Lori Lipman Brown, the Director and Lobbyist of the Secular Coalition for America (SCA) is going to be on Bill O’Reilly’s TV show on Wednesday, September 28th.
It should be an interesting showdown. O’Reilly is one of the loudest attackers of secular humanism on the air. He constantly misrepresents what secular humanism stands for, painting secular humanists as Satan’s minions out to destroy America.
Lipman Brown is a former State Senator from Nevada, a lawyer, and a teacher/college professor. (Update: I had assumed Lipman Brown was a lesbian because she refers to her husband as her “partner.” I apologize for the error, not because there is anything wrong with being gay or lesbian, but just because it was inaccurate.)
For more info about Lipman Brown, the Secular Coalition, and O’Reilly’s attacks on secular humanism, read across the break.
(CP @ DK, MLW, SP)
Lori Lipman Brown began her lobbying effort on Monday opposing a bill allowing federally-funded Head Start programs to base hiring decisions on the religious beliefs of applicants.
A Monday morning USA Today article, Non-believers raising voice in capital, has rapidly spread word of the secular lobbyist’s Congressional debut and resulted in a deluge of requests for interviews.
Surprisingly, O’Reilly will get one of the first cracks at Lipman Brown. Or maybe it isn’t surprising. No doubt Lipman Brown wants to confront O’Reilly for his constant attacks and lies about secular humanism. I hope she takes hime over her knee and gives him the spanking he so rightly deserves.
What sorts of things does O’Reilly say about secularists?:
Patriotism, spirituality, respect for authority, and basic moral values are all under siege from a well-funded, secular lobby that envisions a society free of judgments about personal behavior. And if that society falls apart in the process, so be it.
That “well funded secular lobby” is a figment of the blowhards imagination. The Secular Coalition for America is a brand new lobby, and is the ONLY lobby dedicated to furthering the cause of secular and non-religious Americans. The SCA has a meager budget built from donations collected from average Americans like me. O’Reilly’s statement clearly shows he knows nothing about what secular humanism espouses. The SCA began its lobbying effort on September 19, 2005 in response to the kinds of mis-information O’Reilly spreads. Lipman Brown says her two main goals are, “To keep religion out of government and win respect for a stigmatized minority.”
The coalitions Position Statement and Mission Statement:
Position Statement
The Secular Coalition for America is committed to promoting reason and science as the most reliable methods for understanding the universe and improving the human condition. Informed by experience and inspired by compassion, we encourage the pursuit of knowledge, meaning, and responsible ethical codes without reference to supernatural forces. We affirm the secular form of government as a necessary condition for the interdependent rights of religious freedom and religious dissent. We come together as national freethought organizations to cooperate in areas of mutual interest and to support each other in our efforts to uphold separation between government and religion for the benefit of all within the nontheistic community. As resources allow, we will actively cooperate in projects that support our position, with priority given to political action initiatives and public relations opportunities.
Mission Statement
The mission of the Secular Coalition for America is to increase the visibility and respectability of nontheistic viewpoints within the larger culture and to protect and strengthen secular government as the best guarantee of freedom for all.
How about the boring details:
The Secular Coalition for America has incorporated as a 501(c)(4). This tax status will enable the Coalition to engage in lobbying to an extent previously unheard of in the nontheistic community.
Our status as a lobbying organization prevents us from supporting or opposing candidates for political office, but it opens doors for us to directly influence legislation affecting the nontheistic community. This lobbying effort will require us to summon all our resources and energy — and your help — if we are to turn the tide against assaults on the wall of separation by proponents of a creeping theocracy…
The Secular Coalition for America focuses on the concerns of America’s brights, whether they self-identify as agnostics, atheists, freethinkers, humanists, or skeptics, as well as others who consider themselves non-religious. The Coalition also enthusiastically welcomes the participation of religious Americans who share our view that freedom of conscience must extend to people of all faiths and of none.
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The coalition was formed by Atheist Alliance International, Institute for Humanist Studies, Internet Infidels (the Secular Web), and The Secular Student Alliance, and was later joined by the American Humanist Association, the nation’s largest and oldest humanist association. The Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers is an honorary member group. For a complete listing of endorsing organizations or to donate, visit the SCA website.
