Thursday, March 31, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

NEW COALITION: Like Minds

Humanist, atheist and nontheist groups join forces to maintain separation of church and state

Spearheading the national humanist summit was Mel Lipman, a semiretired Las Vegas attorney who's president of both the American Humanist Association and the Humanist Association of Las Vegas and Southern Nevada. Photo by John Gurzinski.

President George W. Bush's re-election in November was a galvanizing event for many groups in American politics.

Republicans, of course. Conservatives, certainly. Americans who consider religious faith a valid consideration in public policy, perhaps.

But Bush's re-election also was a galvanizing event for another group: People who don't necessarily believe in a Supreme Being and who would prefer that, if there is one, he or she stay out of American politics.

In January, representatives of 24 humanist, atheist and nontheist organizations assembled in Washington, D.C., to discuss what they consider an alarming erosion in the wall that separates church and state.

Spearheading the humanist summit was Mel Lipman, a semiretired Las Vegas attorney who's president of both the American Humanist Association and the Humanist Association of Las Vegas and Southern Nevada. Out of the meeting came the beginnings of what Lipman calls a sort of Christian Coalition for nontheists.

The roster of summit participants ranged from such comparatively hard-line groups as American Atheists -- the organization founded by the late Madalyn Murray O'Hair -- to groups such as the Society for Humanistic Judaism.

"The whole idea was to open up communication, and the meeting was well-received," Lipman said.

Representatives were concerned about what they consider a growing trend, Lipman added: "Patriotism is being linked to religiosity, when it shouldn't be."

Even before the November election, Lipman said, "I felt our country is leaning more and more toward a theocracy."

According to Lipman, Bush's positions on such issues as judicial appointees' qualifications to stem cell research to faith-based initiatives are "based on religious concepts.

"Now, I can understand a difference of opinion. But when religion is what makes the decision on what is going to be a law or not be a law, then we're no different from Middle Eastern theocracies."

Summit representatives also expressed concern "about the fact that humanists are becoming second-class citizens," Lipman said.

"The religious extremists are trying to convey the impression that you must be religious and cannot have values without a god, which, to me, doesn't make sense."

The coalition decided, first, to step up education efforts about humanism and the value of church-state separation.

Toward that end, Lipman said, "we are planning a media campaign where we can possibly get our message out and let people know who we are."

Lipman said the general public may not understand that humanists "are not opposed to religion at all. What we say is, we're opposed to religion when it's made to separate people in this country."

The founding fathers "had a secular vision for this country," Lipman said. "They were not anti-religious. They just felt religion is a personal thing and, to protect religion and protect the right to practice your religion, you have to keep it separate from the government.

"But, apparently, George W. Bush does not feel this way. That's where the danger is. He feels it's perfectly OK to impose his (religious) will on other people."

Also part of the groups' educational effort will be an "Atheists in Foxholes" march in Washington on Veterans Day, Nov. 11.

Several of the groups also plan to join together to brief lawmakers on legislation affecting the debate over evolution and creation, while others are working together on lawsuits related to church-state separation.

In addition, Lipman said that not only has his group hired its own lobbyist, but that his group and four others have joined together to hire a second full-time lobbyist in Washington D.C.

Lipman conceded lobbying won't be easy. Already, he said, some organizations that share some of the coalition's concerns have indicated "it would hurt them to be actively affiliated with an atheist group."

Similarly, while contacts with some members of Congress have been "firmly positive," Lipman said, "nobody really wants to come right out and say they're working with us."

"It's frustrating, but we know these are the facts of life now," Lipman said. "The point is how to change it, and that's what we're trying to do."

Dina Titus, a University of Nevada, Las Vegas political science professor and Nevada state senator, said a humanist coalition probably would find tough going "if they're seen as fringe groups."

But, Titus said, "if they get some major organizations that are more mainstream to be part of their coalition, they'll have more success.

"They've got to convince people they're just like you and me, that they're not some scary group. I think that will be the challenge."

Matt Cherry, executive director of the New York-based Institute for Humanist Studies, said the November election has presented humanist organizations with growth opportunities.

"I'm finding a lot of moderate religious people of all faiths -- Christian, Jewish, Hindu -- who have realized that separation of church and state is the best guarantee of both good government and freedom of religion," he said.

"The real divide is not between religious and nonreligious," Cherry added. "It's between fundamentalists who want to see a Christian government and the more moderate people who want to see separation of church and state."

Lipman said contributions to his group increased in the weeks following Bush's re-election. The national group's membership now is about 7,200, up from about 3,800 two years ago, and "I attribute maybe 650 of that to the Bush presidency."

"I've been saying the reason we're growing is because we have a great spokesperson," Lipman said, and "his name is George Bush."