We are super excited to have Hemant Mehta (The Friendly Atheist) visiting NWA and are selling tickets fast. Do not miss the next event. Tickets and space are limited. Do not wait or it could be too late.
Below are a few links to YouTube to learn more about Hemant Mehta (The Friendly Atheist).
August 22nd (Saturday) – 2:00pm to 3:00pm @ Fayetteville Public Library
Secular Speaker Series with Hemant Mehta (The Friendly Atheist) – Come join us for our second speaker series event of 2026 as we listen to Hemant Mehta, otherwise known as The Friendly Atheist, as he discusses the various violations of Church/State Separation that he advocates against. Get tickets here!
Other coming Events:
July 25th (Saturday) – 7:30am to 12:30pm
Fayetteville Farmers Market – The Ozarks Chapter of FFRF will be at the Fayetteville Farmers Market! Come meet likeminded freethinkers and spend time chatting with fellow citizens of the Ozarks.
August 8th (Saturday) – 7:30am to 12:30pm
Bentonville Farmers Market – Come join us as we engage the community on secular values. Look for us in the Free Speech area at 2nd Street and A Street Promenade.
*NEW * August 16th (Sunday) – 11:00am to 12:30pm
Sunday Secular Meeting @ Best Friends NWA (Purina Community Hub) – come join us for a special edition of our monthly social & business meeting as we welcome Mitchell Smith, Democratic candidate who is running for election to the Arkansas House of Representatives to represent District 13.
August 22nd (Saturday) – 7:30am to 12:30pm
Fayetteville Farmers Market – The Ozarks Chapter of FFRF will be at the Fayetteville Farmers Market! Come meet likeminded freethinkers and spend time chatting with fellow citizens of the Ozarks.
August 22nd (Saturday) – 2:00pm to 3:00pm @ Fayetteville Public Library
Secular Speaker Series with Hemant Mehta (The Friendly Atheist) – Come join us for our second speaker series event of 2026 as we listen to Hemant Mehta, otherwise known as The Friendly Atheist, as he discusses the various violations of Church/State Separation that he advocates against. Get tickets here!
This weekend our chapter welcomed in Sam Grover to the area. Sam and his family got to Arkansas about a week ago and got to explore our beautiful area on their own. On Friday evening (07/17) a hand full of our most active members were invited to do a meet and greet with Sam Grover. We started at Crystal Bridges and then went to dinner to eat as a group in Bentonville. Chris and I like to introduce visiting Speakers to the museum when they come into town if time allows. Our local chapter has made a bit of a tradition of taking a group picture by We the People Art piece, when we can do so.
You might notice some of these familiar faces below from our activities at farmers markets, pride, and our monthly meetings. Join us as a more active chapter member for potential future invite for these sorts of opportunities.
This inaugural kick off to our 2026 Summer Speaker series was a real treat. On Saturday Sam Grover (and 3 of the plaintiffs – in the Stinson v. Fayetteville) were present and spoke at Bentonville Public Library. We had a bit over 20 people in attendance of this inaugural event. Sam Grover talked about the history of how courts have changed over the years – on how they are interpreting religious issues – locally and nationally. The plaintiffs spoke to what motivated them to stand up and speak out in this battle. This really shows how one person can make a big impact at a local level. Only school districts that had parents willing to stand up were enjoined in this lawsuit – against Act 573. The talk wrapped up with a Q&A. Pictured below is Chris Sweeny (Chapter President), Sam Grover, and Dr. Steven Caldwell who spoke out on this subject often.
UP NEXT – Hemant Mehta (The Friendly Atheist) – In Fayetteville
Do not miss the next event. Hemant Mehta (The Friendly Atheist) – tickets and space are limited. Do not wait or it could be too late.
