Rebecca Vitsmun

On the afternoon of May 20, 2013 an F5 tornado slammed into Moore, Oklahoma and adjacent

areas. It stayed on the ground for 39 minutes over a 17-mile (27 km) path, crossing through a

heavily populated section of Moore. The tornado was 1.3 miles (2.1 km) wide at its peak causing

massive destruction and leaving 23 dead and injuring 377.

For those of you not familiar with the story...in the aftermath of the tornado, news anchor and

CNN reporter, Wolf Blitzer, interviewed a resident of Moore whose new home was completely

destroyed and who narrowly escaped the deadly tornado with her young son, Anders.

In the interview, Wolf said to Rebecca,

“Well, you’re blessed. Brian, your husband, is blessed. Anders (your son) is blessed.

We’re happy you’re here. You guys did a great job. I guess you gotta thank the Lord, right?

Do you thank the Lord for that split-second decision?”

To which she replied,

“I-I-I’m,” she laughed. “I’m actually an atheist.”

They shared a good laugh about it, but this, of course, caused Wolf to be taken aback slightly, obviously catching him off guard as well as causing quite a stir in many a household as Oklahoma and America is predominantly Christian. Wolf and many Americans it seems, were all waiting for her to thank the "Lord", but as Rush Limbaugh joked, “He found the only atheist in Oklahoma, and he didn’t know it".



This ackward exchange prompted a fundraiser using a design with her quote. Since Rebecca does not have rights to use the design going forward, this campaign was initiated to find an artist to come up with a design for her to own the rights to and use for her own projects and fundraising.

The winning design will be used on official Rebecca Vitsmun projects and merchandise with proceeds going to support the Foundation Beyond Belief as they begin their Humanist Service Corps program for crises such as the tornado in Moore and other Humanist charities.

To learn more about these developing Foundation Beyond Belief programs, please watch Rebecca's speech from the Atheist Alliance of America's 2013 National Convention.

Rebecca Vitsmun, her husband Brian Vitsmun and son Anders now live in Norman, OK. They are slowly rebuilding and want to give back to the community for the help they recieved.