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National Secular Movement Update
Newsletter and Call
Call Every Thursday from 12PM - 12:30PM (ET)
Phone Number: 559-726-1300 Code: 199568
January 10, 2013
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
After 10 years, last week we said goodbye to our founding President, Herb Silverman, and welcomed our new president, David Niose. We welcomed Amanda Metskas as our new vice president and Patty Guzikowski as our new secretary.
The Secular Coalition is excited to announce that registration is now open for the 2013 Lobby Day and Secular Summit! Lobby Day will be held on Capitol Hill from April 24, 2012 through April 26, 2013. Register, book your hotel, and get more information at the Lobby Day site.
Last week the 113th Congress was sworn in. Executive Director, Edwina Rogers and Government Relations Manager, Chris Lombardi attended numerous events and met directly with more than 30 Senators and Representatives.
The Supreme Court announced the dates that it will hear challenges to same sex marriage legislation. On March 26 the Court will hear one hour arguments on California's Prop 8 and on March 27 the Court will hear one hour arguments on the federal Defense of Marriage Act. The Secular Coalition is keeping a close eye on two recently introduced bills: one a bill to establish that life begins at fertilization, The Sanctity of Human Life Act (H.R. 23) and the other a bill to repeal the 1954 Johnson Amendment (H.R. 127) thereby allowing churches and exempt organizations to explicitly endorse political candidates.
Table of Contents:
I. White House and Congressional Update
II. Secular Events and Calendar
III. Secular Movement in the News
IV. Legislative and Regulatory Update
V. Judicial
VI. SCA State Chapters
VII. Policy and Research Documents
VIII. Secular Coalition Expansion
IX. SCA Member and Associated Organization Announcements
X. Movement Charity Updates and Activities
Please join our movement today! Follow this link to the SCA sign-up page.
I. White House and Congressional Update
- House of Representatives: The House returns to session on Monday January 14.
- Senate: The Senate will remain out of session until Tuesday, January 22.
- White House: In addition to preparing for inaugural activities on January 21, the White House will conduct meetings on gun violence. On Wednesday the Vice President will meet with gun safety advocates and on Thursday he will meet with the NRA. The President ordered that a report and recommendations be presented to him by the end of January.
- UN: The UN General Assembly closed in late December without seeing the return of the so-called "defamation of religions" resolution. The fact that there was not nearly enough international support for such a resolution bodes very well for secularists. However, as it has in years past, the General Assembly did approve several imperfect resolutions concerning the rights to freedom of religion, belief, and expression (A/RES/67/178 and A/RES/67/178). While these resolutions do make clear that the rights to freedom of religion, belief, and expression are universal and should be protected by all states, they also continue to reference problematic terminology -- such as "advocacy of religious hatred" and "incitement to hostility" -- that states have used to restrict these rights. The most obvious of example is Alexander Aan, the Indonesian atheist who was convicted of "incitement to religious hatred or hostility" and sentenced to 30 months in prison, merely for posting on Facebook about atheism. Rest assured that secular advocacy groups such as CFI will continue to lobby on this kind of language moving forward.
For UN-related questions or remarks for these meetings can email mdedora@centerforinquiry.net. More information on the Committee and all its events can be found at http://unforb.wordpress.com/ (Thank you to Michael DeDora for this update, mdedora@centerforinquiry.net, 646.706.6080). Otherwise, contact Edwina Rogers, Executive Director, Edwina Rogers, at Edwina@secular.org or by phone at 202-299-101 ext. 207 or cell: 202-674-7800.
II. Secular Events and Calendar
The National Secular Calendar is on the Secular Coalition Website Homepage. The calendar includes major secular events, state chapter calls, Secular Coalition speeches, and national secular calls. If you have an event to add, or questions, please e-mail nathan@secular.org
Upcoming Conferences and Events
- March 28, 2013 - American Atheists National Convention, Austin, Texas
- April 24-26, 2013 - Secular Coalition's 2013 Lobby Day & Secular Summit
- April 27, 2013- "Why Tolerate Religion?" A CFI Symposium
- May 4, 2013 - Freethought Alliance Conference, Anaheim, California
- May 30, 2013- American Humanist Association Annual Conference, San Diego, California
- June 19, 2013 - 3:00 pm - Unitarian Universalists General Assembly, Louisville, Kentucky
- June 21, 2013 - Secular Student Alliance 2013 Las Vegas Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada
- July 12, 2013- Secular Student Alliance 2013, Columbus Ohio
Upcoming Meetings
- Rep. Todd Young (R-IN), January 17 at 10:00am
- Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN), January 24 at 3:30pm
Anything to add? Contact Nathan Cox at nathan@secular.org. Please let us know if you'd like to attend one of these meetings: If you are interested, please contact Chris Lombardi at chris@secular.org for anything legislation-related.
