provided for children.[3]
It was joined in March 2000 by the Houston Church of Freethought. A Northern California Church of Freethought was founded in 1999, but has since disbanded.[4]
On May 18, 2006, the Texas State Comptroller's office granted tax-exempt status to the NTCOF as a result of actions taken by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, who had previously secured tax-exempt status for the Ethical Society of Austin.[5] This status had been previously denied to the NTCOF and other non-traditional churches because they did not profess "a belief in God, or gods, or a higher power."[6]
Because the NTCOF characterizes itself as a church, it has been the subject of mixed opinion by atheist groups; for example, an attempted donation to American Atheists was once rejected,[7] and Paul Kurtz, founder of the Council for Secular Humanism, discouraged the NTCOF founders when they approached him with their idea.[8] However, the Atheist Alliance International in 2000 published a press release defending the NTCOF against perceived media bias from a Dallas-area television news story.[9]
The NTCOF filed an amicus curiae brief in 2004 for Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow, supporting Michael Newdow's argument. Dr. Newdow has also founded a secular church, the First Atheist Church of True Science (FACTS).[10]
External links
- North Texas Church of Freethought
- Houston Church of Freethought
- DFW Coalition of Reason
- United Coalition of Reason
References
- ^ http://www.beliefnet.com/News/2000/07/Who-Said-You-Have-To-Believe-To-Attend-Church.aspx
- ^ http://www.acfnewsource.org/religion/atheist_church.html
- ^ http://www.lornacollier.com/Atheistparenting.html
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20091027034841/http://geocities.com/nccof/
- ^ http://www.au.org/site/News2?abbr=pr&page=NewsArticle&id=8239
- ^ http://www.religionnewsblog.com/7303/texas-official-says-unitarian-church-not-a-tax-exempt-religion
- ^ http://jscms.jrn.columbia.edu/cns/2008-04-15/horowitz-atheistchurches
- ^ http://nymag.com/news/features/46214/index1.html
- ^ http://www.atheistalliance.org/library/news_111900.php
- ^ http://www.evolvefish.com/newdow_bio.htm
Categories:- Freethought organizations
- Organizations based in Texas
- Organizations established in 1994
- Secularism in the United States
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