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Groups wants atheists included in DNC interfaith service
The Colorado Springs Gazette ^ | August 15, 2008 | By MARK BARNA

Posted on 08/15/2008 11:09:34 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer

The Democratic National Convention's Aug. 24 interfaith service in Denver is supposed to be about unity.

But to a Washington, D.C., coalition that supports nontheistic views, it's about division.

The Secular Coalition Group, a lobbying organization for church-and-state separation, is pushing to get an atheist on the speaker list, and contends the service is divisive because it alienates nonreligious Democrats at a time when the party needs to unite to support the presumptive nominee, Sen. Barack Obama.

"We can all hold different beliefs," said the group's executive director, Lori Lipman Brown, "but we can still come together as patriotic Americans."

The interfaith service, the first official event of the Democratic National Convention, has Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Buddhist speakers on the roster. Convention CEO Leah D. Daughtry, a Pentecostal minister, said in a statement that the purpose of the first-ever Democratic Convention service is "to honor the diverse faith traditions inside the Democratic Party."

Brown said the coalition wrote Daughtry twice in July asking for inclusion but has received no response. She said Thursday she didn't know if the group would make another request.

Natalie Wyeth, a convention spokesperson, said Wednesday that everyone, regardless of belief, is welcome at the public service, but would not address if an atheist would be added to the speaker list.

"The goal is to come together in the spirit of unity and start the week off right," Wyeth said.

Becky Hale, a founder of the atheist group Freethinkers of Colorado Springs, said the service discriminates against nonbelieving Democrats.

"By reaching out to people of faith," Hale said, "they have shown the back of their hand to those who do not believe."

Marvin Straus, co-founder of the Boulder Atheists and part of the Colorado Coalition of Reason, which includes 11 state atheist groups, said some organizations are planning to protest during the Aug. 25-28 convention because of the Democrats' "pandering" for the religious vote. But no protests are planned to take place during the Aug. 24 interfaith service.

Religion - or lack thereof - has already made headlines in the months leading up to the convention. In June, the Madison,Wis.-based Freedom from Religion Foundation, a 12,000-member watchdog group for the separation of church and state, erected a billboard near the Colorado Convention Center that proclaimed "Imagine No Religion." In early August the sign was changed to "Keep Religion Out of Politics."

During the convention, the foundation will fund mobile billboards asking for church-state separation and broadcasting its view that religion is divisive.

"Faith does not unite us," Freedom co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor said. "And this is a time when we should be in unity behind our secular government."


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Colorado
KEYWORDS: 2008; 2008dncconvention; 2ugly4words; antitheism; antitheist; atheism; atheismandstate; atheistsupremacists; culturewar; democrats; denver2008; dnc; irreligiousleft; religiousintolerance; religiousleft; thenogodgod; vermin
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Democratic National Convention interfaith service Where: Wells Fargo Theatre inside the Colorado Convention Center, 700 14th St., Denver When: 2 p.m. Aug. 24 Cost: Free, but tickets are required and can be obtained at www.demconvention.com/interfaith, or by calling 1-720-362-2520.
1 posted on 08/15/2008 11:09:34 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
Groups wants atheists included in DNC interfaith service

But Atheists have no faith. Why include them?

2 posted on 08/15/2008 11:13:56 AM PDT by dragonblustar (Once abolish the God, and the government becomes the God - G. K. Chesterton)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

There are no religious democrats. Lieberman is an Independent.


3 posted on 08/15/2008 11:15:39 AM PDT by mimaw
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To: dragonblustar

Because those who believe in nothing will believe anything.


4 posted on 08/15/2008 11:15:40 AM PDT by henkster (Politics is the art of telling a bigger and more believable lie more often than your opponent)
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To: dragonblustar
they'll fit right in between the Episcopalians and the Universalists.
5 posted on 08/15/2008 11:16:42 AM PDT by dblshot
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
It is so absurd at how the democrats abhor “divisiveness”, unless of course it is about division over of what is good, pure and right. They don't mind setting being divisive with those who are pro-life, against sodomy, patriotic, and who support morality.
6 posted on 08/15/2008 11:16:48 AM PDT by MBB1984
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To: dblshot

Have you heard that many ambulances were caled to a local Universalist service?

