Atheist group plans to lobby in Olympia
Jul 16, 2012, 12:55 PM | Updated: Jul 17, 2012, 11:55 am
An organization of atheists that has lobbied Congress for ten years is coming to Olympia to fight what it calls "egregious violations" of church-state separation. (AP Photo/file)
An organization of atheists that has lobbied Congress for ten years is expanding to Washington to fight what it calls “egregious violations” of church-state separation.
Many of the issues adopted by the Secular Coalition for America have made news here in Washington, including sex education, marriage equality and denial of medical care based on religious conscience, according to spokeswoman Lauren Anderson Youngblood.
“Inability of people who have a prescription for a legal drug to get it, because the pharmacist says it’s against his or her religious beliefs to dispense it,” she explained. Remember the political battle involving pharmacists who didn’t want to dispense Plan B, the Morning After Pill?”
Anderson Youngblood says the mission of the Secular Coalition for America, a 501c4 non-profit, is three-fold.
“As an organization, we deal with any type of issue that attempts to insert religion into government, to privilege religion (or) create exemptions for any type of discrimination based on religion.”
Tuesday afternoon, the organization of atheists will hold a conference call to Washington state, gauging interest here in their causes and looking for local leadership.
If it’s successful in organizing a chapter in Washington, the national group will find competition in Olympia. A list of lobbyists provided by the state Public Disclosure Commission shows a number of religious groups and socially conservative organizations that spend tens of thousands of dollars lobbying lawmakers, including Washington State Catholic Conference and Faith Action Network.
Anderson Youngblood points out there are 40 million Americans who don’t identify with any particular religion. She concedes that most Americans are religious.
“There is nothing wrong with that. We as an organization are not attempting to convert anyone to atheism, what we’re simply saying is that the principles that our country was founded upon were principles of separating religion from government and that’s what we’re trying to do,” said Anderson Youngblood.
The Secular Coalition for America is established in two states, Arizona and Alabama, with plans to open chapters in all 50 states. Anderson Youngblood argues that the separation of church and government is the best protection for all Americans, including religious people.
