It doesn’t look much better:

Grade A: 17 Democrats, 0 Republicans
Grade B: 55 Democrats, 0 Republicans
Grade C: 110 Democrats, 6 Republicans
Grade D: 5 Democrats, 5 Republicans
Grade F: 3 Democrats, 230 Republicans

(Not all Reps were counted for different reasons.)

Can you tell which party opposes our values more…?

“The results of this report card show that our secular government struggles to be free from the encroachment of religion,” said Herb Silverman, president of the Secular Coalition. “The only way to protect everyone’s right to religious freedom is to keep all religion out of government and leave it free for the individual to pursue or not.”

In general, the Reps were scored based on their votes on 7 different issues important to Secular Americans, including eliminating funding for Planned Parenthood, expanding federal funding of religious schools in D.C., acknowledging that climate change is occurring, pushing for church transparency, promoting freedom of religious minorities, reaffirming “In God We Trust” as our national motto, and giving land to the anti-gay/anti-atheist Boy Scouts of America.

You can find how your state’s Reps did in the left-hand sidebar here.

Illinois didn’t fare too well. Only two As and even one member (Rep. Joe Walsh) with a 0%!

How did your state do?

Those two events may bookend his public life as an activist, but his activism outside the world of politics is equally compelling. (He gets bonus points for being a Math professor.)

In June of 2012, he’ll release an autobiography called Candidate Without A Prayer: An Autobiography of a Jewish Atheist in the Bible Belt (Pitchstone Publishing).

It’s one of the book I’m looking forward to reading next year and you can pre-order a copy now:

Incidentally, Amazon lists the full price right now, but my hunch is that it’ll drop by quite a bit by the time the book is actually released. Since no one gets charged until the release date, you’ll only pay the final price either way. TL; DR: You can pre-order it now and you’ll only be paying the final price. Amazon is awesome like that.

More information about the book will appear on this site closer to the release date, but for now, enjoy the cover

The grades break down like this:

An A means the candidate has been “consistently positive” on that issue.

A B means the candidate has been “neutral or occasionally positive” on that issue.

A C means the candidate has been “mixed, with positive and negative responses” on that issue.

An F means the candidate has been “consistently hostile or negative” on that issue.

When it comes to matters specific to Secular Americans, the Fs are running wild…

The full report (PDF) goes into detail about why each candidate received each grade, but here are the big takeaways:

• If you care about our issues, Jon Huntsman is the person you want emerging from the Republican side. And even with him, it’s not apparent where he stands on issues like taxpayer funding of religion (e.g. “faith-based initiatives”) or religious refusal laws (“conscience clauses,” which would allow, say, a town clerk in New York to refuse to give a gay couple a marriage license because it went against her faith or a Christian pharmacist to refuse to dispense birth control).
• Michele Bachmann would be a disaster. Fs down the line. Rick Perry would likely have followed suit, except there’s no word on how he’d respond to religious refusal laws. Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum barely avoided the Epic Fail fate, but it’s clear neither of them have any respect for the issues that matter to a lot of us.
• For as much enthusiasm as he’s generating in Iowa, Ron Paul isn’t very good for us. He doesn’t accept evolution, he says he would “follow [Jesus] in all I do and in every position I advocate,” and he’s received the endorsement of Christian crazyman Chuck Norris. And that’s just the beginning of his problems.
• Mitt Romney actually receives a couple of As on the scorecard: He accepts evolution (though he believes a god began the whole process) and says he would not become a “spokesman” for his church if he were to become president. Neither one, though, makes me feel better about the words “President Romney.” (And is it really any surprise that the Flip Flop King earned that many Cs?)
• President Obama doesn’t receive a single F, but his inability to sign an executive order preventing taxpayer funded groups from proselytizing is extremely concerning. His Christianity doesn’t bother me per se, but he better “evolve” on the gay marriage issue pretty damn soon.

So what’s the overall message from all this?

None of the candidates are great when it comes to our issues, including the current president. Who knows how much different a Second Term Obama would be from version 1.0. If you have to go with one of the candidates based solely on “secular issues” (and you’d be foolish to do that), Obama’s still better than Huntsman only because Huntsman is still a question mark in many important areas.

When it comes to Republicans, though, there are some candidates who are better than others… even if you can’t fully “support” them.

Here’s a question for debate: Would you rather see someone like Jon Huntsman emerge as the Republican presidential candidate because he’s better on our issues? Or would you rather see someone like Michele Bachmann because she’s so goddamned awful on our issues that it wouldn’t even be a question of how we should vote? Or, phrased another way, would you rather see Obama go up against intelligent-but-flawed opposition or a cartoon-y super-villain?)

Or are you just not going to vote, because the lesser of two evils is still evil?

Maybe we can take solace in the fact that there are some Republicans who aren’t completely batshit crazy in every area. None of them are ideal, though.

I still hope the eventual Republican winner loses to Obama, only because I’m naïvely hoping he’ll become a better president if he doesn’t have to campaign again. If he loses to any of the current Republicans, I fear that we would inch that much closer to a theocracy.

It’s good to know we have vocal activists like this working on our behalf:

(Thanks to Chana for the link!)

