How are you a second class citizen
In about a million ways including being unable to hold office, being unable to claim conscientious objector status (a trivilization of our beliefs simply because they are not weird), and having to tolerate the ugliness of the the consequences of religious/racial disagreements all around our neighbourhoods. In Massachusetts, being disallowed to debate our ideas, etc., etc., etc. AND...ETC...
THE BILL OF RIGHTS FOR UNBELIEVERS
I. Think freely, autonomously express their views forthrightly, and debate or criticize any and all ideas without fear of censure, recrimination, or public ostracism.
II. Be free from discrimination and persecution in the workplace, business transactions, and public accommodations.
III. Exercise freedom of conscience in any situation where the same right would be extended to believers on religious grounds.
IV. Hold any public office, in accordance with the constitutional principle that there shall be no religious test for such office.
V. Abstain from religious oaths and pledges, including pledges of allegiance, oaths of office, and oaths administered in a court of law, until such time as these are secularized or replaced by non-discriminatory affirmations.
VI. Empower members of their community to perform legally binding ceremonies, such as a marriage.
VII. Raise and nurture their children in a secular environment, and not be disadvantaged in adoption or custody proceedings because of their unbelief.
VIII. Conduct business and commerce on any day of their choosing, without interference from laws or regulations recognizing religious days of prayer, rest, or celebration.
IX. Enjoy freedom from taxation supporting the government employment of clergy, and access to secular counseling equivalent to that provided by chaplains.
X. Declare conscientious objection to serving in the armed forces under any circumstance in which the religious may do so.
XI. Live as citizens of a democracy free from religious language and imagery in currency, public schools and buildings, and government documents and business.
SOME SPECIFIC EXAMPLES OF HARM DONE
yale.edu
"...However, over the course of two hundred years the framers' vision of a secular state has been lost, and the Constitutional rights of unbelievers regularly violated. The CFA "Bill of Rights for Unbelievers" begins by asserting that unbelievers must be granted in all cases the freedom of speech, including the freedom to think about, debate, and criticize any and all ideas. Interpreted in its truest sense, the First Amendment amounts to a license to bear intellectual arms, based on the sticks-and-stones principle that attacking ideas can't hurt people. Yet this right remains inhibited so long as blasphemy laws remain on the books, as they do in many states, including Massachusetts.
In essence, the CFA Bill of Rights is consistent with all notions of political and personal freedom, equality of opportunity, and non-discrimination. Thus, it next asserts that unbelievers must no longer face discrimination or persecution in the workplace, business transactions, or in public accommodations. Furthermore, unbelievers must not suffer discrimination either at job interviews, or from their superiors in the workplace itself.
Discrimination also pervades the public and political sphere. Currently, the state constitution of Mississippi proclaims that "No person who denies the existence of a Supreme Being shall hold any office in this state." The constitutions of Tennessee, Texas, Maryland, North Carolina, and Arkansas contain similar discriminatory clauses, while South Carolina's constitution bars unbelievers from state office three separate times, and once explicitly from the office of governor. The "Bill of Rights for Unbelievers" demands that these insulting, bigoted statutes be removed immediately from all public documents and business.
The Bill also reminds us that there can be no reason why the non-religious should be excluded from the privilege of freedom of conscience, one of our most highly valued and carefully guarded rights. Unbelievers must be free to exercise freedom of conscience in any situation where the religious may also do so. If a Quaker can object to making war posters based on her worldview, then an atheist should be allowed to do so as well. Additionally, unbelievers must be free to conscientiously object to serving in the armed forces. It is sadly ironic that, despite all the blood that has been shed in the name of religion throughout the centuries, at present only the religious may object on grounds of conscience to U.S. military service.
Unbelievers also currently face discrimination and penalization from a host of social conventions, norms, practices, and laws established by the majority. Daily school rituals such as the Pledge of Allegiance count as one such example; possibly more shocking, however, is the fact that unbelievers cannot empower members of their own communities to perform legal marriages. Non-religious couples electing to have humanist weddings must be legally married separately by a justice of the peace, or else have no choice but to go to a church.
The "Bill of Rights for Unbelievers" also notes that unbelievers must be protected in their right to raise children in a secular environment, and in abortion or custody proceedings. Religion (or the lack thereof) cannot be deemed indicative of the quality of one's character or parental skills... ." |
