Subject: 2010 Now What?
From: "Peter" <peter@nwseo.org>
Date: 1/5/10, 11:45
To: "Ellen Johnson" <EllJhns8@aol.com>, "Dave Parker" <djparker10@gmail.com>, "Barrett Brown" <barriticus@gmail.com>, "Stephen Gladney" <stephengladney@gmail.com>

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It's 2010, now what? From the Secular Coalition of America, there current agenda is to lobby on the following issues:
 
  • Religious discrimination in the military
  • Religious refusal laws affecting emergency contraception access
  • Religiously based child abuse
  • Health and safety exemptions for religious child care centers
  • Federal funding of religious institutions and "faith-based intiative" program
  • Religion imposing a theological definition on civil marriage
  • Government support of religious discrimination in the Boy Scouts
  • Special rights for religion (RFRA & RLUIPA)
  • Religious control of sex education
  • "Under God" in the Pledge forces religion on all citizens
  • Federal funding of religious schools
  • Politicking from the pulpit
  • Do we have any problems in also fighting the Wingnut Rights on any of these issues? I certainly don't. I even have a few more that deal with religious interference in the labor movement and the pro-company positions of those on the Wingnut Right. Then there is the interference in the Health Care Reform debate by the Catholic Bishops and other WRs.

    This idea that ETV will only address the issue of separation of religion and government and not get involved in other issues involved with the left and right and try to stay right down the middle of the road will not work. It makes ETV a single issue PAC and on an issue that will not see any activity until and unless the Republicans retake the Congress and start imposing those tired old bills to do away with the First Amendment which we will not see and if we don't want to see them, then we better keep them out of the Congress in the first place by fighting the WRs on the other issues.

    Besides, as everyone should know, you get run over when you try to walk down the middle of the road. You have to pick whether you are going to walk on the left side or the right side. The progressive side or the status quo one.

    Please let me know what you think. Thanks.

    Peter