FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Paul Case
President of Seattle Atheists
P.O. Box 283, Seattle, WA 98111-0283
(206) 826-0770
president@seattleatheists.org
www.seattleatheists.org

PRESIDENT IS NOT OUR PASTOR-IN-CHIEF — SEATTLE ATHEISTS LAUDS FEDERAL COURT DECISION

SEATTLE — Seattle Atheists would like state our support for the ruling made by U.S. District judge Barbara Crabb’s ruling that the National Day of Prayer violated the Establishment clause of the First Amendment and was therefore unconstitutional.

The National Day of Prayer was first introduced in 1952 at the height of the Cold War, and officially set as the first Thursday in May by President Ronald Reagan in 1988. It is a day when the President of the United States calls upon the nation’s citizens to pray, which Judge Barbara Crabb ruled, “is an inherently religious exercise that serves no secular function.”

“I have heard the argument that the National Day of Prayer doesn’t promote a particular religion,” says Paul Case, president of Seattle Atheists, “but go to the official website and click on the ‘Why Pray’ link, and it is immediately obvious that this is promoting a wholly Christian endeavor. And that should be offensive to people, and not just atheists — but to all of us. How can that be seen as anything but respecting an establishment of religion?”

The law reads, “The President shall issue each year a proclamation designating the first Thursday in May as a National Day of Prayer on which the people of the United States may turn to God in prayer and meditation at churches, in groups, and as individuals.” This clearly demonstrates the sectarian and exclusionary nature of the law.

“Our President is the leader of a nation with a secular constitution,” says Case. “He isn’t our pastor, minister or priest. It isn’t just that he shouldn’t compel us to pray, it’s that he’s constitutionally barred from using his public office as a church pulpit.”

Seattle Atheists would like to express its appreciation to the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (ffrf.org), who initiated the lawsuit, and give our moral support for the inevitable appeals still to come. We stand firm in the assertion that people of all religious denominations, or none, are best served by the secular government laid out by the Founding Fathers — a government that neither encourages nor discourages religious belief or practice. We feel that President Thomas Jefferson summed it up best when he said, “The President of the United States has no authority to direct the religious exercises of his constituents.

Seattle Atheists is a 501(c)3 organization dedicated to serving the atheist community in the Seattle area. We strive to promote understanding and respect toward all freethinkers by providing information, creating a sense of fellowship, actively opposing discrimination, and above all, emphasizing reason, critical thinking over supernaturalism, and for the separation of church and state.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Paul Case, President of Seattle Atheists, (206) 826-0770, president@seattleatheists.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Paul Case
President of Seattle Atheists
P.O. Box 283, Seattle, WA 98111-0283
(206) 826-0770
president@seattleatheists.org
www.seattleatheists.org

SEATTLE ATHEISTS CONDEMNS THE CATHOLIC CHURCH’S COVER-UP OF CHILD RAPE AND DISMISSIVE ATTITUDE TOWARD ITS VICTIMS

SEATTLE — Seattle Atheists would like express its sympathy for the pain suffered by the victims of rape and abuse by Catholic priests, and its disgust at a callous global organization which has enabled and covered up that rape and abuse for decades.

As the list of charges grows, and more victims find the courage to speak out, the Vatican’s attitude towards its victims has grown more cynical and flippant. Pope Benedict recently referred to growing evidence that Catholic priests raped children in their charge, covered up the abuse, and protected the abusers, as “petty gossip.” At the Good Friday service attended by the Pope, Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa compared media scrutiny to the persecution of the Jewish people — doubly offensive given the Church’s centuries-long history of anti-Semitism and their complicity in the Holocaust.

The New York Times reported that the Pope has personally played a hand in internal investigations of abuse against its priests. They reported that he squashed an investigation against Lawrence C. Murphy, who may have abused and raped as many as 200 deaf children under his charge in Wisconsin from the 1950s to the 1970s. Murphy died as a priest and was never punished for his crimes. Church officials in Germany recently admitted that Rev. Peter Hullerman, transferred to an archdiocese led at the time by Pope Benedict, could have been committing sexual abuse since the 1970s. And, in Ireland, Bishop John McGee resigned, apologizing that he failed to respond to allegations of abuse within the church.

“The sexual abuse of children is terrible enough,” says Paul Case, president of Seattle Atheists, “but to actually cover it up, silence the victims with confidentiality agreements, and pass on the priest to a batch of new potential victims is just unforgivable.”

The decades it took to bring these crimes out into the open, and the callous responses by the Pope and the Vatican, clearly illustrate what Seattle Atheists feels is the privileged role that religion gives to an organization that holds itself up above criticism or scrutiny.

“I can’t imagine that a CEO whose employees sexually abused children would be shameless enough to cover it up and have the audacity to play the victim,” Case says, “especially an organization that claims to be the arbiter of morality.”

Seattle Atheists bears no ill will toward the millions of moral Christians and Catholics. We share their outrage with the growing evidence of wrongdoing, and offer our support to the victims and their families. To remain silent is an insult to the secular conscience.

Seattle Atheists is a 501(c)3 organization dedicated to serving the atheist community in the Seattle area. We strive to promote understanding and respect toward all freethinkers by providing information, creating a sense of fellowship, actively opposing discrimination, and above all, emphasizing reason, critical thinking over supernaturalism and the separation of church and state.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Paul Case, President of Seattle Atheists, (206) 826-0770, president@seattleatheists.org

In his Jan. 20 letter to the Tacoma News Tribune, Brad Elken asks of the crisis in Haiti, “Where are the atheists?”

Atheists are precisely where we’ve always been: giving what help we can to people who need it. Countless atheists and free-thought organizations have united under the aegis of Richard Dawkins’ Non-Believers Giving Aid, a multi-organizational drive to raise money for the people affected by the terrible earthquake in Haiti. Together, we’ve already raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for two admirable secular organizations: the International Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders.

True to the message of the holiday sign we placed outside of the Capitol building this past year, Seattle Atheists extends its resources and thoughts to those suffering, regardless of creed, belief, or religion. For the past several years, we’ve raised thousands of dollars for Seattle Children’s Hospital, we donated a large sum of money after the 2005 tsunami, we organize a year-round blood drive, and a year-round SeasonLESS Food Drive, which provides food throughout the year — not just during the traditional holiday giving season. We have a project underway now to donate books to our troops overseas with Operation Paperback.

Unlike the religious groups mentioned by Mr. Elken, these organizations do not proselytize or use tragedies as an easy opportunity to convert vulnerable people. Christian organizations are exploiting the situation in Haiti by distributing solar-powered talking Bibles. The Haitian people don’t need bibles — they need clean water, food, and shelter. They need doctors, medicine, engineers, and aid workers to rebuild their country. They do not need faith-based opportunists who are already using the crisis as if it were a fire sale for religious conversion and salesmanship. They don’t need organizations that use charity as a Trojan horse to spreading their beliefs to vulnerable people.

The earthquake in Haiti was a tragedy, not an opportunity. Access to the country is limited right now. Every evangelist getting off the plane takes the place of a doctor. Every Bible is crowding out medical supplies.

Let’s be good for goodness’ sake.

The Board of Seattle Atheists