August 22nd (Saturday) – 2:00pm to 3:00pm @ Fayetteville Public Library
Secular Speaker Series with Hemant Mehta (The Friendly Atheist) – Come join us for our second speaker series event of 2026 as we listen to Hemant Mehta, otherwise known as The Friendly Atheist, as he discusses the various violations of Church/State Separation that he advocates against. Get tickets here!
June was fantastic! We celebrated and marched with Pride Allies in Fayetteville. Our Local chapter celebrated our 4 Year Anniversary of founding (June 12th – in Bentonville). With this mile stone we have some great new local chapter branding.
Local Chapter Branding
I want to give a special shout out to Ruth and Sara for their hard work on the new shirts that they designed and got made. Ruth also designed and made the new local chapter trifold and Speaker series poster. I am over the moon for the new shirts and trifolds. Please forgive the poor pictures but you can see these in person. Come out and join us for events. Thanks you ladies for your hard work!!!
Pride was a success and fun.
We had over 100 new sign ups for our local chapter monthly Newsletter. We also marched in the Pride parade – all wearing the new shirts, and sporting FFRF backpacks. We also bumped into our friends with Recovery Demystified – who host a secular (non-religious substance recovery) https://www.recoverydemystified.com/
Summer Speaker Series kicks off – Next Saturday!!!
Sam Grover will be in town Next Week. Saturday July 18th at the Bentonville Library. Get tickets now. Get tickets here! We hope to see you there. Do not wait too long and this is one you will not want to miss.
Our 3rd Annual Speaker Series is set and tickets are now available. Thanks to our generous donors, we are able to make these events available to the general public for only $10 per person per event. And Ozarks FFRF Standard Members receive a 50% discount on each event! Please join us for the following guests :
Saturday, July 18th at 2pm – Sam Grover (Senior Counsel for FFRF) @ Bentonville Library (Walton Foundation Community Room). Get tickets here!
Happy Forth of July – 250 years of Separation of Church and State
I hope you had a good 4th mine was pent with Family in Missouri. FFRF stays active and fighting the good fight.
From the recent email…
With the Fourth of July now in our rearview mirror and summer hitting full stride, the Freedom From Religion Foundation is not slowing down, despite the heat. In fact, FFRF is putting the heat on those who push a Christian nationalist agenda in the public realm. Here’s a look at some of the things your favorite state/church watchdog has been up to recently.
America 250 ad campaign
As we celebrated our nation’s 250th anniversary of its founding, FFRF launched a six-city advertising blitz that included full billboards and public transit kiosks in Chicago, Boston, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The messaging highlights the constitutional principles of secular government, individual liberty and freedom of conscience.
Additional elements of the “America 250: Lighting the Way” project included digital advertising and a full-page advertisement in The New York Times Magazine on July 5. The New York Times Magazine placement was expected to reach millions of readers nationwide, while the billboard/kiosk campaign was expected to get 4 million views.
For those interested in joining me in donating to the FFRF’s Action Fund. I went with the $17.76, but any amount helps.
We tables in Bentonville Farmers Market yesterday. Sporting the new shirts and handing out the new local trifold literature/fliers. Luckily no issues from BDI.
Upcoming Events
July 18th (Saturday) – 2:00pm to 3:00pm @ Bentonville Public Library
Secular Speaker Series with Sam Grover (FFRF) – Come join us for our first speaker series event of 2026 as we listen to Sam Grover, Senior Legal Counsel with FFRF who was heavily involved in the litigation against Arkansas Act 573 (Ten Commandments in public classrooms). Get tickets here!
July 25th (Saturday) – 7:30am to 12:30pm
Fayetteville Farmers Market – The Ozarks Chapter of FFRF will be at the Fayetteville Farmers Market! Come meet likeminded freethinkers and spend time chatting with fellow citizens of the Ozarks.
August 8th (Saturday) – 7:30am to 12:30pm
Bentonville Farmers Market – Come join us as we engage the community on secular values. Look for us in the Free Speech area at 2nd Street and A Street Promenade.
