Washington, DC– It is projected that businessman Donald J. Trump will surpass the 270 vote threshold in the Electoral College to become the 45th President of the United States.
“On January 20, Donald J. Trump will swear to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States,” said Larry T. Decker, Executive Director of the Secular Coalition for America. “This includes the First Amendment, which for 225 years has safeguarded our freedom of, and from, religion. Candidate Trump built a campaign based on the religious right’s agenda, the core of which seeks to use government to impose their religious beliefs on all Americans. This theocratic worldview is fundamentally incompatible with the oath of office he will take in just a few weeks. We congratulate President-elect Trump on his victory, however we urge him to honor the oath by serving all Americans of every faith and none. We are prepared to work with Mr. Trump and his Administration in this endeavor.”
A poll released by the Public Religion Research Institute in September found that nonreligious voters favored Hillary Clinton (62%) over Donald Trump (21%). The same poll also revealed that an unprecedented one-quarter of all Americans have no religious affiliation.
“We’d like to thank Secretary Clinton for running a campaign which championed reproductive rights, LGBT equality, science-based policy, and true religious freedom,” said Decker. “While we were disappointed that the Clinton campaign and the Democratic party did not do more to reach out to nonreligious voters, which remain the largest “religious group” within the Democratic party, Secretary Clinton ran a campaign that understandably and undeniably resonated with a clear majority of nonreligious voters. The failure to energize secular voters was a costly mistake that future Democratic candidates would be wise not to repeat.”
According to polls released prior to the election, most Americans reject the policies of the religious right, which were incorporated into the Trump campaign’s platform. A clear majority of Americans support legal access to abortion(79%), favor nondiscrimination laws protecting LGBT persons (71%), believe religious employers should be required to provide birth control to their employees (67%), and oppose using taxpayer money to pay for religious education (55%).
“The 2016 election will be remembered for exposing the religious right’s agenda as hollow and divisive,” said Decker. “Their unwavering support for a candidate who is the antithesis of everything they claim to stand for reveals that their sole priority is seeing their own religious beliefs made law. The United States is changing rapidly, becoming increasingly secular and pluralistic. We are prepared to fight in 2017 for policies that reflect this new American landscape and uphold the secular character of our government as it was established by our founders.”
Contact: Casey Brescia
Senior Communications Associate and Spokesman
[email protected],
(845)-380-6201
###
The Secular Coalition for America is the nation’s premier advocacy organization representing atheists, humanists, agnostics, and other nontheists. Its mission is to increase the visibility of and respect for nontheistic viewpoints in the United States, and to protect and strengthen the secular character of our government as the best guarantee of freedom for all. The Secular Coalition represents 19 voting member organizations.
