Secular Councils, Political Leverage

By Marie Alena Castle, Minnesota Atheists

No group has ever succeeded in overcoming discrimination against it without political action. For decades, atheist, humanist, etc., organizations have ignored, and often outright disdained, the political arena. This has gotten us exactly nowhere. We have been a strangely clueless bunch.

But now there is hope in the development of state Secular Councils. This is a way for small groups to leverage political influence. It is done locally where the task is easiest and the effect greatest. This idea took off when the Minnesota Secular Council (which includes Atheist Alliance because our office is there) formed, then achieved an historic meeting with Gov. Jesse Ventura. Other Secular Councils have since formed - three in California, one in South Carolina.

The strategy is this:

• Sign up the atheist-humanist groups in the state.
• Have an informal structure that drains minimal resources from the groups.
• Collect no money. The member group that initiates an action covers any costs, such as photocopying.
• List issues to support/oppose. Include those at the top of the religious right agenda. They're all state-church issues because the goal is to force their doctrines on everyone by law. Council members must agree to the list as a condition of membership. This avoids controversy if you want to thank a legislator for, say, supporting abortion rights or gay rights or family planning. We do have members who somehow don't think these are state-church issues.
• Send letters of appreciation to public officials who are supportive of one or more of your issues and ask for a meeting. Eventually you will get one.
• If you have bad politicians, find one who is not totally bad and reinforce his or her positive views.
• Be friendly and reasonable. Explain your views on public policy issues related to our community's concerns. Ask to be included in any discussions to which the community of faith is invited.
• Send follow-up letters of thanks and reminders of any subsequent action the public official agreed to. The goal is to make them aware of us as a significant constituency whose views merit consideration.
• Mention to cooperative elected officials that, although our voter numbers are not large, they may include some campaign workers. (Such people are prized by politicians and will be listened to.)
• If group action is not feasible, individual groups (or even individuals) can take action. (See the letter from Atheists & Other Freethinkers on page 13 in the current issue of Secular Nation.)
• Individuals who work on election campaigns should let the candidates know it's due to their respect for state-church separation and atheists.

The Minnesota Secular Council, since meeting with Gov. Ventura, has a meeting coming up with a state legislator to help draft a Students Bill of Rights that includes protection from proselytizing. They have also met with a candidate for governor (who may be challenging Ventura) who promised the Council (quite sincerely) to be as publicly supportive of state-church separation and of atheists as Ventura. Meetings with other candidates are planned with the intent of using Ventura's position to leverage the same support from as many of them as possible.

Recently, the Minnesota Secular Council learned from a reporter who visited Ventura's home that the "First Amendment Freedom Fighter" and "Political Courage" plaques given him on Dec. 27, 2000, by the Council and Atheist Alliance, are displayed on a wall. May there soon be politicians in every state proudly displaying awards from the community of reason.