CLARK ADAMS: 1969-2007
May 24, 2007
The Humanist community mourns the death of Clark Davis Adams, a greatly
influential freethought leader and activist, and a person of integrity and
personal honesty who expressed his Humanism through a dedication to those he
knew and a loyalty to the rights of all.
Clark was born in July 1969 in Louisville, Kentucky. Though raised in a
religious community, attending Catholic school, he became skeptical at an
early age of the church's teachings. In college, after reading material from
American Atheists, he became, in his words, "a pretty hard core atheist."
In 1990 he attended a "Freethought Blitz" weekend of activities in the
Birmingham, Alabama, area, and for the first time met atheists and agnostics
in person. The event was hugely influential for him, and he befriended many
of the people he met there.
Following this event, he became active with the Alabama Freethought
Association and the Atlanta Freethought Society. He served as the primary
organizer of the Lollapalooza of Freethought, an annual celebration. He also
organized three alt.atheism Meet 'n Greets, and moderated alt.atheism.
With the Internet Infidels, Clark was a long-time board member, serving as
its public relations director for many years and then as president. He was
also, in his words, a freethought "conference junkie," attending and often
speaking at as many events within the community of reason as he could. He
had done presentations for Camp Quest and was scheduled to conduct a session
at the forthcoming national conference of the American Humanist Association.
Clark actively promoted the Secular Student Alliance and was one of the
founders of the Secular Coalition for America. He was also deeply involved
in his hometown with the Las Vegas Freethought Society, which he founded and
described as "a local group of fun godless heathens in Sin City." He was
also a former president of the Humanist Association of Las Vegas and
Southern Nevada, a chapter of the American Humanist Association, and
recently became an AHA life member.
Though he is gone his legacy will live on. Clark Adams chose to end his own
life. In a final statement, however, he expressed his optimism about a
coming humanistic enlightenment. He will be deeply missed.
