Posted on 08/15/2008 11:09:34 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
The Democratic National Convention's Aug. 24 interfaith service in Denver is supposed to be about unity.
But to a Washington, D.C., coalition that supports nontheistic views, it's about division.
The Secular Coalition Group, a lobbying organization for church-and-state separation, is pushing to get an atheist on the speaker list, and contends the service is divisive because it alienates nonreligious Democrats at a time when the party needs to unite to support the presumptive nominee, Sen. Barack Obama.
"We can all hold different beliefs," said the group's executive director, Lori Lipman Brown, "but we can still come together as patriotic Americans."
The interfaith service, the first official event of the Democratic National Convention, has Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Buddhist speakers on the roster. Convention CEO Leah D. Daughtry, a Pentecostal minister, said in a statement that the purpose of the first-ever Democratic Convention service is "to honor the diverse faith traditions inside the Democratic Party."
Brown said the coalition wrote Daughtry twice in July asking for inclusion but has received no response. She said Thursday she didn't know if the group would make another request.
Natalie Wyeth, a convention spokesperson, said Wednesday that everyone, regardless of belief, is welcome at the public service, but would not address if an atheist would be added to the speaker list.
"The goal is to come together in the spirit of unity and start the week off right," Wyeth said.
Becky Hale, a founder of the atheist group Freethinkers of Colorado Springs, said the service discriminates against nonbelieving Democrats.
"By reaching out to people of faith," Hale said, "they have shown the back of their hand to those who do not believe."
Marvin Straus, co-founder of the Boulder Atheists and part of the Colorado Coalition of Reason, which includes 11 state atheist groups, said some organizations are planning to protest during the Aug. 25-28 convention because of the Democrats' "pandering" for the religious vote. But no protests are planned to take place during the Aug. 24 interfaith service.
Religion - or lack thereof - has already made headlines in the months leading up to the convention. In June, the Madison,Wis.-based Freedom from Religion Foundation, a 12,000-member watchdog group for the separation of church and state, erected a billboard near the Colorado Convention Center that proclaimed "Imagine No Religion." In early August the sign was changed to "Keep Religion Out of Politics."
During the convention, the foundation will fund mobile billboards asking for church-state separation and broadcasting its view that religion is divisive.
"Faith does not unite us," Freedom co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor said. "And this is a time when we should be in unity behind our secular government."
But Atheists have no faith. Why include them?
There are no religious democrats. Lieberman is an Independent.
Because those who believe in nothing will believe anything.
Have you heard that many ambulances were caled to a local Universalist service?
Yes, someone accidently mentioned God.
Yeah...they never invite us to any of their extra-faith events.
I thought atheists were the only ones allowed.
I guess they need a platform so they can thank each other for all their good work in keeping the world safe from sensibility.
So this is the athiests themselves pretty much arguing they are just another religion?
Exactly. They get all steamed up when they are told that it is impossible to NOT have faith in something or someone but yet they are admitting here that they ARE a sect with definite beliefs.
But the atheists on FR insist that atheism is not a religion and that it is not a faith in a no-god god.
They claim it just ‘is’. Of course, they try to convert others to their belief system and spout hatred of the other faiths.
The Secular Coalition Group, a lobbying organization for church-and-state separation, is pushing to get an atheist on the speaker list, and contends the service is divisive because it alienates nonreligious Democrats at a time when the party needs to unite to support the presumptive nominee, Sen. Barack Obama.
“We can all hold different beliefs,” said the group’s executive director, Lori Lipman Brown, “but we can still come together as patriotic Americans.”
If you are coming together to support Obama then how do you consider yourself as Patriotic Americans?
I guess you have to have faith that there is no God ...which makes atheistism a religion, no????
If they just changed their name from atheists to Global Warming Believers they would be welcomed with open arms and deep respect...
well and why do atheists call their place a church — why not a meeting hall?
White racists from the Robert Byrd Foundation have asked to speak at the Black Democrats dinner.
“We can all hold different beliefs,” said the group’s director, “but we can still come together as patriotic Americans.”
“The goal is to come together in the spirit of unity and start the week off right,” one said.
“By reaching out to people of color,” another said, “they have shown the back of their hand to those who do pigment.”
So...I'm starting a car club for people who don't own cars...who want's to join?!?
Atheism is a deeply mystical religion after all.
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