*NEW * August 16th (Sunday) – 11:00am to 12:30pm
Sunday Secular Meeting @ Best Friends NWA (Purina Community Hub) – come join us for a special edition of our monthly social & business meeting as we welcome Mitchell Smith, Democratic candidate who is running for election to the Arkansas House of Representatives to represent District 13.
August 22nd (Saturday) – 7:30am to 12:30pm
Fayetteville Farmers Market – The Ozarks Chapter of FFRF will be at the Fayetteville Farmers Market! Come meet likeminded freethinkers and spend time chatting with fellow citizens of the Ozarks.
August 22nd (Saturday) – 2:00pm to 3:00pm @ Fayetteville Public Library
Secular Speaker Series with Hemant Mehta (The Friendly Atheist) – Come join us for our second speaker series event of 2026 as we listen to Hemant Mehta, otherwise known as The Friendly Atheist, as he discusses the various violations of Church/State Separation that he advocates against. Get tickets here!
Sunday Secular Meeting @ Best Friends NWA (Purina Community Hub) – come join us for a special edition of our monthly social & business meeting as we welcome Mitchell Smith, Democratic candidate who is running for election to the Arkansas House of Representatives to represent District 13.
As May comes to an end and June comes around the corner it is time to celebrate Pride Month. I am Proud to say our local chapter has a lot going on in June and onward into our Summer Speakers Series. Our local FFRF chapter will be celebrating its 4th Anniversary. Our chapters continues celebration of our LGBTQ Allies and Community – by again tabling marching in the parade – at Fayetteville’s Pride event.
This June 12th will mark our 4 year anniversary since we came together on a hot Sunday afternoon at Airship Coffee in Bentonville back in 2022. From our humble beginnings as a bunch of secular citizens trying to find ways to move the needle, to having an established organization nearly 1,000 people strong, we are doing bigger & better things everyday. This journey is only made possible by you; our members, supporters and volunteers who value church/state separation. Our group is firmly planted here and we will continue to draw awareness to this issue. Our summer calendar is just getting started, and we’re excited to have you join us.
Secular Sunday Meetings
We had a great meeting on May 17th in Fayetteville, and discussed many great things coming in this upcoming year. For those interested these are the types of things we discuss at our Secular Sunday Business Meetings. See Meeting Minutes for more details.
Our 3rd Annual Speaker Series is set and tickets are now available. Thanks to our generous donors, we are able to make these events available to the general public for only $10 per person per event. And Ozarks FFRF Standard Members receive a 50% discount on each event! Please join us for the following guests :
Saturday, July 18th at 2pm – Sam Grover (Senior Counsel for FFRF) @ Bentonville Library (Walton Foundation Community Room). Get tickets here!
Saturday, August 22nd at 2pm – Hemant Mehta, best known as The Friendly Atheist @ Fayetteville Library (Ziegler Reception Room). Get tickets here!
Saturday, September 26th at 2pm – Sam McGuire (American Atheists) @ Fayetteville Library (Ziegler Reception Room). Get tickets here!
Thursday, October 22nd at 6pm – Fish Stark (Executive Director for American Humanist) @ Bentonville Library (Walton Foundation Community Room). Get tickets here!
Our speakers will discuss issues relevant to our area, like Ten Commandments in schools and Christian Nationalist policies our representatives embrace. We’ve also got some cool guest interactions planned with our members so stay tuned to our website, newsletter and social media for the latest and lock in those dates!
Pride in Fayetteville
We are here to stand with and support our community in separation of Church and State. Know you are Safe with me. I am here to stand with you, for those who may feel they do not have a voice.
Upcoming Events and Activities
June 13th (Saturday) – 7:30am to 12:30pm
Bentonville Farmers Market – Come join us as we engage the community on secular values. Look for us in the Free Speech area at 2nd Street and A Street Promenade.
