07/03/2009

 

This Fourth of July, those who identify themselves as non-believers, or humanists, or atheists—or a whole host of other names which signify a nontheistic worldview—have much cause for celebration. After eight years in the Bush wilderness—and an even longer period of ostracism by the Washington political establishment—a rising demographic of like-minded Americans and a new president are guiding us back to our roots as a secular nation.

“We have generally been a pariah group in America,” says Woody Kaplan, Advisory Board Chair of the Secular Coalition for America. “Pretty much unrecognized by the political establishment. Yet there’s almost no religious group in America as large as us…. We were that third rail that politicians failed to touch.”

Indeed when the Obama Administration invited the Coalition to the White House for a meeting in May it marked a stark departure from recent history.

“Joe Lieberman famously talked about the constitution providing for freedom of religion but not freedom from religion—and questioned the possibility of non-believers to be ethical human beings,” Kaplan says. “Suffice it to say we were never invited as an identity group into the Bush White House. But interestingly enough… we were only invited into the Clinton White House under the rubric of core civil rights or civil liberties interests, and not as an identity group of nontheists.”

Things began to change shortly after then-Senator Obama announced his candidacy for president.

“He was on one of those talking head shows,” Kaplan says. “And he was talking about Dr. King’s arc of the moral universe bending towards justice. He followed that with ‘no matter what your belief system’—and he made a list, a litany—‘whether you’re Christian or Jewish or Muslim or have no religion at all.’”

Within a week the Coalition approached Obama. They let him know they had never been part of that “list” before—never had had a seat at the table—and they would appreciate it if he would continue to include them whenever appropriate.

As Herb Silverman, the Coalition’s President says, “Lip service is better than no service at all.”

“It’s helpful in bringing us out of the closet,” Kaplan says.

Obama agreed and remained true to his word. And then came the moment approximately 50 million Americans—who identify themselves with terms like agnostic, atheist, materialist, humanist, nontheist, skeptic, bright, freethinker, agnostic, naturalist, or non-believer—will never forget. In his inauguration speech, Obama said, “…Our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and non-believers.” Two weeks later he talked about “non-believers” and “humanists” at the National Prayer Breakfast.

Kaplan gives a sense of both the historical and personal significance of Obama’s words.

“The shock came at the inaugural speech—arguably the biggest speech a President ever makes—and he listed us there” he says. “And he’s continued to do that—he mentioned us twice at Notre Dame. And then he did it [this month] in Normandy. I can’t tell you what a pariah group feels about those statements. For the first time we have a seat at the table. We’re not thought of, evidently, as automatically unethical.”

After meetings with the Obama transition team in coalition with other groups interested in church-state issues, the Secular Coalition for America was invited to the White House for its own meeting with Associate Director of Public Engagement Paul Monteiro. Kaplan, Silverman, Legislative Director Sasha Bartolf, and Associate Director Ron Millar all attended.

“It was the first time a nontheistic group met privately with the White House,” Silverman says. “So in large part we just got to know each other… to have them learn more about our constituency, how many people we represent.”

The Coalition described the “full spectrum of nontheists it represents” within its nine member organizations. (Now ten, with the recent addition of American Atheists). Among those organizations are the Society for Humanistic Judaism, Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers, and the American Humanist Association. The Obama Administration expressed particular interest in reaching out to the Secular Student Alliance. The Coalition also addressed some of the issues of greatest concern to nontheists, including coercive religious proselytizing in the military, faith-based initiatives, and employment discrimination.

“We also pointed out that we are much more unified than we used to be, and so we hope our needs will be taken into account,” Silverman says. “And that we watch legislation, we watch what politicians say. And we think that it could be beneficial to the Administration for them to take our point of view into account, just like they do for other interest groups. I think they did get the message in the White House…. We’re hoping now to become players in all three branches of government.”

As the Coalition continues to carry out its mission of increasing the visibility of—and respect for—nontheistic viewpoints, and protecting the secular character of our government, it seems to be moving forward with great confidence. This comes as no surprise, given the fact that there are now more nontheists in America than Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Mormons and Jews combined, and the organization itself has made huge strides.

Kaplan describes the Coalition’s transformation from its founding in 2002 with a sole employee and “half a year’s money in the bank”, to having a full-time lobby shop. That shop includes newly hired Executive Director Sean Faircloth.

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