Attack of the Theocrats!: How the Religious Right Harms Us All—and What We Can Do About It (21 page)

Objective: See ten openly secular elected officials in Congress by 2020
. As a state legislator in Maine, I represented all the people of my town, but I increasingly saw that, while the fundamentalist extremists were quite vocal in the halls of my legislature (and fundamentalist extremists were even more vocal in other states), my views—my secular views—were actually more in sync with the citizens I represented. Reading Susan Jacoby’s book
Freethinkers
was when I realized there is a deep heritage to my values as a Secular American. I know that there are more members of Congress than Pete Stark who share those values. Maybe they are from a district in which it’s tough to win reelection. Having served as Majority Whip, I would fully understand a politician representing some rural part of Texas who kept his agnosticism to himself.

However, I’m confident that members of Congress in other districts could, without significant political damage, acknowledge the proud values and tradition that they represent: the values of Walt Whitman, the values of Thomas Paine, the values of the young Lincoln. If we can get ten of them to openly say so by 2020, our nation’s vision will be more clear.

America already knows that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are good and decent Americans. Americans rightly admire Jolie’s work in Africa. Pitt returns again and again to New Orleans, years after the flood, to make a positive difference. They represent something very good about America. Openly nontheist members of Congress can do something very meaningful as well, simply by setting an example. You know who you are. We already know of over twenty-five secular members of Congress in office today, and those are just the ones who have said so to us confidentially.

In the meantime, Secular Coalition for America will also support and honor openly secular officials elected at the local and state level. For example, Kyrsten Sinema, a dynamic, articulate, state senator in Arizona, was named by
Time
magazine as one of forty elected officials under forty who are up-and-comers. I don’t know if State Senator Sinema will be president or a U.S. senator one day, but Senator Sinema spoke at the kick-off of Secular Coalition for Arizona, and this smart, dynamic secular elected official has great potential to be a national figure, and already has major accomplishments.

We also intend to help candidates that speak out for our issues, regardless of their personal religious views. We intend to highlight and praise them, wherever they come from in the United States. This combined cultivation of current and up-and-coming politicians will lead to better and more accurate representation of the American tapestry. Until we secure our fair share of representation, Congress does not represent America fully.

I remember being told on numerous occasions that it was politically impossible for a black person to be elected president in my lifetime. I said, yes, it’s possible—with a top-quality candidate. I can walk to the White House from my office in less than ten minutes, and there is now an African-American who has a pretty decent office in that building from what I hear. African-Americans represent a smaller percentage of American society (approximately 13 percent) than those who identify with no religion (approximately 15 percent). The experiences and beliefs of African-Americans are not uniform. The experiences and beliefs of Secular Americans are not uniform. Both groups have enriched this country tremendously and have made, and will continue to make, important contributions to our country.

Bear in mind that Secular Coalition for America does an election report card on candidates. If a devout Catholic like a Kennedy or a born-again Christian (have you heard the statements Jimmy Carter’s been making in recent years?) supports our issues, then we support them. Absolutely. I’ve never been a big fan of what is known as identity politics (politicians who do a good job should be thanked regardless of background). That said, the diversity of America warrants diverse representation. Something is wrong if a group of many millions lacks significant congressional representation.

Objective: Strengthen bonds within our Coalition
. Secular Coalition for America represents a unique, ever-strengthening conglomeration of
organizations with a diverse variety of philosophies. In fact, when considering that two of our member organizations are nontheistic religions, you start to grasp the impressive challenge that our founding board president Herb Silverman and many others overcame to even create our Coalition. The history within the secular movement includes some degree of infighting and division. Secular Coalition for America embodies the vision, desire, and ability to overcome that flaw of the past by pointing to and focusing on our collective, shared mission with idealistic and pragmatic passion.

Our founding philosophy of unity and our strategic plan seek to more effectively knit together Secular Coalition for America’s member groups through improved communication and a common vision for the future. We will improve the professional abilities of our still too small but growing staff to become more sophisticated servants of our Coalition, and we will conduct surveys that cultivate ideas and inspiration from our member groups.

The biggest step for our Coalition? We must face the mental challenge that, while overcoming infighting within the Coalition is wonderful, the stark reality remains that our Coalition in aggregate is too small. If you don’t believe it, examine the budget of Focus on the Family and the many other fundamentalist organizations that influence Washington so effectively. Focus on the Family, one important group of many fundamentalist policy organizations, has an annual budget north of $120 million. Our focus therefore must be outward not inward and we must focus on collective growth and appeal to a wider demographic. This strategic plan is designed to serve that larger mission.

Objective: Build a culture of innovation and growth within the Coalition
. I mentioned that in Bangor I saw mainline Protestantism dying off, Roman Catholicism losing momentum, and synagogue attendance going down as well. Despite much of my social life revolving around at least nominal members of these religions, their community presence sometimes seemed a little dusty, a little musty, and less dynamic than the fundamentalist churches. Fundamentalists tended to be energized, energizing, and clean-cut. Perhaps more importantly, they market that clean-cut energetic style. If they can have that success for fundamentalist extremism, we can have that success for secularism and justice.

Pastorpreneur
is a well-known book among fundamentalists. I admire the concept of “pastorpreneurship.” Fundamentalist Christians take a business approach to marketing and growing their community. This approach largely began in the 1970s and has continued to develop. Rick Warren is an impressive practitioner of this approach. His business strategy has made
him very wealthy (as we know, with the help of unjust tax loopholes). But there’s no discounting his success, nor similar successes among fundamentalists in every corner of America.

