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Nonbelievers Organize in Fear of Bush White House and Republican Congress
Beliefnet ^ | Jan 6th, 2005 | Jeff Mac Donald

Posted on 01/06/2005 9:12:28 AM PST by missyme

Bracing for what's to come from a Republican-controlled White House and Congress, people who don't believe in God are joining forces as never before to make sure their rights don't get trampled in what they perceive as a stampede of religious zeal.

Riding a post-election spike in new memberships, groups of humanists, agnostics and other non-theists are raising funds to put their first-ever lobbyists on Capitol Hill. To shape an agenda, leaders from as many as 20 non-theistic groups will convene Jan. 15-16 for their largest summit since Ronald Reagan took the Oval Office with help from the Moral Majority in 1981.

For those who regard themselves as "freethinkers," organizing into cohesive teams for any purpose has never been an easy task. But the effort this time has gained fresh momentum as those outside the world of organized religion brainstorm how to defend their freedoms in what feels to them like a time of siege.

"A lot of non-theistic people tend to be independent and non-joiners," said Herb Silverman, president of the Albany, N.Y.-based Secular Coalition for America, which represents five non-theistic organizations and has endorsements from others.

"Now they're starting to get worried. ... It seems we're a group politicians can feel comfortable discriminating against."

Such a perception seems to be driving non-theists to get active. For example:

-- Membership in the Washington-based American Humanist Association has jumped 5 percent since the election and 15 percent since January to reach the 7,000 mark.

-- The Secular Coalition for America has grown its lobbying fund from $8,000 a year ago to $50,000 today. At $100,000, the group intends to hire a lobbyist and possibly an administrative staffer.

At the Los Angeles-based Atheist Alliance International, donations in November 2004 outpaced those of the prior three months put together as donors, apparently troubled by President Bush's re-election, began giving in four- and five-figure amounts.

Encouraged by these developments, both the Secular Coalition and the American Humanist Association are pressing ahead with plans to launch their own 501c4 organizations so they can legally finance congressional lobbying efforts. And insiders are hearing some hardened non-theists warming to the notion of collaborating with liberal religious groups for pragmatic reasons.

"There's been a shift," said Roy Speckhardt, deputy director of the American Humanist Association. "Some in the atheist constituency are saying things like, `We'd like to work more with you (in coalitions with progressive religious groups) so we can have an effect in Washington.' They've realized they need to do this in order to get things done."

Over the years, non-theist groups have tended to organize locally as supportive communities for those whose beliefs aren't compatible with church, mosque or synagogue. Atheist Alliance International includes 40 local chapters whose collective membership totals about 3,700. Such numbers represent just a fraction of the 38 million Americans who self-identify as "secular," according to the Washington-based Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

Organizational numbers have tended to be small, leaders say, because skeptics are by nature wary of being followers. And in some cases, would-be joiners might fear potential repercussions for coming out of the closet publicly as non-theists in an overwhelmingly religious nation.

Leaders identified with atheism say they routinely receive anonymous hate mail, including threats. One staffer at the Madison, Wis.-based Freedom From Religion Foundation reported received an early December e-mail saying, "You deserve to be shot in the chest."

Others have been ostracized. When Silverman gave an invocation at a Charleston, S.C., City Council meeting in March 2003, six council members stood and walked out in protest.

But with a rising tide of power emboldening religious conservatives in Washington, non-theists are increasingly finding reason to stand, be counted and speak up themselves. Topping the list of concerns is a sense of decay in the principle of church-state separation. From faith-based initiatives to frequent religious expression in the public square, people of a secular viewpoint are feeling excluded from the public domain.

"There's a strong impression on the religious right that religion has been excluded" from public life, said Tom Flynn, editor of Free Inquiry, a bimonthly magazine read by 30,000 secular humanists. "Our perception of fairness is their perception of discrimination against the religious right.

... This election really seems to send us the message that we're probably going to keep losing ground."

Yet as they get more organized, non-theists are also finding they are more than a one-issue constituency. Leaders say those who don't believe in God share a virtual consensus in favor of gay and abortion rights.

"If you take religious arguments out of the mix, there's no other group that's opposing progressive values," said Timothy Travis, a non-theist from King George, Va.

On the judicial front, the New York City-based American Civil Liberties Union has seen membership grow by almost 50 percent since the start of 2004, from 300,000 to 445,000. Meanwhile, the Freedom From Religion Foundation has seen membership climb by about 4 percent since the election to about 5,100. Both groups use donations to mount legal challenges to government-sponsored religious activity.

Yet for non-theists, the new goal is to win a favorable opinion from lawmakers and their constituents. The arrival of a solidly Republican Congress and a second term for Bush mean, in Silverman's opinion, it's time to get more organized.

"There's a feeling we need to get our community out and not just sneer at those we feel are influencing the culture for the worse."

Action is needed, he said, to oppose what many in the movement see as a "creeping theocracy."


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Philosophy; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: antichristian; churchandstate; humanists; irreligiousleft; term2
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1 posted on 01/06/2005 9:12:29 AM PST by missyme
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To: All

Freethinkers have to answer to GOD that's the challenge


2 posted on 01/06/2005 9:14:34 AM PST by missyme
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To: missyme
people who don't believe in God are joining forces as never before to make sure their rights don't get trampled in what they perceive as a stampede of religious zeal.

Paraphrased: Satan will be working harder than ever to kill more babies, destroy marriage, and corrupt the innocent.