June 20th (Saturday) – 5:00pm to 9:00pm*
2026 Bats & Bluegrass Festival (221 South Main Street, Cave Springs, AR, 72718) – this event spotlights the conservation efforts of the Illinois River Watershed Partnership, and includes nature hikes around the sanctuary, live bluegrass music from Sons of Otis Malone, family-friendly activities, local food trucks and bats emerging at dusk! This is a great way to celebrate the Summer solstice!
*Note: there is a $25 fee for adults, Children 17 years & under are Free.
June 27th (Saturday) – 11:00am to 6:00pm
NWA Pride Festival 2026 (W. Dickson Street) – The Ozarks Chapter of FFRF will be tabling & walking in the NWA Pride Festival on West Dickson Street for the third consecutive year. Save the Date! (Note: this tabling event will take place in lieu of the Fayetteville Farmers Market).
July 11th (Saturday) – 7:30am to 12:30pm
Bentonville Farmers Market – Come join us as we engage the community on secular values. Look for us in the Free Speech area at 2nd Street and A Street Promenade.
July 18th (Saturday) – 2:00pm to 3:00pm @ Bentonville Public Library
Secular Speaker Series with Sam Grover (FFRF) – Come join us for our first speaker series event of 2026 as we listen to Sam Grover, Senior Legal Counsel with FFRF who was heavily involved in the litigation against Arkansas Act 573 (Ten Commandments in public classrooms). Get tickets here!
July 25th (Saturday) – 7:30am to 12:30pm
Fayetteville Farmers Market – The Ozarks Chapter of FFRF will be at the Fayetteville Farmers Market! Come meet likeminded freethinkers and spend time chatting with fellow citizens of the Ozarks.
To be fair it was a busy weekend. Yesterday we tabled at the Bentonville Farmers market and I participated in a protest in the evening for visiting Justice Barrett. This protest was hosted by https://indivisible.org/ After a busy Saturday I spent several hours updating the website. I hope you all like the new additions.
We are looking to utilize part of our allocation to advertising this donation drive. We had discussed 2 daily spots for a 10 day run (20 spots total), beginning on Wednesday, April 22nd. Each spot will consist of a 15-second plug for this event, similar to the following
“Support comes from the Freedom From Religion Foundation of the Ozarks, hosting a May 2nd donation drive at the NWA Women’s Shelter Thrift Store in Rogers. The drive includes collection of household and personal care items. Information at OzarksFFRF.org.”
Please Share
Please post and share any way you can. Post in public places if you can. Share with friends. Donate what you can. Special needs are listed above on flier. Towels and toiletries are a big need. As prices have increased and donations are down it is a tough 1 – 2 punch for our friends.
Importance of being seen and present in our community. We choose to be active in our community in many ways. We do a road side clean up, we are going to be participation in the American Empathy Project. We are active at Pride events, No Kings days, Farmers Markets, and even our Summer Speaker Series. We are trying to show that the seculars community cares as much about our community as everyone else. We are proud to be representing FFRF and the importance of Separation of Church and State.
In this pursuit our Facebook group has recently went from a private group to a public group page. This will allow us to best leverage our presence online. For those who want to remain anonymous you can still do so in the public group. Alternatively please join us over in the discord.
Recent Activities
Secular Sunday Meetings
We had a great meeting this morning (April 19th in Bentonville) and discussed many great things coming in this upcoming year. We also discussed the Facebook going Public. For those interested these are the types of things we discuss at our Secular Sunday Business Meetings. See Meeting Minutes for more details.
Bentonville Farmers Market
We had a handful of members present for our first Farmers Market event of the year on April 11th. We had a member come all the way from KC Missouri (Thanks Phil). Thanks to all who showed up. We did not get any friction yet from DBI. Downtown Bentonville who runs the Farmers Market.
Road Side Clean up
We had 8 members join in for the road side clean up on March 29th. This is a join venture with the NWA Freethought Group. Thanks Everyone!!!