Yes, someone accidently mentioned God.


7 posted on 08/15/2008 11:21:04 AM PDT by alarm rider (Peace! through superior fire power....)
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To: dragonblustar
But Atheists have no faith. Why include them?

Yeah...they never invite us to any of their extra-faith events.

8 posted on 08/15/2008 11:21:33 AM PDT by gundog (John McCain is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

I thought atheists were the only ones allowed.


9 posted on 08/15/2008 11:23:05 AM PDT by Niteranger68 (National Enquirer - The paper of record.)
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To: dragonblustar

I guess they need a platform so they can thank each other for all their good work in keeping the world safe from sensibility.


10 posted on 08/15/2008 11:23:44 AM PDT by BelegStrongbow (what part of 'mias gunaikos andra' do Episcopalians not understand?)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

So this is the athiests themselves pretty much arguing they are just another religion?


11 posted on 08/15/2008 11:24:21 AM PDT by Dreagon
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To: Dreagon

Exactly. They get all steamed up when they are told that it is impossible to NOT have faith in something or someone but yet they are admitting here that they ARE a sect with definite beliefs.


12 posted on 08/15/2008 11:30:35 AM PDT by Arkansas Toothpick
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

But the atheists on FR insist that atheism is not a religion and that it is not a faith in a no-god god.

They claim it just ‘is’. Of course, they try to convert others to their belief system and spout hatred of the other faiths.


13 posted on 08/15/2008 11:30:46 AM PDT by weegee (Hi there.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

The Secular Coalition Group, a lobbying organization for church-and-state separation, is pushing to get an atheist on the speaker list, and contends the service is divisive because it alienates nonreligious Democrats at a time when the party needs to unite to support the presumptive nominee, Sen. Barack Obama.
“We can all hold different beliefs,” said the group’s executive director, Lori Lipman Brown, “but we can still come together as patriotic Americans.”

If you are coming together to support Obama then how do you consider yourself as Patriotic Americans?


14 posted on 08/15/2008 11:30:59 AM PDT by SECURE AMERICA (Got Freedom ? Thank a Veteran...... Want to keep Freedom? Don't vote Obama)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

I guess you have to have faith that there is no God ...which makes atheistism a religion, no????


15 posted on 08/15/2008 11:36:25 AM PDT by SkyDancer ("What Our Enemies Couldn't Do To Us Our Liberal Democrat Politicians Will")
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

If they just changed their name from atheists to Global Warming Believers they would be welcomed with open arms and deep respect...


16 posted on 08/15/2008 11:40:01 AM PDT by Abathar (Proudly posting without reading the article carefully since 2004)
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To: alarm rider

well and why do atheists call their place a church — why not a meeting hall?


17 posted on 08/15/2008 11:43:16 AM PDT by applpie
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

White racists from the Robert Byrd Foundation have asked to speak at the Black Democrats dinner.

“We can all hold different beliefs,” said the group’s director, “but we can still come together as patriotic Americans.”
“The goal is to come together in the spirit of unity and start the week off right,” one said.

“By reaching out to people of color,” another said, “they have shown the back of their hand to those who do pigment.”


18 posted on 08/15/2008 11:46:59 AM PDT by AppyPappy (If you aren't part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem.)
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To: Arkansas Toothpick
Exactly. They get all steamed up when they are told that it is impossible to NOT have faith in something or someone but yet they are admitting here that they ARE a sect with definite beliefs.

So...I'm starting a car club for people who don't own cars...who want's to join?!?

19 posted on 08/15/2008 11:52:51 AM PDT by Zeppelin (Keep on FReepin' on...)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Atheism is a deeply mystical religion after all.


20 posted on 08/15/2008 11:56:37 AM PDT by <1/1,000,000th%
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