Congratulations to Jon Adams of Utah State University for winning the American Atheists' Chinn Scholarship .  Each year, American Atheists gives three awards to student atheist activists, among which are a $1,000 prize for an LGBT non-theist. 

Jon Adams, 2009 Chinn Scholarship winner

Adams has been an atheist since high school.  It was during high school that as a member of his school's debate team, Adams was required to research numerous topics and cover all points of view.  In learning to approach an argument from all sides, Adams began to question some of the received wisdom of his Mormon tradition.  “In honing my critical thinking skills and becoming more aware of the issues, I grew disillusioned with my conservative Mormon upbringing,” Adams explained, citing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' conservative-leaning ideology.  As a result, Adams resolved to become an active force for change in his community. 

After reading about the Mormon Church's proscribing against interracial marriage, Adams jettisoned his faith.  “I recoiled at learning these things. The truthfulness of the church aside, I could never worship a god who authored or allowed these racist beliefs.  The church’s doctrinal history of racism was primarily responsible for my loss of faith.”  As the result of his atheist transformation, Adams started the Political Awareness Club and became his school's newspaper's liberal opinion columnist.  However, it was as a college student that Adams became a full-fledged atheist activist.

Although Adams advocated atheism as Vice President of Utah State's Religious Studies Club, Adams believed that secular humanism could be better represented if he started an atheist group of his own.  “My presence in the Religious Studies Club ... further perpetuated the misunderstanding that secular humanism was a religion,” Adams said.  As a result of his desire to promote secularism, Adams founded the Secular Humanists, Atheists, and Freethinkers (SHAFT) at Utah State, a club that advocates for the rights of unbelievers.

As the President of SHAFT, Adams has spearheaded a number of events.  Among them was a debate between a Catholic believer and an atheist professor, wherein each had to argue in favor of the other's position.  The event was a resounding success and drew over 150 people, which led to both school and local press attention.  To complement his debate activism, Adams sponsored an “Atheist Bake Sale,” whereby the club sold “Blasphemy Brownies,” “Christ Crispies,” and “Burnt in Hell Cookies.” SHAFT made nearly $100 in profits.

In addition to his work with SHAFT, Adams has promoted atheism by writing a column in Utah State's student newspaper.  Covering topics as diverse as evangelism, Proposition 8, and Mormonism, Adams combines a thoughtful voice with an impressive depth. “[M]y secular humanism can't be divorced from my politics,” the columnist explains, which is why Adams advocates progressive values.  And Adams' writing abilities, along with his tireless secular activism, makes the Secular Student Alliance proud that Adams is the winner of the American Atheists' Chinn Scholarship. 

The other two American Atheists scholarships are given without regard to sexual preference; Andrew Cederdahl and Shelley Mountjoy received the $2,000 and $1,000 awards, respectively.  Andrew Cederdahl was covered in the August 2009 eMpirical and Shelley Mountjoy will be covered in the next eMpirical.  The application deadline for the 2010 awards is January 31st.