Saturday, May 6, 2023
1:30pm-2:20pm
Explore how youth and family programming within secular communities can help counter the increase of violations of the separation between church and state and the rise of Christian nationalism in the US while also helping to improve diversity within secular communities. Monica will provide practical knowledge, from her work at Denver’s Secular Hub, that you can take back to your own community.
Monica Toole is a secular activist, criminal trial attorney, and a mother of four. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Secular Hub in Denver, CO. Monica has pioneered the development of family friendly and youth programming within her own secular community.
In 2021, she started the Secular Scouts, an all-inclusive scouting alternative, in order to provide children in her community an opportunity to engage in the valuable experience of scouting without being subjected to religious indoctrination and discrimination. She recently started the webcast and blog Happy Heathens: Raising Women’s Voices in the Secular Community, Supporting Diversity Among Nonbelievers, and Taking Back Family Values (www.happyheathens.com).
As an activist, Monica seeks to elevate the voices and visibility of nonbelievers in the US to better counter increasing violations to the separation between church and state. She believes the best way to do that is by creating opportunities for secular communities to gather, learn, and work together to support and advocate for each other. Like societies in general, secular communities are made better by the equal representation of women, children, and other marginalized groups. To that end, Monica works to create spaces for youth and their families in our secular communities.
