Atheist Foundation of Australia

To encourage and to provide a means of expression for informed free-thought on philosophical and social issues.
To safeguard the rights of all non-religious people.
To serve as a focal point for the community of non-religious people.
To offer verifiable information in place of superstition and to promote logic and reason.
To promote atheism.

Our Philosophy

The Atheist Foundation of Australia recognises the scientific method as the only rational means toward understanding reality. To question and critically examine all ideas, testing them in the light of experiment, leads to the discovery of facts.

As there seems to be no scientific evidence for supernatural phenomena, atheists reject belief in ‘God’, gods, and other supernatural beings. The universe, the world in which we live, and the evolution of life seem to be entirely natural occurrences.

No personality or mind can exist without the process of living matter to sustain it. We have only one life – here and now. All that remains after a person dies is the memory of their life and deeds in the minds of those who remain.

Atheists reject superstition and prejudice along with the irrational fears they cause. We recognise the complexity and interdependence of life on this planet. As rational and ethical beings we accept the challenge of making a creative and responsible contribution to life.

See what we’ve been up to

The Atheist Foundation of Australia Committee would like to thank for your support. We also like to update you of two of our important and successful achievements in the last two years. In 2021, we took a leading role in association with six other free-thought...

Census No Religion

The current census data does not accurately reflect our country’s religious views.

This is due to a large number of Australians marking that they belong to a religion in the census when in fact they no longer really practise or hold those beliefs.

Census data is used by government and many other organisations to inform a wide range of important decisions like the amount of public funding religious organisations receive, to the voice and influence religion is given in public affairs and media.

The next Australian Census will be held on Tuesday 10th August 2021 and we need it to accurately reflect what Australians truly believe.

So, when you’re filling in the census and you come to the question on religion, this is your chance to think carefully and decide whether you still see yourself as religious.

If you don’t see yourself as religious anymore, this census, mark ‘No Religion’.

Visit the Campaign Web Site

Don't Divide Us

Stop the Morrison Government's Religious Privilege Bill

Everyone should be able to go about their lives free from discrimination.

But the Morrison Government is writing laws that would see people discriminate against their fellow Australians in ways that will affect all of us.

Australia is a great country and we need your help to stop these invasive laws and to keep Australia free from discrimination.

Visit the Campaign Web Site

Atheism is not a religion, mark “no religion”

As you know, the Australian Government is conducting a census of the population on the 10th August 2021. The census is an important snapshot of the country and informs government and businesses in their decision making. Census data is used to plan and deliver services...

Census21 No Religion Campaign Rejects Fake News and Fearmongering

The Census No Religion campaign is aware of a particularly hateful and misleading message circulating on social media, by email and SMS text message. The message suggests that non-religious people should incorrectly record that they are religious or face the...

Census No Religion Campaign

On the 10th of August, a census is being conducted to collect important data on the circumstances and attitudes of the Australian people. Your friends and family will be asked if they hold religious beliefs, and it’s an important...

Religious Discrimination Bill is resurrected

In a recent webinar with Family Voice Australia, Kevin Andrews (Liberal Party Back Bencher) indicated that "compromise had been reached" regarding the proposed Religious Discrimination Bill, and that it would be introduced into the Parliament "shortly". Mr. Andrews...

Religious Freedom Bill Submission

Religious Discrimination Bill – Second Exposure Draft Date: 19 January 2020 Submission type: Non-Profit – Atheist Foundation Of Australia and Sydney Atheists Email: [email protected] Confidentiality: For Public Release The Atheist Foundation of...

Submission to the Australian Bureau of Statistics – Review of 2021 Census Topics

The question on religion in the Australian Census contains an element which is problematical in obtaining accurate figures. The problem is that it asks “What is the person’s religion?” This is a leading question and can elicit a religion of baptism when the person may...

Submission to the Queensland Law Reform Commission Review of Termination of Pregnancy Laws

February 2018 In line with the recommendations of groups such as the Queensland Branch of the Australian Medical Association (AMAQ), Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG), the Queensland Nurses Union, the Health...

Non-believers now Australia's largest religious group: Time to listen to what we want

What is the role of the godless in Australia’s current social and political climate? What level of influence should the the non-religious have in Australia’s version of secularism? The Atheist Foundation of Australia (AFA) is calling for a national discussion on these...

Religious Freedom Review Panel Submission

Religious Freedom Review, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet Parliament House, Canberra. Submission: Copies to all members of the Review Panel and PMC Secretariat: To whom it may concern, The Australian Law Reform Commission interim report 127 has previously...

Politicians cannot hide from fact any more regarding voluntary assisted dying

The Atheist Foundation of Australia (AFA) supports the two Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) Bills before state Parliaments in NSW and Victoria. This is an important demonstration of evidence-based medical opinion and indisputable patient need triumphing over...

The Bible and Church have been the greatest stumbling block in the way of women’s emancipation.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

I don’t believe in God because I don’t believe in Mother Goose.

Clarence Darrow

“For those who believe in God, most of the big questions are answered. But for those of us who can’t readily accept the God formula, the big answers don’t remain stone-written. We adjust to new conditions and discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a command nor faith a dictum. I am my own god. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.”

Charles Bukowski

A man’s ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.

Albert Einstein

I am an atheist, out and out. It took me a long time to say it. I’ve been an atheist for years and years, but somehow I felt it was intellectually unrespectable to say that one is an atheist, because it assumed knowledge that one didn’t have. Somehow it was better to say one was a humanist or agnostic. I don’t have the evidence to prove that God doesn’t exist, but I so strongly suspect that he doesn’t that I don’t want to waste my time.

Isaac Asimov

I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world.

Richard Dawkins

Hast thou reason? I have.
Why then dost not thou use it?
For if this does its own work,
what else dost thou wish?

Marcus Aurelius

To assert that the earth revolves around the sun is as erroneous as to claim that Jesus was not born of a virgin.

Cardinal Robert Bellarmine

To sum up:
1. The cosmos is a gigantic flywheel making 10,000 revolutions a minute.
2. Man is a sick fly taking a dizzy ride on it.
3. Religion is the theory that the wheel was designed and set spinning to give him a ride.

H. L. Mencken

I condemn false prophets, I condemn the effort to take away the power of rational decision, to drain people of their free will – and a hell of a lot of money in the bargain. Religions vary in their degree of idiocy, but I reject them all. For most people, religion is nothing more than a substitute for a malfunctioning brain.

Gene Roddenberry