Upcoming Events and Activities
We have a lot of upcoming activities and the Summer Speaker Series will be amazing. Please join us at the Farmers Market in Fayetteville and also start spreading the word for the Donation Drive.
Fayetteville Farmers Market – The Ozarks Chapter of FFRF returns to the Fayetteville Farmers Market for the first time in 2026! Come meet likeminded freethinkers and spend time chatting with fellow citizens of the Ozarks.
Neighbors for a Better Arkansas @ GoatLab Brewery (Lowell, AR) – This “Meet the Candidates” event will bring citizens together where attendees can hear what the candidates have to say in their run for US Senate and House of Representatives. Hallie Shoffner and Robb Ryerse are both confirmed to speak at this event, and Ozarks FFRF will have a table.
Donation Drive @ Northwest Arkansas Women’s Shelter (Rogers, AR) – As part of the American Humanists Empathy project, the Ozarks Chapter of FFRF applied to host a donation drive for the Northwest Arkansas Women’s Shelter.
Secular Sunday Meeting @ Ozarks Natural Foods (380 N College Ave, Fayetteville, AR 72701) – with the summer season nearly in full swing, we’ll have a lot to discuss for planning purposes.
Fayetteville Farmers Market – The Ozarks Chapter of FFRF will be at the Fayetteville Farmers Market! Come meet likeminded freethinkers and spend time chatting with fellow citizens of the Ozarks.
2026 Summer Speaker Series
⦁ Saturday, July 18th – Sam Grover (Senior Counsel from FFRF) ⦁ August 22nd/23rd – Hemant Mehta (The Friendly Atheist) ⦁ September 26th & 27th – Sam McGuire (American Atheists) ⦁ October 22nd – Fish Stark (American Humanists Association)
Before long we will have the farmers markets and our Summer Speaker series. For those interested these are the types of things we discuss at our Secular Sunday Business Meetings. See Meeting Minutes for more details.
Tulsa Trip
The Spring has started out Strong, there were several from our local chapter who went on a Road trip to see 3 brilliant and delightful speakers talk about science mostly. The event was in Tulsa and had Seth Andres, Forest Valkai, and Erika “Gutsick Gibbon”. This event was the brain child of Seth Andrews. It warmed my Secular heart to see so many people (approx. 300), it was a SOLD OUT show. People from all over America came. There was an after party meetup hosted by the Atheist Community of Tulsa ACT members.
Our local chapter has hosted both Seth and Forest as part of our Summer Speaker series in the past.
A bit of Good news – Small Victory
Local news article about how Federal Judge rules on 10 Commandments in School. – We hope this sticks.
Please join us for the first Road side clean up for 2026. Come out and help keep our stretch of road clean. The event is the last Saturday of the Month. March 29th. We also have many more activities coming in April.
March 29th (Sunday) – 7:30am to 10:00am
Adopt-A-Highway Road Cleanup – Our first road cleanup of 2026 will start at Onyx Coffee (101 E Walnut Ave, Rogers, AR 72756) at 7:30am. We will carpool from downtown Rogers at 8:00am. The 1 mile section of road takes approximately 90 minutes to clean, and we anticipate returning to Rogers by 10:00am. Orange vests and trash bags will be provided by Benton County. For those able to join us, we recommend wearing long pants, gloves and hat (sunscreen and bug spray, if needed). We have plenty of “grabber tools” to borrow of these can be purchased online separately. Please come support the Ozarks Chapter of FFRF by doing good in our local community!
April 11th (Saturday) – 7:30am to 12:30pm
Bentonville Farmers Market – our first Farmers Market event of 2026 takes place in Bentonville. The Ozarks Chapter of FFRF will be set up in the designated “Free Speech” area (location TBD). Come join us for an hour or two as we engage the community.
