Remembering Woody Kaplan
Kaplan passed away on August 3, 2023, due to cancer.
He was a longtime civil liberties activist and champion of the atheist movement.
A strong advocate for secular rights, Kaplan worked tirelessly to promote religious freedom and tolerance. He is survived by his wife, author and lawyer, Wendy Kaminer, family, and many friends and admirers.
Woody Kaplan will be remembered as a dedicated activist and a proud American.
“Woody Kaplan retained the same motive that I held when I first entered the atheist movement – that despite our political differences, we should all work together. He didn’t care if you were a Democrat or a Republican. What mattered to him was a bipartisan movement that defended the separation between religion and government. He mentored left and right wing atheists alike and his respect for Americans of many different ideological backgrounds was one of the most admirable traits about him.
Woody was a patriot who prioritized the safety of our nation, with a strong Establishment Clause to keep it in tact. Just like many of the atheist nonprofit Presidents who came before, he gave me his number, and told me that I could call him at anytime.
No matter what the ideologues want, we at Atheists for Liberty share the same nuanced desire for a New Atheist victory free of partisan division. Woodys vision for the atheist movement resulted in 50% of the puzzle being completed. Now it’s up to us to pick up the pieces and complete the mission. It’s this desire that’ll be in the front of our minds as we carry on with our activism.
I’ll miss him.”
– Thomas Sheedy, AFL President