III. Secular Movement In the News
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more news!
Secular Coalition in the News
Other News, Blog Posts, Press Releases
Future Events
Are there any upcoming issues or events that the movement needs to coordinate press around?
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- January 16 - National Religious Freedom Day
- February 8-10 - Evolution Weekend
- February 12 - Darwin Day
- March 29- April 6 - Atheist Week (Facebook)
- April 24-26 - SCA's Lobby Day and Summit
- May 2 - National Day of Reason
Have something to add to the calendar? Contact nathan@secular.org. For press inquiries, updates and other media related information, contact lauren@secular.org.
IV. Legislative and Regulatory Update
Federal
- On the first day of Congress, two bills were introduced in the House that we will keep track of going forward.
- Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) introduced a bill to establish that life begins at fertilization, The Sanctity of Human Life Act (H.R. 23). One of the 18 current cosponsors is former Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan.
- Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) introduced a bill to repeal the 1954 Johnson Amendment (H.R. 127) thereby allowing churches and exempt organizations to explicitly endorse political candidates.
- Chris and Edwina attended numerous swearing-in receptions last Wednesday and Thursday. This gave us the opportunity to meet face to face with more than 30 Senators and Representatives.
- Last week, we mentioned that Kelly and Chris both attended an event at the Brookings Institution on the topic of the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. The transcript and audio for that event are now available. The audio can be found here. The transcript can be found here. Chris had the opportunity to ask a question and the transcript for the question and answer begins on page 46.
- The Supreme Court announced the dates that it will hear challenges to same sex marriage legislation. On March 26 the Court will hear one hour arguments on California's Prop 8 and on March 27 the Court will hear one hour arguments on the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
- Our annual Secular Summit and Lobby Day will be April 24-26 in Washington D.C. We have a limited number of rooms available at the event hotel (Hyatt Regency Washington) and there is an early bird registration rate through February 15. For more information, or to register, click here.
- President Obama announced his nominees for Secretary of State (Senator John Kerry, D-MA), Secretary of Defense (former Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-NE), CIA Director (John Brennan), and Treasury Secretary (Jack Lew). All four officials will have to be confirmed by the Senate.
Legislative and Regulatory Update Calls
Every other week on Tuesdays at 2pm a call featuring federal policy decision makers. Speakers will include Democratic and Republican House and Senate Staff members, Department of Defense, Education, and Health and Human Services policy officials. We expect to feature at least one decision maker per call.
***Calls will resume on January 22.***
Current donors will receive an invitation; if you are interested in participating in these calls, please donate today!
Contact Chris Lombardi, Government Relations Manager for the SCA, with additional suggestions or information at chris@secular.org.
State Legislative and Regulatory Update
- State Bills of Concern:
- Montana - LC599 a covert creationism bill seeks to "teach the controversy" of evolution in science classrooms
- South Carolina - HB 3100/ SB 103 - 'South Carolina Public Proceedings First Amendment Protection Act' - "No locality, municipality, county, or other instrumentality of the State of South Carolina has the power to violate the First Amendment of the United States Constitution or Section 2, Article I of the Constitution of South Carolina, 1895 at any time, including during the course of its proceedings."
- Texas - HB 308- schools may display nativity scenes as a traditional winter display and does not relate to a religious belief
- Arkansas - HB 1017 - to adopt curriculum standards for an academic study of the bible
- Illinois HB 88- Provides a property tax exemption for parking areas owned by any religious institution
- New York AB 1112- Provides for the establishment of a voluntary chaplaincy program for the public schools
- If you seen any bills that concern secular issues in your state, please email Kelly@secular.org with the state and bill number in the subject line.
Current donors will receive an invitation; if you are interested in participating in these calls, please donate today!
Contact Chris Lombardi, Government Relations Manager for the SCA, with additional suggestions or information at chris@secular.org.
V. Judicial
- Student Loses Religious Challenge To School-Required RFID Badge. A Texas federal district court refused to grant a preliminary injunction to a high school student who objected on religious grounds to wearing an ID badge containing a radio chip, as the school required of its students, claiming that wearing the badge would be the “mark of the beast.” The school superintendent offered to accommodate the student’s religious beliefs by allowing her to wear the badge with the RFID chip removed. The court rejected the plaintiff’s free exercise, free expression, due process and equal protection claims. The court said that even if strict scrutiny applies under the 1st Amendment, as it does under the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act, that standard has been met. Plaintiff has not shown that the badge imposes a substantial burden on her ability to exercise her religion; the government has shown a compelling interest in requiring the badges; and the school has offered plaintiff an accommodation that should remove any objections.
