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Given the expected weather for this weekend, out of an abundance of caution, ASK at Aubrey’s on January 27 is considered cancelled at this time. The weekly schedule will continue as planned and we will be at Barley’s Tuesday February 3rd.

Check back here for more updates.

Just some quick announcements / reminders:

-Next Tuesday, January 6, we are at Barleys and the alternating schedule continues.

-Next Wednesday, January 7, at 7 pm eastern time is the annual ASK board meeting, if you’d like an invite or have something you think should be discussed, please reach out. **if you would like to be a part of ASK leadership, we’d really like to hear from you**

-Next Thursday, January 8 restarts our Trivia Night meetup at Crafty Bastard West. Folks show up at 6:30-6:40, trivia starts at 7 pm.

We look forward to seeing you all in the new year.

Greetings,

We hope your holiday season is off to a great start and wanted to highlight some important future dates:

-Starting this Thursday, December 4, ASK is participating in trivia at Crafty Bastard West

-Saturday, December 20th is the Solstice Party

-Tuesday, December 23rd: Stay home, recover from the Solstic Party, or get together and Do Your Own Thing.  (Or not, but we need to skip a week to line up with the Smokies home game schedule)

-The annual public board meeting will be held online on Wednesday, January 7, 2026.  If you would like an invite, speak up.

-We are always looking for ideas, suggestions, and volunteers.  If you have anything to suggest or add, please bring it up in the group chat, Facebook group, or the annual meeting.

-ASK intends to sponsor Holleroo this year and enter a car in the soapbox derby.  See https://holleroo.co/soap-box-derby

Thanks & Happy Holidays,

Your Atheist Society of Knoxville

Katherine Stewart, author of Money, Lies and God will be speaking on this important book that exposes Christian Nationalism.

About Katherine:

Katherine Stewart has been covering the rise of the anti-democratic movement for over 16 years. Her latest book, Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy (Bloomsbury 2025), is an instant New York Times bestseller. Her previous book, The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism (Bloomsbury 2020), won First Place in the Nonfiction Books category from the Religion News Association, as well as a Morris B. Forkosch Best Book award. The Power Worshippers formed the basis of the documentary feature God & Country, produced by Rob Reiner and Michele Reiner; Stewart served as executive producer. Her 2012 book, The Good News Club: The Christian Right’s Stealth Assault on America’s Children, focused on the religious right’s efforts to undermine public education. Stewart’s writing appears in The New York Times op ed, New Republic, Religion News Service and others. Her substack is at katherinestewartbooks, and she is on Bluesky at katherinestewart.bsky.social.

Her books will be available for sale at the presentation and there will be a light reception afterward along with book signing.

SPONSORED BY:
-Americans United for Separation of Church and State of Tennessee

-Freedom From Religion Foundation East TN

-Rationalists of East Tennessee

-Atheist Society of Knoxville

Sunday July 20, 2025, 7-9PM
Tennessee Valley Unitarian
Universalist Church
2931 Kingston Pike, Knoxville TN

The first curve ball thrown at us was 2025 Knoxville Smokies Baseball schedule and home games that severely impacted our events at Barley’s. As of May 1st we have published a meetup and events calendar with Tuesday evening locations thru the end of baseball season in September.

This brings an interesting twist to away-game Tuesday evenings at Barley’s. While there is still an initial charge to park at Barley’s, there is a process to validate inside. The positive effect is that people are less likely to use Barley’s as an Old City free parking lot. There is a process to follow:

1. Park at Barley’s and scan the QR code in the parking lot. Depending on your phone you may need to install an app or it may just open a web page. Fill out the form and pay for two hours parking. STOP. Don’t tap anything else, don’t close anything.
2. Go inside. Look for / ask for a QR code for validation. It looks like this:
3. Get out your phone, which should be where you left it in Step 1, and tap “Apply Validation”. This will attempt to open the camera on your phone, and you use that to scan the validation QR code.
4. You should see something that says “Validation successful”. This will refund the charge to your card made when you parked.
5. If you have any problems, come inside and get somebody for help.

🌟 Exciting News from ASK! 🌟

We’re thrilled to share that the Atheist Society of Knoxville (ASK) again joined forces with the United Methodist Church (UMC) for a heartwarming Easter initiative! Together, we embarked on a mission to spread kindness and compassion by feeding the hungry in our community. And what a success it was!

UMC graciously donated seven spiral hams and three trays of banana pudding. With the remarkable contributions from ASK members, which included trays of deviled eggs, six delectable cakes, an abundance of cookies, 240 pieces of fried chicken, a hefty 50 pounds of potatoes, and delicious baked mac & cheese, our impact on Easter Sunday was substantial. We were able to provide quite the feast!

The spirit of unity and collaboration was truly inspiring, and we couldn’t have achieved such success without the support of UMC and the dedication of our ASK members. Your kindness and generosity have made a real difference in the lives of those in need, and for that, we are immensely grateful.

Thank you, United Methodist Church, for opening your doors and hearts to us. We are honored to have partnered with you on this meaningful endeavor. Together, we’ve shown that compassion knows no boundaries, and by working together, we can create positive change in our community.

Let’s continue to spread love, kindness, and generosity wherever we go. Together, we can make a difference!

ASK organized a group outing to go bowling, and it was a fantastic experience for all involved. We had a great time hitting the lanes, enjoying friendly competition, and cheering each other on. More importantly, it provided us with an opportunity to come together as a community, and simply have fun in each other’s company. These group activities are invaluable in fostering a sense of belonging and camaraderie within ASK, and we look forward to organizing more events like this in the future.

On February 18th, ASK answered the call from Magnolia UMC to help feed the hungry and houseless. As UMC was one of the few churches to open as warming centers, ASK was happy to step up to help provide because we believe in good. We prepared over 40lbs of mashed potatoes and 32lbs of green beans to serve along ribs and mac and cheese provided by other generous volunteers.

UMC has once again reached out for us to return to Magnolia UMC to prepare and serve and we have a date locked in. On March 31, 2024 we are looking for additional volunteers to step up and help provide to our Knoxville neighbors in need. We already have several lined up but would love all the help we can get even if you just want to prepare and drop off items. Join our Facebook group to sign up for the event and add your prepared items to our google doc or use our contact form to reach out. We’d love to fill their kitchen with ASK members so UMC gets a night off of their weekly continued efforts.