An atheist activist is claiming that a notary at a TD Bank branch in New Jersey refused her request to authenticate documents, because she’s a nonbeliever — but a spokeswoman for the bank has an entirely different story.
“I was just refused service — because I am an atheist,” American Atheists managing director Amanda Knief wrote on the organization’s Facebook page Tuesday. “It was embarrassing, humiliating, and pissed me off.”
Knief said that she went to her local TD Bank to have documents notarized, but that the notary asked for an explanation of the papers in question.
“The documents were charitable organizations registrations for American Atheists in several states. So I told her what AA is about,” Knief explained. “She looked down, then looked at me and [American Atheists President] Dave Silverman and said she couldn’t sign the documents because of ‘personal reasons’ and went to find another notary who was eating his lunch to come do the authentications.”