Coalition reminds Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to avoid religious language during public policy debates in Congress

June 13, 2007

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Madam Speaker:

As director of the Secular Coalition for America, representing the interests of atheists, humanists, freethinkers, and other nontheistic Americans, my job is to educate members of Congress regarding issues of importance to my constituency. Your statements during debate of S.5, The Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, on June 7, 2007 are of great concern.

On the House floor, you stated, "Science is a gift of God to all of us. And science has taken us to a place that is Biblical in its power to cure ..." President George Bush also invokes God in his opposition to expanding stem cell research. This common religious rhetoric producing conflicting positions occurs because in seeking to decide whether scientific or medical research is - or is not - a gift from a god or gods, you are debating theology not public policy. Public policy debates must be made based on ethical and rational analysis - not theistic beliefs.

I urge you to be more careful with using language that creates additional openings to infuse our public policy with divisive theology. Theological stances, because of their unquestionable yet contradictory absolutes, create incommensurable and diametrically opposed positions that preclude rational discourse. For this reason, theology should not be used in determining public policy. The First Amendment to the Bill of Rights, guaranteeing the separation of church and state, was established to prevent public policy from being based on the theology of the majority of the moment.

As the Speaker of the House of Representatives you have the opportunity to help restore rational discourse to our public policy by changing the language of debate. I optimistically look forward to your leadership on this issue.

Sincerely,
Lori Lipman Brown
Director