3 posted on 01/06/2005 9:15:33 AM PST by frog_jerk_2004
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To: missyme
More Machiavellian posturing. The Bush administration is more of a threat to believers than to any nonbeliever and they know it but they want to give them cover.
4 posted on 01/06/2005 9:16:05 AM PST by Mark in the Old South (Note to GOP "Deliver or perish" Re: Specter I guess the GOP "chooses" to perish)
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To: missyme

I had some fun with a cow-irker of mine who is a big time dem. A day or two after the Bush victory I told her as we were leaving work. "See you in Bible study, you know it is now mandatory."


5 posted on 01/06/2005 9:16:54 AM PST by TXBSAFH (Never underestimate the power of human stupidity--Robert Heinlein)
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To: missyme

I don't believe in "non-believers"--yet I find myself inundated with their pap daily. If I have to put up with them, they can put up with me.


6 posted on 01/06/2005 9:17:39 AM PST by MizSterious (First, the journalists, THEN the lawyers.)
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To: missyme
At the Los Angeles-based Atheist Alliance International, donations in November 2004 outpaced those of the prior three months put together as donors, apparently troubled by President Bush's re-election, began giving in four- and five-figure amounts.

More money flushed down the drain in futility...

7 posted on 01/06/2005 9:17:39 AM PST by frog_jerk_2004
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To: missyme
When Silverman gave an invocation at a Charleston, S.C., City Council meeting in March 2003, six council members stood and walked out in protest.

This was absolutely insane. How can a professed atheist give an invocation?

8 posted on 01/06/2005 9:20:20 AM PST by frog_jerk_2004
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To: missyme
Yet as they get more organized, non-theists are also finding they are more than a one-issue constituency. Leaders say those who don't believe in God share a virtual consensus in favor of gay and abortion rights.

So they are a two-issue constituency? Why is it always abortion?

9 posted on 01/06/2005 9:20:24 AM PST by KJacob (If I yawn it is only in anticipation.)
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To: missyme

While these folks have every right to lobby Congress, this atheist won't be joining or contributing. I already have all the rights I need, and am not particularly worried about losing them.


10 posted on 01/06/2005 9:20:24 AM PST by MineralMan (godless atheist)
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To: frog_jerk_2004

"How can a professed atheist give an invocation?

"

I've done it many times, or at least have spoken at the usual time for an invocation.

What I do is to appeal for the members of the group I'm addressing to look within themselves and use their minds to come up with solutions for whatever issues they were there to deal with.

I invoke the power of reason and logic on such occasions. I never mention religious issues at all.


11 posted on 01/06/2005 9:22:22 AM PST by MineralMan (godless atheist)
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To: missyme

> Freethinkers have to answer to GOD

Maybe so. Maybe Christians will have to answer to Allah or Zeus. But concern of a religious takeover of government is *always* a rational concern. No good can come of it.


12 posted on 01/06/2005 9:22:29 AM PST by orionblamblam
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To: KJacob
So they are a two-issue constituency? Why is it always abortion?

Because to approve of abortion one has to take God out of it.

13 posted on 01/06/2005 9:22:37 AM PST by frog_jerk_2004
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To: missyme

I'm so worried. Oh, no! One of these anti-religion (read as, anti-Christian) groups may one day top 100,000 dollars a year in donations! These suckers don't have a prayer.


14 posted on 01/06/2005 9:22:55 AM PST by jim35 (I'll bet Dasshole is Deeply Saddened now!!!)
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To: frog_jerk_2004

> How can a professed atheist give an invocation?

Based on that incident, an atheist can't. He was prevented from doing so.

However, I believe the text he was *going* to present is available online.


15 posted on 01/06/2005 9:23:47 AM PST by orionblamblam
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To: missyme
people who don't believe in God are joining forces as never before to make sure their rights don't get trampled in what they perceive as a stampede of religious zeal.

Atheism is a purely faith-based belief about the nature and existence of a supreme being, and as such is a bona fide religion.

I am tired of having their religious zeal rammed down the throats of the rest of us.

BTW, I was an atheist for 20 years before I came to the realization that as a belief system it cannot be scientifically justified.

16 posted on 01/06/2005 9:24:42 AM PST by Maceman (Too nuanced for a bumper sticker)
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To: MineralMan
I've done it many times, or at least have spoken at the usual time for an invocation.

What I do is to appeal for the members of the group I'm addressing to look within themselves and use their minds to come up with solutions for whatever issues they were there to deal with.

Huh?

From websters.com

in·vo·ca·tion Audio pronunciation of "Invocation" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (nv-kshn) n.

1. The act or an instance of invoking, especially an appeal to a higher power for assistance.
2. A prayer or other formula used in invoking, as at the opening of a religious service.
3.
1. The act of conjuring up a spirit by incantation.
2. An incantation used in conjuring.

17 posted on 01/06/2005 9:25:25 AM PST by frog_jerk_2004
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To: jim35
These suckers don't have a prayer.

That's their problem!

18 posted on 01/06/2005 9:26:22 AM PST by frog_jerk_2004
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To: missyme
Leaders say those who don't believe in God share a virtual consensus in favor of gay and abortion rights.

That figures.

19 posted on 01/06/2005 9:26:47 AM PST by spodefly (This message packaged with desiccant. Do not open until ready for use or inspection.)
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To: spodefly
Leaders say those who don't believe in God share a virtual consensus in favor of gay and abortion rights.

GASP!

20 posted on 01/06/2005 9:27:50 AM PST by frog_jerk_2004
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