Nonbeliever Nation, The Rise of Secular Americans by David Niose

Author:David Niose [Niose, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

A SECULAR MOVEMENT EMERGES

The election of George W. Bush in 2000 was a wake-up call to many Secular Americans. Whatever the good intentions of the people and organizations that had been opposing the Religious Right for two decades, there was no denying that those efforts were failing miserably. Bush had run on a platform of anti-intellectualism, scoffing at “elitist” academics, mispronouncing his words, and frequently referencing faith and conservative religious positions. He gave fundamentalist leaders access to his White House and made it clear that he sided with them on all the key issues—public expressions of faith and prayer, restrictions on women’s rights to abortion, the funneling of tax dollars to Christian churches via faith-based initiatives, and even the opposition of stem cell research. Many were especially incensed that Bush’s vocal religiosity didn’t prevent him from pushing seemingly un-Christian public policy positions, as when he called for slashing taxes on corporations and the wealthiest individuals, cutting back on social spending, escalating military budgets, and, eventually, utilizing military force in Iraq. Bush’s presidency had all the markings of a government heavily influenced by conservative, fundamentalist religion.

The nation was sharply divided after Bush’s election in 2000. Not only did Bush lose the popular vote, but the election highlighted the deep cultural divide that separated social conservatives from more moderate and progressive Americans. This was an election that showed a clear map of blue states in the northeast and Pacific coast and red states in the south and interior. This division in American politics highlighted the so-called culture wars, calling attention to the vastly different worldviews of the Religious Right and Secular Americans, though at the time, the notion of an identity-oriented secular movement had not yet taken root. Given the failure to contain the Religious Right, however, it was becoming clear that new approaches were needed.

The September 11 attacks—a fine example of religious motivation at its worst—occurred in the first year of Bush’s presidency, and it was in the atmosphere of post-September 11 that leaders from several secular organizations met and formed the Secular Coalition for America (SCA). They were led by secular activist Herb Silverman, a math professor who made waves in the 1990s when he ran for governor of South Carolina in order to challenge that state’s prohibition against atheists holding public office. After years of battling state authorities, he eventually succeeded in challenging the state law. With that experience under his belt, he started working with national and local groups on secular activism. Silverman quickly discovered the disunity and lack of focus that prevailed in the community of organized secularism, and it was this frustration that led him to envision a coalition of the various groups and individuals that could grow into a movement. Those efforts eventually bore fruit with the formation of the SCA in December 2002.

The SCA’s mission is to raise the profile of Secular Americans and to demonstrate to politicians, the media, and the public that nonbelievers are an important part of the citizenry that is finally starting to organize.

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