After a long hiatus, the website featuring dozens of atheist writers is back

Jul 28, 2024

OnlySky, a website featuring the voices of several non-religious writers, has relaunched with a new look and a new focus.

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The site initially launched in 2022 with a mission to cover issues affecting the growing number of non-religious Americans. There was a staff that included paid editors and tech experts. There were also lots of writers—I was one of many who came there after spending years at Patheos. The hope was that by including a mix of commentary on the news, story-telling, and essays about what it means to live without religion, it would attract a paying audience that would eventually help sustain and expand the site—and offer more money to its main contributors.

That didn’t exactly pan out, which was the main reason I chose to go independent. I don’t regret that move.

In April of 2023, American Atheists agreed to take control of the site (and maintain its archives) with the hope of relaunching it as a non-profit.

But over the course of that year, as American Atheists reassessed its own priorities, they didn’t feel like OnlySky would fit into that vision. The site sat in limbo until, recently, they “sold” the site back to its founder, tech entrepreneur Shawn Hardin.

A scaled-down version of the site has now re-launched on the platform Ghost (which is similar to Substack but far less centralized). The old archives are unfortunately gone for now.

It’s “all-volunteer to start,” editor-in-chief Dale McGowan told me. “Just a labor of love.” But dozens of writers are part of the team and they’ve already started posting essays focused on “what daily human life might actually look and feel like in the future.”

The mission statement reads:

… today, as we stand on the precipice of unprecedented challenges - climate change, artificial intelligence, global pandemics, and the rising tide of authoritarian populism - we find ourselves grappling with a resurgence of supernatural thinking in our public sphere. The wall of separation between church and state, a cornerstone of our founders' vision and our present-day liberties, now faces critical and accelerating deterioration.

Our strength lies not in shared myths, but in our shared humanity. Our capacity for critical thinking, innovative problem-solving, and boundless curiosity - these are our true superpowers.. They've carried us from savannah to stars, from ignorance to insight. Now, more than ever, we need these secular habits of mind.

Will that mean more articles connected to current events? More experimental essays and podcasts? More pieces about how to make sense of the world without religion? It’s too early to tell. But you can’t talk about the future without discussing topics like AI, theocracy, and climate change, and there’s a valuable perspective non-religious people can offer on those topics.

That said, the media environment is punishing for everyone right now, and that’s especially true for outlets that focus on niche and progressive audiences. There’s a reason you see more individual newsletters and far fewer blogs these days. Even the group websites that catered to atheist audiences in the past are not what they used to be in terms of reach or impact. If the people at OnlySky can make this work, more power to them, and they have a strong base from which they can build.

As Hardin explained to me, “we’re excited to engage the 100,000+ monthly readers that continue to read and enjoy OnlySky.”

That starts by becoming a member. I would urge you to do that if you can. And if you’re not ready to take that plunge just yet, you can always sign up for their newsletters for free.