A Voice In Washington
Atheists are undoubtedly the least represented group in America. All one needs to do is ask the question. If a candidate is identified as an atheist do they have any chance at all of being elected?
Atheists Have A Lobbyist, Too
It's quite possibly the last special interest group to establish a voice in Washington. The Secular Coalition for America has hired Lori Lipman Brown as its congressional lobbyist and national voice. Brown's main job? To educate the public about mistaken notions regarding atheists while making sure religion doesn't get a ringside seat at issue debates.
Brown plans to monitor several issues closely, including stem cell research, access to emergency contraception, physician-assisted suicide, school vouchers and faith-based initiatives. But her first foray into federal lobbying focused on an issue that caught the eye and ire of Brown: an education reauthorization bill that passed last month.
The House reauthorized Head Start with a controversial provision allowing faith-based organizations that run Head Start programs to hire teachers using religious preference as a qualification. Brown calls the provision "religious discrimination" and has joined the Unitarian Universalist Association, the Interfaith Alliance and the Coalition Against Religious Discrimination, among other church-state separation groups, to lobby the Senate to strike out any religion-based hiring provisions.
"When you give my federal tax dollars to a religious institution, you're freeing up other money for religious activities," Brown said.
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Note the alliances that this new lobbyist is forming: it makes both political and cultural sense. Last month, I wondered aloud in the blog what this government might be like if the Bushies had been nurtured on Alan Watts instead of James Dobson.
I cannot believe it! A lobby group for us, wow! Like the name too, The Secular Coalition. The issues which this coalition raises are important and not frivolous. Some atheist groups waste their time with some issues that are rather esoteric, but this coaltion seems to have its s* together. Hope is in the air. Norm, you always provide such comfort with my morning tea. Although, after teasing us one morning with that spoof about Bush and Cheney being indicted, I am a little cautious at first blush before getting too excited... :)
JoAnn,
Funny that you mentioned that spoof. When Libby acutally got indicted that was the number one link on MSN search for libby indicted. I got a fair amount of traffic from it. I wonder what they thought when they read the actual post.
Atheists rock. WE don't kill in God's name.
Baseball needs an atheist charter:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2005-11-06-faith-edit_x.htm
excerpt:
The evangelical outreach is particularly well-organized in baseball, where a ministry based in Pennsylvania called Baseball Chapel provides chaplains for all 30 major league teams, for all their minor league affiliates and for many communities in baseball-loving Latin America.
Yup, the article about baseball yet another example of Christian dominance, particularly in sports. Same thing with drag racing. At least these practices are being challenged. They agreed that other religions should be respresented, but made no mention of those who don't believe in any religion.
Norm, who knows what they thought, but amusing to ponder. Probably thought we're all a bunch of wishful thinkers. But what you posted may come to pass. John Dean seems to think that there is more to this investigation than what is evident to most people and that Libby is bait for bigger fish. Wonder how many new posters to onegoodmove came from that? There seem to be a lot of Anon posters lately.