In contrast, among secularists, the tone sometimes seems a bit . . . retrograde. Attend one of our conventions and witness the many arcane debates about the names to call ourselves; the arcane debates about how to counter creationism, or intelligent design (or whatever the latest marketing name is for biblical creation myths); the discussions of how offensive it is that the postal service printed a Mother Teresa stamp, or that “In God We Trust” is engraved on coins. Don’t get me wrong: I long ago concluded that Darwin was right, and it takes an eighth-grade history class to know that religious symbols on public land is the result of politics, not strict adherence to our Constitution. That said, none of these ideas—none of these symbolic issues—constitute a sufficient marketing tactic necessary to appeal to, and to attract, the broader general public.

Moreover, despite the clear evidence that Secular Americans tend to be younger Americans, older people generally dominate the leadership of our movement. Ageism is wrong in either direction. Older people have much to offer, but we must also include the young professionals and innovators from all fields if we are to succeed. Secular Coalition for America takes an entrepreneurial approach, seeking to spread that approach to our entire movement.

Objective: Regularly schedule secular strategic summits
. As executive director of Secular Coalition for America, I am proud of our strategic plan so far, but I know that it’s not good enough. I want bold new leaders to say, “Thanks! It’s time to do more and to do it better. Here’s how.” To that end, in May 2011 we held our first biennial strategic summit to allow new faces with bold ideas to come to the forefront. It was a big success and you can see a video of the summit at
www.secular.org
.

Our biennial summit isn’t a conference where people sit and listen to lectures. It’s where our best and brightest participate fully in improving the strategic plan I am presenting to you now. They do so in conjunction with the leadership of our ten coalition organizations. In turn, perhaps our coalition leaders say to themselves, that person is smart, I want them on our board. We must bring in new minds and ideas.

This summit strategizes every two years. We draw together bold leaders with specific pragmatic ideas for our future. To avoid bringing lawsuits willy-nilly, the summit also brings together lawyers so that we might take a more strategic approach to secular litigation, act in concert, and connect
legal efforts with our lobbying efforts. One such possibility involves greater selectivity in picking where and when to make a legal move.

The summit brings mainstream media, marketing, and social media professionals together to discuss success in marketing our approach to a secular government. The summit holds a lobby day to get Secular Americans onto Capitol Hill to advocate to Congress. Most importantly, summit participants help produce ideas and develop specific tactics for all the objectives of our Secular Decade strategic plan.

Objective: Commit to continuous strategic planning and innovation
. While the strategic summit occurs once every two years, the Secular Decade plan will evolve, grow, and become more detailed with continuous revision and participation. The beauty of an evidence-based approach to life is the willingness—the flexibility—to adjust and to change based on new information. That is how this strategic plan will move forward. We have a strategic group within the Coalition continually monitoring our progress.

Objective: Offer high-quality internships
. Remember Sarah Palin dismissing community organizers? Secular Coalition for America provides a place where secular community organizers are cultivated and trained—and gain valuable experience.

Our internship program for young people serves not just Secular Coalition for America but the entire movement and mission. We are bringing young people to Washington to make a difference. We have applicants from all over wanting to make a difference on behalf of the values of Jefferson and Madison. Some of the alumni of this effort will be secular elected officials in years to come.

Objective: Broaden and deepen our financial base
. We must raise money like any organization, and in 2010 I introduced different donor societies on our Web site. I like them because they build a sense of community and investment, and one of the perks of my job was to pick the names of our societies. Our society names have a sentimental meaning for me. We Secular Americans are not united by disbelief but by a deeply held belief. Our belief is embodied in the actions and life stories of Americans who made a big and positive difference in our country—and for whom the Coalition’s donor societies are named.

For example, Thomas Paine, the Father of the American Revolution, said, “My religion is to do good.” That quote is on my business card, not because I’ve necessarily gotten all that much done, but because I want to
remind myself of the goal every time I look in my wallet. Elizabeth Cady Stanton said, “The Bible and the Church have been the greatest stumbling blocks in the way of women’s emancipation.”

These individuals, along with Twain and Darrow, Jefferson and Madison, and genius immigrants Lennon and Einstein, represent the best we have to offer as a species. And thus when people give to Secular Coalition for America, they give in the name of our heroes. These nonmythological beings inspire us to move forward and, with all their flaws, are the best guide to our future improvement as a citizenry. They inspire our continuously evolving strategic plan—a plan that will only improve with your active participation.

What You Can Do

Because Secular Coalition for America is in the first of many decades, your active help now is not a drop in the bucket. You can carve out a place for yourself as an early leader in our historic effort in the following ways:

1. Help organize a Secular Coalition affiliate for your state. A template agreement and start-up kit is on our Web site,
   www.secular.org
   .
   
2. Sign up for our e-mails on our Web site, post our videos to Facebook and e-mail them to family and friends, and urge family and friends to sign up for our action alerts.
   
3. Give money to one or more of our ten member organizations and to Secular Coalition for America, and ask family and friends to join you in doing so.
   
4. Encourage your family and friends to read this book and participate in the Secular Decade plan. Twitter about this book. Post about it on Facebook.
   
5. Support those candidates who support the separation of church and state.
   
6. Run for your local city council, your local school board, or your state legislature.
   

When we exercise secular leadership—by running for office, by donating money, by organizing a state Secular Coalition, by using our social media skills—we are making our own contribution to the tradition of Paine, Stanton, Twain, Darrow, and Lennon. We are helping to build an American future worthy of our past.