April 19th (Sunday) – 10:00am to 11:00am
Secular Sunday Meeting @ Onyx Coffee Lab inside The Momentary (507 SE E St, Bentonville, AR 72712) – join us as for our monthly get together as we talk business and get together for a quick tour of the museum after our meeting. Take note of the new location!
April 25th (Saturday) – 7:30am to 12:30pm
Fayetteville Farmers Market – The Ozarks Chapter of FFRF returns to the Fayetteville Farmers Market for the first time in 2026! Come meet likeminded freethinkers and spend time chatting with fellow citizens of the Ozarks.
Our local chapter likes to support our community and one of the strongest relationships we have is with the NWS Woman’s Shelter Thrift Store. Our visit to the NWA Woman’s Shelter Thrift Store event in late January was a big success. We had 12 people help. We had scheduled from 10-1, but was able to wrap up early with so many hands. A few of us ate chose to eat some food at a nearby taco place, in shopping center after the event.
This was fun and invigorating to have so many people help, and make quick work, and over 30 hours of support in the time we were there. Chris Sweeny was even asked a few questions by local newspaper reporter who also took some candid shots of us working. I never was able to find the news article but it is not why we were doing the event but if you find it let me know.
Below is a few candid pics I took. We look forward to keep this relationship going.
Please join us for the upcoming roadside clean up.
March 29th (Sunday) – 7:30am to 10:00am
Adopt-A-Highway Road Cleanup – Our first road cleanup of 2026 will start at Onyx Coffee (101 E Walnut Ave, Rogers, AR 72756) at 7:30am. We will carpool from downtown Rogers at 8:00am. The 1 mile section of road takes approximately 90 minutes to clean, and we anticipate returning to Rogers by 10:00am. Orange vests and trash bags will be provided by Benton County. For those able to join us, we recommend wearing long pants, gloves and hat (sunscreen and bug spray, if needed). We have plenty of “grabber tools” to borrow of these can be purchased online separately. Please come support the Ozarks Chapter of FFRF by doing good in our local community!
I obviously take great pride in our local FFRF chapter. Many of the members I consider close friends and it was great to see them today at our Secular Sunday Meeting, in Fayetteville. We met at the Meteor and it was great to have 10 members present. For full meeting minutes please check them out here. Todays minutes coming soon…
2026 is going to be amazing! We will keep fighting for the separation of church and state issues. We plan on starting our cyclical cycle of the Farmers market in April. For full list of Events. See here.
Highlighted Upcoming Events
March 7th (Saturday) – 2:00pm to 5:00pm (Tulsa, OK)
Ozarks FFRF Field Trip! – Join Seth Andrews, Erika “Gutsick Gibbon,” and Forrest Valkai for three short presentations and roughly two hours of lively audience interaction at a freethought event right in the buckle of the Bible Belt. Event is being held at OU Schusterman Learning Center – Perkins Auditorium in Tulsa, OK. Tickets are $35 per person.
SOLD OUT – Let’s Carpool – possible Happy hour after with Tulsa Secular Community.
March 15th (Sunday) – 10:00am to 11:00am
Secular Sunday Meeting @ Onyx Coffee Springdale (100 E Emma Ave, Springdale, AR 72764 ) – Come join us for our monthly business and social meeting.
Note: New Meeting Location!!!
March 29th (Sunday) – 7:30am to 10:00am
Adopt-A-Highway Road Cleanup – Our first road cleanup of 2026 will start at Onyx Coffee (101 E Walnut Ave, Rogers, AR 72756) at 7:30am. We will carpool from downtown Rogers at 8:00am. The 1 mile section of road takes approximately 90 minutes to clean, and we anticipate returning to Rogers by 10:00am. Orange vests and trash bags will be provided by Benton County. For those able to join us, we recommend wearing long pants, gloves and hat (sunscreen and bug spray, if needed). We have plenty of “grabber tools” to borrow of these can be purchased online separately. Please come support the Ozarks Chapter of FFRF by doing good in our local community!
