President's Message
Written by Stuart Bechman   
Sunday, 07 September 2008 19:45
This month's issue of Rational Alternative has an article on the legal definition of pornography and how it intersects with religious morays. Yet we find our US legal system to be saturated with laws derived from religious beliefs and prejudices; and even today religious leaders continue to demand that the strictures of their particular faith be codified into laws that all Americans, regardless of their religious belief or non-belief, must obey.

Such an example looms large this election season in California, with the mounting of a state constitutional amendment on the November ballot - Proposition 8 - to restrict the granting of marital rights and recognition to heterosexual couples.

AU's board passed a resolution to oppose Proposition 8 and to work with other political activist groups such as Equality California to see it defeated. We did so, because we understood that the right to marry and choose one's family has long been recognized as a fundamental human right, codified in international agreements such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The recognition of human rights is a vital and foundational cornerstone of civilization and humanity. Further, as an organization and community that upholds the values of reason and evidence, we noted that there was absolutely no evidence that sexual orientation had any bearing on the success of a family or the health of its children. But Proposition 8 is a measure fueled by religious prejudice and a faulty - some might say twisted - knowledge of history and biology to deny those rights to one segment of our society and marginalize them.

We atheists know something about being marginalized. In the face of all of this, it was easy for the board of Atheists United to take a stand against Proposition 8.
At the request of Equality California, we are asking as many of our local and Meet-up groups as are willing to take and provide pictures of their group with "No on Prop 8" signs to be forwarded to EQCA and posted on their website.

But ballot measures aren't the only place in American politics where religion is being placed front and center at the expense of freethinkers. In the past week, the two presumed presidential candidates of the two largest political parties participated in a nationally-televised forum hosted by Evangelical pastor Rick Warren at his church, Saddleback Church, in Orange County. No one in the national media or government seemed to bat an eye to this unprecedented intrusion of religiosity in our national presidential campaign. While there was some brief coverage given to issues that presidential candidates might normally be expected to address, such as foreign policy and the economy, we mostly heard about each candidate's relationship to Jesus Christ and how they stand on the issues that Religious Right leaders have long deemed to be most important, such as abortion and same-sex marriage.

How could they get away with this? Because the freethought movement remains a silent and invisible force in American politics.

But there is hope. In late August, a new Pew Research study was released that indicated that a disillusionment between the mixing of politics and religion in the US was accelerating. The percentage of Americans who think churches need to stay out of politics has reversed from 1996, when 54% of Americans thought it was OK, to this year when a majority now think that churches should stay completely away. The shift has been most dramatic in conservative circles: Whereas in 1996, only 37% of Republicans thought that church and state needed to be kept separate, those numbers now match the 50+% of Democrats and Independents. That's a huge demographic shift in our favor.
Another question disclosed that the number of Americans who are uncomfortable with political candidates talking about their religious piety have also risen, from 40% in 2004 to 46% this election season. And nearly half of Americans (48%) now believe that religious conservatives have too much control over the Republican Party. (But to be fair, the percentage who believe that "secular liberals" have too much control over the Democratic Party has also gone up, from 37% to 43%.) Among those who rate gay marriage as a top voting issue, the percentage who believe that churches have too much say in American politics has soared since 2004 from 25% to 50%.

There are some numbers that have remained steady. For instance, 2/3 of Americans still hold that churches and other houses of worship should not be endorsing political candidates, and Americans remain evenly mixed about whether our political leaders express their religious beliefs too much, too little, or just enough.

The freethought movement is also making an effort to raise its visibility this election season. In June, the board of the Secular Coalition for America endorsed a campaign for its member groups to poll political candidates with a list of questions of interest to secular Americans, and to compile and publish their findings. (The questionnaire is available on our website.) Atheists United will be sending out our questionnaires this month with the intent of reporting our findings in the next newsletter. We are also encouraging our members to contact candidates and ask them those same questions, to remind them that they need to be sensitive to the issues of importance to us.

Our political voice is only as loud as we are willing to use it. In this campaign season, with campaigns selling their candidate as the most pious, it is more important than ever to remind them of the 15%-plus of Americans who value reason over faith and evidence over revelation.

Speaking of politics and campaigns, I want to mention that board nominations are being gathered this month for our 2009 board. I want to encourage active AU members who want to do more to consider putting their name in to run for the 2009 board of directors. We will have several members stepping down at the end of this year, and we will need to find fresh blood and new ideas to keep our forward momentum. AU is as active and relevant as the people who sit on the board decide it will be. The only requirement to run for the board is to have been a member for at least six months. And residential location is less of an issue than ever: As we move into the 21st century, the board has also progressed to the point of offering an electronic call-in option to save board members from having to drive hours to attend a board meeting. I would love to see several new board members from our outlying groups come join us to add your vision of how AU can serve the larger area.

As you ponder your candidates both for AU and for your local, state, and national governments, I'd like to encourage those of you who are connected to the Internet to surf on over and check out AU's new website. We've moved to a new platform that we expect to allow us to provide a much more focused level of service and information for you. This new platform provides an option for you to register on the site and give us your preferences on when and on what topics you want to hear from AU, allows you to post your own material and comments, provides access to areas of our website available only to AU members, and allows you to provide feedback on what you're interested in and what you'd like to see AU doing more of. I encourage all of our members to check it out and sign up.
Finally, I presume that most of you will be missing our September general meeting to attend the AAI Convention in Long Beach. AU will have a table there and will have a free gift for all AU members and those who become members or renew their membership while at the convention. As usual, we need volunteers to help with this table coverage; if you can help, please contact me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .