Activism Across America

The results of the American Religious Identification Survey of 2008 are in, and it seems that Vermont is the most godless state in the union. 34 percent of Vermont residents answering the survey reported having no religion.

Some people will assume that’s a bad thing, but if you look at the facts, it seems that Vermont’s godlessness serves it well. Vermont residents are among the most educated in all the USA. Vermont crime rates are among the lowest in the nation. Vermonters also feel more trust in their neighbors than people in other state. Whereas the level of stated trust of other people in the nation as a whole has declined to just 34 percent, the level of trust in other people among people living in Vermont is at 71 percent.

Maybe the rest of the nation ought to try going godless, as Vermont has done.

Last night at the Democratic National Convention, Senator Claire McCaskill delivered a purposeful and nasty insult to her nonreligious constituents, declaring that the people of Missouri are “God-loving” and asserting that the United States of America is a nation “under God”

It wasn’t an accident that these words came out. They were scripted in a purposeful rhetorical move to appeal to right wing Christian voters, and to try to push secular Americans out of the Democratic Party.

Let’s get this straight, Senator McCaskill. Facts are facts. There are a large number of people in Missouri who don’t believe in God at all. See as an example the Community of Reason - based in Missouri.

The USA is by no means a nation “under God”. There is no mention of God in the Constitution, the defining document of our nation. The Constitution does state, however, that there shall be no religious test for public office, and that there shall be no government establishment of religion.

All Americans, religious or not, should pay attention to Claire McCaskill’s theocratic agenda, because it’s tied to a larger right wing agenda. Oh, sure, at the Democratic National Convention, Senator McCaskill can give a good speech, but it’s only talk. In the Senate, McCaskill has earned a right wing legislative score that is nearly double her progressive legislative score.

Senator McCaskill and her ilk are dragging the Democratic Party backwards into the past, using the appeal of religious discrimination against secular Americans to whip up popular support. That’s an ugly, discriminatory vision of the Democratic Party that I want no part of.