An atheist organization has launched a national legislative effort urging government to strike down laws that protect the Biblical convictions of Christians, and to promote legislation that is antithetical to Christian values.
The Secular Coalition of America, led by executive director Edwina Rogers, says that it is working to set up lobbying groups in every state in the nation, which will seek to influence legislation on both a state and national level.
“Despite the fact that there are tens of millions of nontheistic Americans, we remain one of the most marginalized groups in the country. The Secular Coalition for America is working to make sure that we are heard on Capitol Hill,” it writes on its webpage about the project. “We fight in Washington, D.C. against religious privileging on a federal level, yet some of the most egregious violations of separation of church and state are being promoted and passed at a state level.”
“Our chapters will bring together secular Americans in each state to influence government officials, legislation, and regulations,” it continues. “A Secular Coalition for America state chapter is unlike any other nontheistic state organization—it brings together interested organizations and individuals for the exclusive purpose of lobbying government officials.”
The group says that it will provide training in lobbying and media tactics, networking between states, and will hold ten conference calls a year to discuss laws that it wishes to oppose or propose. According to its website, it has developed an organized plan state-by-state in coordinating its conference calls so as to collaborate in the steps that it wishes to take. The Secular Coalition for America has already conducted calls in Colorado, Virginia, Kentucky, Texas, Arkansas, California and others, and recently launched its next “phase” in New York, North Carolina, Tennessee and Washington.
“[T]he Secular Coalition for America can fund any resources chapters need to combat dangerous legislation, so chapters do not have to spend valuable lobbying time fundraising, and can make more resources available quickly to fight particular egregious legislation,” it states. “[I]t allows for expansion across the country to create the network that will benefit every chapter; and it ensures states where religious practice is high and economic status is low can fight legislation that could potentially spread to nearby states.”
However, some are very disturbed about the organization’s plans to erase God from American culture through its use of mass lobbying.
“Anything that’s religious, particularly anything that’s Christian, needs to be censored, in their view,” Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel told OneNewsNow. “So I think that as believers we ought to take this very seriously, and we need to make sure that our voice is represented as well.”
In a recent news release from Secular Coalition of America, the group outlined its plans regarding fighting proposed laws in the state of Mississippi. The list includes standing against religious exemptions from immunizations, prayer in schools, the Personhood Amendment, tax deductions for homeschooling parents and more.
The efforts will be mirrored across the country, with many other Christian-oriented issues to be opposed, such as the teaching of Intelligent Design in the classroom.
“We take issues with laws that attempt to promote ID or creationism because they are thinly-veiled attempts to advance a nonscientific position and promote religious ideology in publicly-funded science classrooms and schools,” Lauren Anderson Youngblood, the communications director for the organization, told Christian News Network.
Regarding conscience clauses that protect medical personnel, “Pharmacists are employed in the field of medicine, not spirituality,” she said. “They have the right to consider their own religious beliefs in determining what medical decisions they make for their own care, but their personal religion should never determine the care they give their customers and patients.”
However, while the Secular Coalition of America will be working to oppose legislation respecting Christian convictions, its website outlines that it is supportive of laws in favor of homosexuality and abortion, which Christians denounce as unBiblical.
The lobbying group is comprised of eleven member organizations, which include the Society for Humanistic Judaism, American Humanist Association, Secular Student Alliance, Atheist Alliance America and others.
Photo: BDEngler
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