June 1, 2009

A Message from President Herb Silverman

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Last Thursday, the nontheist movement achieved a new milestone when the Secular Coalition for America had its first individual meeting with White House officials. The Secular Coalition has met with White House officials before, but Thursday’s meeting was unique. It was not a coalition meeting with other organizations, but a special meeting between White House staff and representatives of the Secular Coalition. We had the opportunity to tell the White House who you are, what your policy interests are, and what concerns you.

We have made clear to White House officials that our coalition of nine national nontheistic organizations represents a full spectrum of nontheists. As the broadest, most diverse advocacy group for nontheists in Washington, D.C., we have the credibility to explain our political and cultural interests to our nation’s leaders and provide them with a window into what nontheists across America are thinking and doing in their communities. More importantly we are becoming an influential and increasingly organized constituency, and elected officials want to take our concerns into account.

The goal of the Secular Coalition has always been to increase the visibility of and respect for nontheists in America. Thursday’s meeting was one small step for the Secular Coalition, but an even more significant leap for nontheists everywhere.

My deepest thanks for all you do to support the work of the Secular Coalition for America,

Herb Silverman

President & Founder
Secular Coalition for America

On March 4th, I received an Action Alert email from the Secular Coalition for America.  This prompted me to write on the reasons why school vouchers for religious private schools violate the Establishment Clause, and are therefore a violation of the religious liberties of all, both religious and nonreligious.  I got an email again from the Secular Coalition for America.  This time it wasn’t asking for help, it was congratulating us on our success!

March 10, 2009

Congratulations! Today, the Senate defeated an amendment by Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) that would have continued the DC voucher program that enables federally funded religious proselytizing and discrimination.

Because you took a few minutes out of your day to write to your Senators, you helped to stop the continued funding of a program that pays for parents to send their children to private religious schools.

The Secular Coalition for America is proud of you and the fifty-eight U.S. Senators who voted against continuing to fund this program.  To see how your Senators voted, click here.

Please continue to support the work that we do by taking action in the future.

Congratulations again!

The Secular Coalition for America

National Journal Article: “The Godless Rise as a Political Force”

The National Journal has published an article on the growing power of nonreligious political lobbying.  It’s currently only available in the print publication or online to subscribers, so I can’t review it yet.  If you are a subscriber check it out and let me know how it is.  According to the Secular Coalition for America, it will eventually be available on their website.  Until then, they do have a slideshow available, “Faces of the Godless Movement,” with some background audio and images about the movement.

According to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (see graph below), as of 2005 44% of private schools were Roman Catholic and 37% had other “religious orientation or purpose,” for a total of 81% of private schools being religious.  Although the amount of schools with certain religious affiliations such as Roman Catholic has dropped since 1989, the vast majority of private schools are still religious.  The 1999-2000 Schools and Staffing Survey asked private and public school principals about their school goals.  While the top two goals of public school principals were basic literacy (80%) and academic excellence (70%), the top two goals of private school principals were academic excellence (66%) and religious/spiritual life (64%).

With such a large majority of private schools being religious, it follows that the majority of school vouchers would lead to taxpayers funding religious schools as opposed to private secular institutions.  Since a top goal of the majority of religious private schools is religious education, it follows that such taxpayer funding would inevitably fund religious education, which is blatantly unconstitutional.  Atheists certainly don’t want their money paying for education in a religion they don’t follow, and neither do members of differing religions or denominations of the school receiving the voucher funding.

In such a school, there is simply no way to assure that taxpayer money will not be paying for religious education without the government requiring that religion not be taught at all.  Even as an atheist, I recognize that such a requirement would be just as unconstitutional, and I would never propose such.  The Establishment Clause protects both the government from religious interference, as well as religion from government interference.  The only way I can see that would have vouchers fall within constitutional bounds would be to require vouchers only be used for the small minority of secular private schools, something those who demand “choice” would never allow.

There just doesn’t seem to be any good way to keep vouchers yet also protect our First Amendment rights, so I agreed with the Secular Coalition for America when they say to get rid of them altogether.

March 3, 2009

Dear Supporter,

The Senate will soon vote on an amendment to continue funding of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program for an additional year. This voucher program in the District of Columbia is supposed to give parents a “choice” of schools for their kids as an alternative to public schools, but in practice, the only choice the program provides parents is to send their children to private religious schools. Since Congress appropriates money directly to the D.C. government for this program, this means that your tax dollars are helping to fund the religious education of children in D.C.

TAKE ACTION NOW.

This program, a favorite of the Religious Right, was enacted as a “test” program in 2003 and set to expire after 2008.  The program has already been extended once without sufficient scrutiny.  Those Senators eager to continue spending federal dollars on religious education and religious proselytizing are trying to do it again.  They are attempting to circumvent the public scrutiny of Congressional hearings and reports on the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program that is required by current legislation.

Worse yet, this amendment is a deliberate effort to circumvent the public scrutiny of Congressional hearings and reports on the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program to which this program would otherwise be required to be subject to this year.

The Secular Coalition for America opposes the use of government funds for religious purposes, including vouchers for religious schools. We agree with the founders of the United States that no individual taxpayer should be required to pay for someone else’s religion.

Help us end funding for this program by writing to your Senators now.

TAKE ACTION NOW.

Best wishes,
Secular Coalition for America

February 18, 2009

Dear Supporter,

Congratulations! Yesterday, President Obama signed into law an economic stimulus package that DID NOT include funding for the Compassion Capital Fund.

Because you took a few minutes out of your day and wrote to your Senators, you helped to stop $100 million from being funneled to religious organizations that otherwise would have been permitted to engage in discriminatory hiring practices.

The Secular Coalition for America is proud of you and the U.S. Senators who worked on the conference report for making sure that faith-based funding was not included in the stimulus package.

We have had several great victories so far this year: an attempt to use taxpayer dollars for divinity schools and other religious buildings on college campuses was rejected, as was an attempt to re-instate the Global Gag Rule that President Obama had overturned a week earlier.

Please continue to support the work that we do by taking action and by supporting us financially.

Congratulations again!

The Secular Coalition for America

EVENT NOTICE

WHO:   Mary Bellamy, Assistant Director for Programs, and Woody Kaplan, Advisory Board Chair, Secular Coalition for America
WHAT:  Ethical Culture Society of Rockland County
WHEN:   Sun., Feb. 8, 10:45 a.m.
WHERE:  Peace Through Play Nursery School, 8 Amber Ridge Road, Chestnut Ridge, New York

Mary and Woody hope to meet you in Chestnut Ridge where they will be speaking to the Ethical Culture Society of Rockland County at 10:45 am on Sunday, February 8, concerning “More Than A Presidential Shout-out:  How the nation’s first lobbying organization for nontheists is working to remove the theocratic yoke from our federal government.”

Last week, the House of Representatives included $100 million for the Compassion Capital Fund in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the economic stimulus package. The Compassion Capital Fund was a key component of George W. Bush’s controversial faith-based funding program and has been singled out by watchdog groups for its inability to ensure that religious groups receiving tax dollars are not breaching the constitutional separation of church and state.

On Monday, the Senate is expected to begin voting on the passage of the economic stimulus package; their version currently does not contain money for this faith-based initiative and it’s important you make sure it stays that way.

Take action now!

The Religious Right is lobbying hard for this back door funding, and it’s time for us to fight back. It is imperative that you send a strong message to your Senators today asking them to take a stand now and in the future against funding a highly criticized program that violates the separation of church and state.

Take action now!

Best wishes,
Secular Coalition for America