Atheist Lobby Group in LA - Acadiana's Multi-Media News Station

A national atheist group plans to start a lobbying group in Louisiana. The Secular Coalition for America wants potential members to give them a call. The group advocates for the separation of church and state. And it wants chapters in all 50 states so members can lobby at a state level.

The coalition has no specific goals yet. But according to a news release, some areas of interest include the school's state voucher program. Some voucher schools teach creationism over traditional science. And a senate resolution that creates a state day of prayer at the capitol.

The group plans to host a conference call next week.

Press Release

Louisiana Atheists to Organize State Lobbying Group This Month
Secular Coalition for America Plans to Create Chapters in All 50 States by End of 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 5, 2012

Washington, D.C. – The Secular Coalition for America is excited to announce the initial organizing efforts for a chapter in Louisiana this month. The state chapter will lobby state lawmakers in favor of a strong separation of religion and government.

The initial organizing call for the Secular Coalition for Louisiana will be held on September 12^th at 3:00PM ET / 2:00PM CT. The SCA encourages interested participants to call in. Participation is open to anyone who supports a strong separation of religion and government and wants to get involved, irrespective of personal religious beliefs.

Other state chapters being organized later this month include Delaware, District of Columbia, Idaho, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, and Wisconsin. Since June, the SCA successfully held initial organizing calls for new chapters in 27 states. Participants will be trained in lobbying state lawmakers, and the chapter will be provided with a website and other materials.

The Secular Coalition for America—a lobbying organization representing 11 member organizations and nontheistic Americans— advocates for a strong separation of religion and government at the federal level. The Secular Coalition is launching 50 new state chapters by the end of 2012 to lobby at the state level.

"Some of the most egregious violations of church state separation are being promoted and passed at the state level, and we absolutely must act to stop it," said Edwina Rogers, Executive Director of the Secular Coalition for America. "There are 40 million Americans who don't identify with any religion, but our political influence has been limited because we have not been organized. This year, that changes." 

A recent Pew Forum study indicated that 9 percent of Louisiana residents do not express an absolute belief in God, and 18 percent disagreed that "religion is very important to their lives."  Another Pew study found that the majority of Americans (54%) say that churches and other houses of worship should keep out of political matters, and 38% say that there has been too much expression of religious faith and prayer from political leaders.

No specific legislative agenda has been set for the Louisiana chapter yet. In general, the Secular Coalition focuses on legislation that attempts to insert religion, religious privileging or religiously-based discrimination into our secular laws, or uses taxpayer funding to support, promote or proselytize religion or religious beliefs.

A few examples of previous or current laws, general practice, or religiously-inspired legislation seen in Louisiana that fall within the SCA's scope as an organization are:

• The state's new wide-sweeping school voucher program will send tens of millions of dollars to private schools—the vast majority of which are religious institutions. Several of the schools boast extreme anti-science and anti-history curriculums while championing creationism. In fact, standards are so lax, that some private religious schools are receiving tax dollars to teach students that "dinosaurs and humans lived side by side within the past few thousand years" and that the existence of the Loch Ness Monster disproves evolution.
• Louisiana Science Education Act (2008) - The "anti-science" law that allows creationism into public school science classrooms. A positive law, LA SB 374, would repeal the Louisiana Science Education Act.
• LA SR 136 – Would recognize the first Thursday in May of each year as the State Day of Prayer at the Louisiana State Capitol.

Rogers said lobbying at the state and local level is important on several fronts and from a long term strategic perspective.

"In our current U.S. Congress, 38 percent of Representatives held local office first," said Rogers. "When we get to law makers at the local level, not only are we going to help curb some of the most egregious legislation we're seeing, but we are also building relationships and working to educate legislators on our issues, before they even get to Washington."

Interested participants are encouraged to call in to the meeting at (530) 881-1400, Participant Access Code: 978895.  

Official call dates and the call-in phone number for chapter conference calls are available at Secular.org/about/states. 

CONTACT: Lauren Anderson Youngblood, SCA Communications Manager at lauren@secular.org or (202)299-1091 ext. 205

The Secular Coalition for America is a 501(c)(4) organization that serves as the national lobby for atheists, agnostics, humanists, freethinkers, and other nontheistic Americans. Composed of 11 diverse member organizations, SCA works to protect and strengthen the secular character of our government as the best guarantee of freedom for all. For more information, please visit www.secular.org.