Cranford, NJ — American Atheists filed a formal comment with the Religious Liberty Commission (RLC) demanding that the Commission withdraw its draft report. The RLC’s draft report presents a highly biased, white Christian Nationalist perspective on religious equality in the United States. It is readily apparent from the report that the RLC did not engage in a good-faith effort to examine the issue of religious equality. American Atheists therefore argues that the report should be withdrawn in its entirety and the RLC start over by conducting a good-faith effort to examine this vital issue without bias.
The Commission made no effort to obtain testimony from members of the atheist community about our experiences of constitutional violations from government officials intent on abusing their positions of power to promote their conservative Christian beliefs. After conducting a shamelessly one-side series of hearings, the Commission has produced a document that does nothing beyond airing tired White Christian Nationalist grievances that amount to little more than a continuation of attacks on the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, opposition to efforts to make American public life more diverse and inclusive, and bemoaning the decline of religion’s hold on American society — and particularly Christianity’s hold on the day-to-day lives of Americans.
“Nowhere in either its hearings or this draft report does the RLC attempt to even acknowledge, let alone actually grapple with, the discrimination, mistreatment, and ostracization faced by nonreligious Americans around the country at the hands of their government,” said American Atheists Legal Director Geoffrey Blackwell. “Had the Commission engaged in an honest, good-faith effort to fully understand the issue of religious equality, American Atheists and its coalition partners could have provided the Commission with hours of relevant testimony. But they had no interest in hearing from us.”
The unconstitutional abuse that nonreligious Americans are regularly subjected to by officials at every level of government has serious ramifications for people in their day-to-day lives. The RLC’s complete failure to conduct neutral, good-faith proceedings dooms its report in its entirety. The Commission’s efforts thus far have been an insult to all Americans. The members of the Commission and its advisory boards should feel ashamed for engaging in this performative, grievance-fueled process. The Commission must withdraw the Report in its entirety and instead engage in a good-faith effort to examine the important issue of religious liberty in America with the care and objectivity it deserves.
