Election Analysis from Secular Coalition for America Director Lori Lipman Brown
Nov. 8, 2006 - Listening to the comments from leaders of the soon-to-be majority party in the House of Representatives last night made me hopeful that efforts to limit our rights will no longer be the agenda in Congress. The Secular Coalition for America does not endorse candidates or parties. We were, however, pleased to listen to speeches which didn't focus on the need to tear down the wall of separation between church and state. No one demonized us godfree folks, and even the losers refrained from condemning things like stem cell research and military personnel who don't want to be proselytized. The focus appears to have shifted to issues outside of the SCA's purview: the war in Iraq, minimum wage, and health care. While this doesn't mean that the Secular Coalition for America will now be sitting around twiddling our thumbs, it does mean that we may be able to stop fending off constant symbolic jabs at nontheistic Americans and focus on advancing our own goals.
One of these goals is repeal of the so-called Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, which allow religious organizations to ignore land use regulations, privilege religious prisoners over the nonreligious inmates, and even make exceptions to criminal law based on an individual's religion. We are also continuing to work on stopping unwanted proselytizing by military chaplains, maintaining a nontheological definition of civil marriage contracts, expanding stem cell research, keeping purely theological motives from stopping medical advances generally, and maintaining an independent judiciary as a check on the will of the majority (to protect our constitutional rights.)
Two bills that the SCA supported, which languished in the 109th Congress, may now have a chance of moving forward. The Access to Legal Pharmaceuticals Act requiring pharmacists to fill legal prescriptions (including birth control prescriptions) regardless of the pharmacist's religion, and the Responsible Education About Life Act requiring that federally funded sex education programs be fact-based, may now see the light of day.
We should not assume that having a Democratic majority in the House means that our attempts to repeal laws which privilege religion over nonreligion will be easy. Many of the newly elected members assured voters that they would protect God and religion in the public sphere, and few were eager to speak up for those who don't believe in a god or gods. However, as expected, attacking us is no longer the top priority of Congress. This year, it was not a useful tool to win elections. In fact, in one Congressional district where voters were encouraged to publicize their representative's good record on the SCA's scorecard in their churches as a way to defeat him, that representative won his reelection with a 5% higher margin than his previous win.
While the results in the Senate are too close to call this morning, the fact that the margin between the parties is extremely tight may allow the Senate to override an expected presidential veto of a new stem cell bill. It will make it harder for the president to push through judicial appointees who are unwilling to enforce the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
The Senate has, even under Republican leadership, stopped court-stripping bills from moving forward after House passage, and stopped House-passed amendments to allow military proselytizing and religious discrimination in publicly funded programs. Perhaps the makeup of the 110th Congress will allow its Senators to move forward towards more positive goals, rather than expending time and energy on stopping bad bills sent from the House.
I find it intriguing that attempts to foist religion into Tennessee's U.S. Senate campaign failed to procure a Democratic win for Harold Ford. His use of the Ten Commandments as a campaign tool made me wonder if he would have any interest in protecting those of us who don't follow some of those "set in stone" rules (such as the parts about working on the Sabbath, making graven images, or envying the property of one's neighbor). In any case, if racism won out over religiosity, that's not something to celebrate either.
Some of the moderate Republicans who worked closely with us will no longer be available to be that bipartisan voice on our issues. In light of the need to change leadership by changing the majority, voters also defeated some of our allies. We expect that these new representatives will also respect our rights. And we are already eyeing some of the newly elected Republicans who appear to be moderate and supportive of the rights of all Americans.
Only the next two years will tell exactly what yesterday's election will mean for the issues important to nontheistic Americans. But those who support theocratic rule (some explicitly; others by imposing theology into civil law while claiming to support our secular democracy) no longer hold the power. We expect the priorities of Congress to change. Since the priority for far too long has been attacking us and our rights, we are thrilled to anticipate such a change.