The Executive Director will be the primary public face for the organization, be a central force in leading the organization, and cultivate relationships with current and prospective donors, member organizations, the media, and legislators. Additionally, the Executive Director must play an active role in nurturing the relationships between the member organizations, promoting cooperation and advancing the nontheistic movement as a whole. The Executive Director will work with and report directly to the Executive Oversight Committee of the Board of Directors, and set goals and priorities for other staff members based on the strategic plan of the organization.

All the details are here. You’d obviously have to live in (or move to) Washington, D.C., but if you want a job in the movement, this is definitely one of the more higher-profile ones.

You may remember Amanda as the person who asked President Obama why he still permitted taxpayer-funded organizations to practice faith-based discrimination:

At the 2011 Secular Student Alliance conference, Amanda spoke about what she does and what all of us can do to make a difference in our local governments:

Memo to everyone who plans atheist conferences: Please put Amanda on your roster next time around.

He will be joining the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science (RDFRS) as their new Director of Strategy and Policy.

Dawkins explained it this way:

“[Faircloth] has a proven ability to strategize, organize, and energize — qualities essential to making secularism a successful social movement. Sean wrote the Secular Decade plan while Executive Director of Secular Coalition for America and led the early stages of its implementation. Now he will bring his skills to an even wider audience. I want him out speaking far and wide.”

…

“I have invited Sean Faircloth to join me in my book tour in the United States this September and October because, having read an advance copy of his book and written its Foreword, I know that its message is critically important and must reach a broad audience, particularly as we approach America’s 2012 elections. The trend toward theocratic thinking in the United States is a danger not only for America but for the entire world. Sean Faircloth’s ability to articulate this problem and offer specific solutions is why he will be such an an important new member of our team. As Director of Strategy and Policy at RDFRS he will work with secular groups of all stripes, including his contacts in the Secular Coalition for America, to strategize and organize.”

So, in addition to his new role, Faircloth will also be the “opening act” for Dawkins during his U.S. tour for The Magic of Reality.

This comes a few months before the release of Faircloth’s own book: Attack of the Theocrats! How the Religious Right Harms Us All — and What We Can Do About It.

Sean became the director of the SCA in early 2009, after a five-term run as a State Representative in Maine.

Herb Silverman, the chair of the SCA, put out this response:

On behalf of the Secular Coalition for America, I’d like to thank Sean Faircloth for all he has done in the past two years as Executive Director of our organization. He conceived of our plan for a secular decade, and started our growth toward fifty state secular coalitions.

Sean’s oratory skill, enthusiasm and ideas have inspired many who have attended his talks around the country. His vision and dynamic ideas are contained in his soon-to-be published book, Attack of the Theocrats: How the Religious Right Harms Us All—and What We Can Do About It. I’m confident the book will motivate all kinds of secular Americans to join our cause and become secular activists, as Sean has succeeding in doing with his speeches.

We are thrilled that Sean will be opening speaker for Richard Dawkins’ book tour later this month, and that Sean is now the Policy & Strategy Director of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science. This will help make the relationship between our two organizations even closer as we cooperate and work together on behalf of all secular Americans.

Thanks, Sean, for all you have done, and for all you will continue to do for our movement.

With best wishes,

Herb Silverman
President, Secular Coalition for America

Sean adds:

I want to thank the Board of Directors of the Secular Coalition for America for the opportunity to work with them as their Executive Director for the past two years. It has been an honor to work with this organization and on this important cause. I am particularly proud of my work crafting the Secular Decade plan and moving it forward in all aspects, including the fifty state strategy. In my new position at the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science I will continue strategic planning, policy leadership, and public speaking efforts on behalf of secularism and I will continue to work with SCA and all secular groups, in the United States and abroad. I wish SCA the best and will continue to strive for our movement to take an optimistic and positive approach to secularism.

Best wishes,

Sean Faircloth

Stay tuned for more. I’ll update this post soon.

They’re organizing trainings this fall… for atheists who want to run for public office.

Training will primarily be aimed at those interested in running for local and state level offices such as school board, city council, and state legislature. This training will focus on campaigning, messaging, and the nuts and bolts of effective leadership.

…

“We hope to inspire some secular candidates. The best way to combat the Religious Right is to elect people who will stand up for the separation of church and state and the rights of secular Americans,” said Matt Schoenley, Executive Director of the Secular Coalition for Arizona.

There is a $100 cost for the training, but it would be hard to find a more worthwhile activity for the Arizona affiliate of the Secular Coalition for America to hold. This is precisely what we need — encouragement and help for qualified atheists who want to run for local (and, later, perhaps statewide and national) elective offices.

The foreword is written by Richard Dawkins and a preview of the content can be found at Pitchstone Publishing’s website.

Obviously, more information on this book will be coming soon…

SCA is seeking a highly motivated undergraduate junior- or senior-level student with a demonstrated interest in being active in the nontheistic movement. The student must live and attend school more than 50 miles outside of the District of Columbia.

SCA is a 501(c)4 advocacy organization whose purpose is to amplify the diverse and growing voice of the nontheistic community in the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., our staff lobbies U.S. Congress about issues of special concern to our constituency and advocates for the separation of church and state.

…

The internship will provide activities and opportunities to learn about, assist with, and work with the four main areas of SCA’s office: lobbying and advocacy, grassroots and outreach, development and fundraising, and media relations and social media networking.

If you’re an atheist looking to get involved with politics in some way, this may be perfect for you. All the information can be found here and the application is just waiting to be filled out! The deadline is February 18^th.