Supporting Civil Rights for Atheists and the Separation of Church and State

05
Sep
2012

American Atheists Condemn the Decision to Include God in the 2012 Democratic National Platform

teresamacbain's picture
Author: teresamacbain /

American Atheists, Inc.

www.atheists.org

 

For Immediate Release: September 5, 2012

 

For more information contact:

David Silverman, President American Atheists, 908-276-7300 ext. 5

[email protected]

Teresa MacBain, Public Relations Director American Atheists, 908-276-7300 ext. 7

[email protected]

 

American Atheists Condemn  the Decision to Include God in the 2012 Democratic National Platform

Cranford, NJ—On Wednesday, American Atheists officially condemned the amendment that was passed to include the word god into the 2012 Democratic National Platform. The measure, led by Former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, brought a vote before the convention delegates, requesting the official platform include the term god, and recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The motion was not unanimous and was protested by some delegates, but was adopted after three voice votes by the official delegates.

The new language for the 2012 Democratic National Platform reads, “We need a government that stands up for the hopes, values, and interests of working people, and gives everyone willing to work hard the chance to make the most of their God–given potential.”

David Silverman, President of American Atheists said, “I am shocked that the Democratic Party caved in to the pressure they were receiving because of their choice to use inclusive language in their platform.” Silverman continues, “This decision makes the Democratic Party look less like the ‘party of all people’ and only the party of those who are religious.” 

American Atheists officially stand in opposition to this divisive decision made by the Democratic Party. We urge the leadership to reconsider this action, which unnecessarily alienates about 16% of the American voting population.

 

AMERICAN ATHEISTS is a national 501(c)(3) organization that defends civil rights for atheists, freethinkers, and other nonbelievers; works for the total separation of religion and government; and addresses issues of First Amendment public policy.

 

American Atheists, Inc.

P.O. Box 158

Cranford, N.J. 07016

Tel: (908) 276-7300

Fax: (908) 276-7402

###

 

Comments

MDT73 / Wed, 09/05/2012 - 23:53

It's only politics. Atheists are completely welcome and safe within the Democratic Party. Many Democrats are religious including high-profile politicians. Most Americans are religious. The political climate in the U.S. requires inclusive language pertaining to religion and its adherents. The Democratic Party is too important to start down the road to marginalization by alienating voters. Please don't trigger reactions from the public that will only hinder our progress. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good enough.

greg_ / Thu, 09/06/2012 - 00:15

"Most Americans are religious"???

Most Americans are heteroseksual. So by your rational homoseksuals should be also "welcome" but remain quiet even if they feel excluded. But that's no longer the case and it shouldn't be the case for atheists either. 

By the way, this decision wasn't even passed with a 2/3 of required votes.

MDT73 / Thu, 09/06/2012 - 00:53

The LGBT community has much if not most of their work behind them as far as achieving equality. We Atheists still have most of our work ahead of us. The two groups are not currently at the same level although someday they will be. My main concern is alienating independent voters and blue dogs. Electing Democrats is in our best interest considering the alternative. Look I'll admit making in-roads now is a great idea, but don't expect instant results and definitely we should not be so overbearing as to cost the Democrats elections. LGBT folks haven't been all in-your-face at conventions but have steadily made progress in the culture at large.

greg_ / Thu, 09/06/2012 - 00:28

Shame. Where is a petition to the DNC? I would like to sign it.

16% of population are non-believers. I think we can assume that most of them support the Democratic Party (since we have only two choices). That would make it a large chunk of support, which explains quite a loud "no" to the amendment (about 50% delegates I would say). Atheists really need to be better organized and more visible in the Democratic Party. 

 

mybonepalace's picture
mybonepalace / Fri, 09/07/2012 - 12:22

you hit the mark .  Viaregoisa is an embarrassment to L.A. as Mayor and now shows plainly that hhe is either missing his testical, his hearing, or most likly BOTH.  My other question is why were these two items put together for this motion ?  God has absolutly nothing to do with recognising Jeruselem as the capital of  Isreal.  Now we can't even get out of the convention  without having non-conective riders on bills and motions. Maybe some of this bigotry and lying would stop if people were more educated in what the beliefs of the founding fathers really were and that we have a "long" history from before day one of this counrty, were our founders fought and discussed deeply the need for this to be a counrty founded on secular values for the democracy to truly work and protect all. 

 

Seperation of church and state means freedom from religion just as much as freedom for religion. 

dgbonomo / Thu, 09/06/2012 - 12:28

I registered because I really wanted to comment because this is the sort of thing that annoys me, even though (full disclosure) I do not live in the United States of America.  I realise this is politics, and it's done to draw in votes, but it shouldn't be done especially because it is politics.  Notwithstanding that the words "God-given" are entirely superfluous, as a consciousness-raiser, try replacing "God-given" with just about any other majority faction which minority groups have had to overcome throughout history, to get an idea of the absurdity of the statement.  And ultimately, this is why I continue to call religion the last great divider of people:  it is used, in this case as well, to change what was a completely inclusive phrase to a limited subset , entirely unnecessarily.

MDT73 / Thu, 09/06/2012 - 15:45

Maybe I have a thicker skin, but the phrase "God-given" seems rather innocuous. It's a bit of an archaic phrase referring to the "god of nature" the Founders frequently alluded to in the 18th century. It's stylistic language hearkening to our struggles for independence. History clearly shows that the Founders were nominal deists if not outright atheists, yet "god of nature" and "nature's god" repeatedly crop up in their writings. It really can't be likened to "white supremacist" , "manifest destiny", or "it's a man's world". Atheists are not being oppressed by the Democratic Party, we simply have not affected the zeitgeist of the current era as much as we would have liked. We'll keep working at it and one day we'll have equality in this country.

P3CO2RT's picture
P3CO2RT / Thu, 09/06/2012 - 15:35

It's very clear... ...they want my vote but they don't care about respecting my ideas. 

It is not good to see them removing an already aproved inclusive statement with a divisive one by means of a very abusive procedure.

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