April 23,2015 is Openly Secular Day - I have pledged to tell at least 10 people about being openly secular.

by Big Fat Heretic Thu Apr 23, 2015 9:09 am

This April 23,2015 is Openly Secular Day.

And so, I have pledged to tell at least 10 people that I am openly secular, tomorrow morning when I go out. I believe in the separation of church and state, and I know from studying American, that our founding forefathers intended for America so be a secular nation.

Here is more from the website Openly Secular
http://www.openlysecular.org/

Check this out.

Get Involved

If you're Openly Secular, you can help get our message out and truly make a difference in our fight to end discrimination against secular people by telling your story and encouraging others to do the same. Let the secular people in your life know about the many ways they can get involved.

Sharing your story will help encourage other secular individuals to be open about who they are. For those who cannot be Openly Secular, your story will help show them that they are not alone, that there is a secular community out there supporting them.

Report Discrimination

Have you faced discrimination for being secular? Report your discrimination story to the Anti-Discrimination Support Network and check out the legal resources below.

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

The ACLU opposes using religion to discriminate. Find your local ACLU to seek legal assistance.

American Humanist Association (AHA)

Report a Church/State Violation Here

Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU)

Report a church/state violation here

Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF)

Report a church/state violation by filling out the form here

Center for Inquiry (CFI)

The Legal Department of the Center for Inquiry occasionally provides free legal assistance when resources permit. Send an email to legal@centerforinquiry.net and include “Refer a Case” as your subject heading.

Our Mission

The mission of Openly Secular is to eliminate discrimination and increase acceptance by getting secular people - including atheists, freethinkers, agnostics, humanists and nonreligious people - to be open about their beliefs.

Our Vision

Discrimination is rampant against those who are secular. Teens are made homeless after being thrown out of their homes; young activists receive death threats; people lose relationships with friends, family, and coworkers for not believing the same. A 2014 Pew research study, for example, showed 53% of people would be less likely to vote for someone who does not believe in God. Many minority groups, such as gay candidates, were less stigmatized than secular candidates. Disturbingly, respondents were more likely to vote for an adulterous candidate than an openly secular one.

We envision a world where there are no social costs for being secular, where families and communities remain whole when some members have moved away from religion or super-naturalism.

Who We Are

Openly Secular is the joint project of four of the best-known and respected secular organizations:

What We Do

We believe that increasing visibility of secular people will lower prejudice against them, much as it has for the LGBT community. For example, 68% of those who personally know gay or lesbian people favor marriage equality, compared with just 32% of those who don’t know anyone (Pew Research, June 2013). Secular people will realize they are not alone when they are open and others say, “So am I.”

We share stories of pain to show how discrimination hurts and why it needs to end – like that of Damon Fowler, a high school student kicked out of his home when he came out of the atheist closet; or Adriana Ramirez and Margaret Doughty, who were denied U.S. citizenship because their morality is not religiously-based.

We share narratives of joy to demonstrate our values of Acceptance, Reason, and Love; express what we believe, show how love can ﬂow despite differences, and that people are glad they became open. Ultimately, we strive to save relationships that might be lost to misunderstanding.

OK, as I had mentioned before, in these forums, when I was a kid living up in Minnesota, I was raised a Presbyterian. But, even though I was Christian back then, I believed that church and state should remain separated, that Government should not have control of the churches, and that churches and/or various religious organizations should not try to control our Government, that the two should always be separated.

Also, even back then, when I was a kid going to Sunday school, I could not accept the Genesis account of creation so literally. After having read books on science, Evolution was just naturally the only logical explanation for how life developed on our planet.

Of course, I didn't stop believing in God. I just simply thought that natural selection and evolution was the method God had used, or simply had allowed to occur. But, when I told my Sunday school teacher this, I was told that I was going to go to Hell unless I changed my ways.

Yeah! Uh huh! A really nice thing to say to a 9 year old kid!

Over the years I have become more agnostic. I am opposed to any and all attempts to have Creationism taught in public school classes. I have always thought that religion should not be taught in public schools.

I remember back when I was in grade school, we had teacher-lead prayers in our classrooms, until about 1963 it was declared unconstitutional. Yes, I remember that after the third grade, there were no more teacher-lead prayers, and we didn't have to go for religious instructions on Tuesdays anymore. Yeah! No more teacher-lead-poisoning!!!

That was a great relief! No more walking in long lines to the three churches we had in that small town. Yeah! There were many instances of the smaller kids getting bullied around by the larger kids. So, we had religion, in addition to gym, that were both a source of bullying. Then, when religious instructions were declared unconstitutional, that at least, had helped to eliminate one of the sources of bullying!

Yes, It was bad enough putting up with school yard bullies, but having church yard bullies in addition only served to compound the problem, making it even worse!

Well . . . . . anyway . . . . .

When I go out in the morning, I'll be going out for coffee, and I have pledge to tell at least 10 people why I am openly secular. I'll also say, religious people are free to believe anything they like, and to worship as they see fit, but that you do not have a right to force your religious beliefs on other people.

That is what religious freedom is suppose to mean.

But, now . . . thanks to some recent stupid and moronic laws passed by our Republican party, Religious freedom now means, that if you own a business, a restaurant for example: you are now allowed to discriminate against some people, based on your religious beliefs.

Well . . . when I go out in the morning, while I'm telling people about being openly secular, and also going to call shenanigans on the Republican party and the Christian Fundies within the party who are passing laws that violate the separation of church ans state!

Yeah! On that, I shall call BULLSHIT!!!