- Supreme Court Denies Cert. In Challenge To GA Restrictions On Guns In Churches. The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday refused to hear an appeal in a case challenging a Georgia law restricting the right to freely carry guns and knives in 8 specific locations, including any place of worship. The plaintiffs had claimed that this law violated their free exercise and 2nd Amendment rights.
If you have any additions, questions or submissions for inclusion on the judicial section for next week, contact Bill Burgess, BBurgess@americanhumanist.org, 202-238-9088.
VI. SCA State Chapters
State Chapter Updates
- The Secular Coalition proudly boasts 7 state groups and is in the process of preparing to announce the formation of 22 new chapters in the coming weeks.
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Conference Calls
- To join in, call in to 530-881-1400 and enter the participant code 978895 on your state’s scheduled date and time.
- Please spread the word about your state’s conference calls now being on evenings and weekends!
- Call Schedule:
- Thursday, January 10th
- Connecticut at 6pm ET
- Pennsylvania at 7pm ET
- Saturday, January 12th
- Tuesday, January 15th
- Wednesday, January 16th
- Rhode Island at 7:30pm ET
- We encourage everyone to “like” the Facebook pages of their state chapter, listed as “Secular Coalition for [Your State]".
- Get the latest updates and sign up to receive emails about the chapter forming in your state on the state chapters page on our website.
- Agendas for the calls will be posted to each state’s page on secular.org before the call and a replay of the call will be posted shortly after.
If I have missed a major conflict with your state's call date and time, please let me know by emailing me at Kelly@secular.org or by phone 202-299-1091 ext. 204.
VII. Policy and Research Documents
A study study set out to establish the psychological-type profile of American atheists "and to compare that profile to USA population norms. The data demonstrated that the atheist population differs significantly from the general population when it comes to psychological type with noticeable over-representations of INTJ, ISTJ, and INTP among both male and female atheists. This suggests that these psychological types might be more likely to embrace atheism than others. The type most over-represented among both male and female atheists, INTJ, is described by Myers (1998) as follows: Have original minds and great drive for implementing their ideas and achieving their goals. Quickly see patterns in external events and develop long-range explanatory perspectives. When committed, organize a job and carry it through. Sceptical and independent, have high standards of competence and performance – for themselves and others. (p. 13)"
Contact Barry Kosmin, Director of the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society with any additions or suggestions for this list at barry.kosmin@trincoll.edu.
Powerpoints, brochures, scorecards, and other resources are now available on the website. These speeches will be free and available to everyone in the movement. The Secular Coalition is looking for helpful research papers, to link to from our website and to determine where additional research needs to be done. If you are aware of any, please send information to kelly@secular.org
VIII. Secular Coalition Expansion
- Coalition expansion drive underway! We are looking to add Endorsing and Allied organizations through additional website sign up opportunities and meetings. Please recommend any non-movement groups we should meet with to discuss common ground.
- We had 34 endorsing organizations in May of 2012; we now have over 100! Our newest endorsing organizations are:
- Oxford Humanists and Freeethinkers Association
- Hudson Valley Humanists
IX. SCA Member and Associated Organization Announcements
With David Niose taking over the role of President of the Secular Coalition for America, the American Humanist Association was in need of a new president! That role now goes to Rebecca Hale, co-owner of EvolveFISH.com in Colorado Springs, Colorado. In addition to Hale's new role as president, she will also serve as a member on the AHA board of directors. American Atheists has announced it will offer $4,000 in scholarships to students who demonstrate atheist activists in their communities and schools. AA will offer four scholarships: a first-place award of $2,000, a runner-up award of $1,000 to atheist students going to college and a $1,000 scholarship for LGBT atheist activism. Also, American Atheists has is looking for a new Public Relations Director.
Want to share your organization's efforts with the SCA? Email updates, alerts, announcements or other items you'd like to share with the community to lauren@secular.org.
X. Movement Charity Updates and Activities:
Foundation Beyond Belief has experienced another record quarter of humanist giving with totals for Q4 of around $60,000. The organization is currently evaluating its 2012 giving total for all programs but expect it to be well over $500,000 including LLS and its crisis response programs which were also very successful in 2012. See this link for a wrap up of FBB's 2012: http://foundationbeyondbelief.org/node/1569.
Is your organization doing good work for the community? Let us know! Lauren@secular.org.
Contact Executive Director, Edwina Rogers, at Edwina@secular.org or by phone at 202-299-101 ext. 207 or cell: 202-674-7800.
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