ANTI-GOD MARCH TO PROTEST RELIGIOUS RESURGENCE

WASHINGTON, July 15, 2002 (LSN.ca) – Alarmed by the revival of public expressions of religious faith in America in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, 71 organizations representing atheists, secularists and humanists are planning a “Godless Americans March on Washington” on November 2.  “We are participating in this march to reclaim the American nation as a secular nation because we feel it’s being moved more and more to a religious nation,” said Katherine Bourdonnay, a spokesperson for the Council for Secular Humanism. “While America has many religious roots, it was founded as a secular nation, with a distinct separation of church and state,” she said.  However, Ray Sharp, director of special projects at the American Family Association, says that in America, “Government and religion [have] always been intertwined since the founding of this nation, especially when you look at the many, many quotes from our Founding Fathers in which they relied on God for the establishment of our nation.”  In Canada, by contrast, there is no need for an anti-God march because traditional religion has been obliterated from the public scene by federal fiat. Neither the Swissair nor the September 11 memorial services were permitted to mention Christ, and Canadian Armed Forces chaplains have been ordered not to use “exclusive” concepts such as the Trinity or other Christian terminology that could offend non-Christians. When public events in Ottawa do include Christian ministers, bureaucrats arrange for Wiccans, Scientologists and Raelians to have equal footing.  It is not known whether the choice of November 22, the 45th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, is intentional; C.S. Lewis died in England on the same day.  To read CNSNews coverage see:  https://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=Culturearchive