Civil Rights/Religious Discrimination

The Boy Scouts of America traditionally ask the President of the United States to act as honorary president of their organization. The Secular Coalition for America has joined with 18 other major nontheistic groups asking President-elect Obama to decline the invitation because it would be an endorsement of the Scouts' explicit policy of discriminating against nontheistic Americans.  Read more »

Secular Coalition for America and Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers Unveil Proposal on Religious Accommodation at Pre-Veterans Day Briefing

For Immediate Release: November 10, 2008
Contact: Anne Singer, 202-271-4679

Video now online: Watch the press conference below

Also see: Secular Coalition Urges Changes To Religious Accommodation Practices In The Military (.pdf)

Washington, DC - Atheists and others with no religious affiliation make up 21% of the U.S. Armed Forces, and yet they suffer harassment, discrimination and proselytizing in a military increasingly dominated by a powerful minority of evangelical Christians. Other military personnel who do not hold a born-again Christian belief are similarly marginalized. The Secular Coalition for America and the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers held a briefing today at the National Press Club in Washington, DC and proposed a new set of policy recommendations in a memo to President-elect Obama as he considers staffing and policies regarding the military.   Read more »