Atheists Organizing

I was going to comment on this yesterday, but got sidelined. An article appeared in the Christian Science Monitor yesterday that gave a good description of the growing assertiveness of secularists and atheists in the country. Now this isn't in my mind a necessarily bad thing. A civil discussion of the issues of religion and secularism is a good thing. And not everyone is as rabid as Dawkins and Harris.

I found most interesting the discussion of the creation of the Secular Coalition for America, which is being organized in part as a lobbying group and as a support network. It advocates for non-theists, but it asserts that it welcomes and believes in religious toleration.

Still, the group makes clear on its website that while it promotes reason and science as the bases for policy making, it also supports religious tolerance.

"I have absolutely no problem with anyone believing differently than I believe, as long as they don't impose their religion on me or my government," says Ms. Brown, a former Nevada state senator.

To spotlight the prejudice against atheists holding public office - and to encourage atheists to "come out of the closet," SCA is sponsoring a contest to identify the highest US official who acknowledges being a nonbeliever. They expect to announce contest results in February.

As for their first premise, I too would support the promotion of reason and science as bases for policy making. I think that would be a good thing, and it would be a welcome change from the current way of operating. I would also be interested to learn who is the highest ranking non-believer!

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