Last week, Johnny Monsarrat of the Secular Policy Institute spent a week in Las Vegas, which became the center of the secular movement for a protest against Wells Fargo.
Leaders of seven national secular groups gathered to support John Whiteside, the founder of the United Church of Bacon, a real legal church with a funny name, but a serious purpose. John has raised nearly $200,000 for AIDS, cancer, autism, and secular charities while taking no donations for himself. He also tries to end discrimination against atheists! In 2014, Wells Fargo refused him services with no explanation, a clear case of discrimination because they did not like his church’s funny name or the way it preached a philosophy with no God. An incident at one branch is no big deal, but then Wells Fargo corporate stonewalled John, as did the Nevada Equal Rights Commission.
The protest was a big success. We drew 72 people the first day and 50 the second day, with 9 journalists attending, including TV news crews! This resulted in dozens of articles, including two in the most prestigious Las Vegas newspaper and on two TV news stations. John was interviewed by NPR, and now the Huffington Post has called John to write a national article.
See the TV news video and sign the petition!