TailOverTeaKettle.com

Today Red State pointed out an interesting article in “The Hill” about a scorecard for legislative godlessness:

For House staffers who continuously gripe about the Senate’s lack of good faith, it’s official. The Senate is in fact more “godless” than the House when it comes to upholding the separation of church and state.
The folks at the Secular Coalition for America awarded 18 members of the Senate (and only seven in the House) a “perfect score” for “commitment to the separation of church and state, and their willingness to protect the interests of the non-theistic community.”

The group based the grades on 10 key votes in each chamber, including those on judicial nominees in the Senate.

Senators earning the aetheists’ praise are: Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), Mark Dayton (D-Minn.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), John Kerry (D-Mass.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

House members with perfect scores are: Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), Pete Stark (D-Calif.), and Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.).

Very interesting indeed.

But even more interesting is the method that the Secular Coalition for America ( the self-proclaimed “atheists, humanists, freethinkers, and other nontheistic Americans”) used to determine this score. You can view their 2006 scorecard for yourself, and see how all of the lawmakers voted.

Of course, the article in “The Hill” is meant to be a little tongue-in-cheek; it was “easier” to get a “perfect” godless score for a Senator as opposed to a Congressman. For the Senate, all you had to really do was be a partisan Democrat who opposed confirming Bush’s nominations for judges. In the House, the litmus test turned out to be allowing the Boy Scouts to use DoD facilities. Only seven Representatives voted against that measure in the entire House - and that disqualified everyone else from getting perfect scores.

If you take out the Boy Scout measure, you could add 57 more to the perfect (or near-perfectly) godless list: Rep. Grijalva (D-AZ), Rep. Becerra (D-CA), Rep. Capps (D-CA), Rep. Davis (D-CA), Rep. Eshoo (D-CA), Rep. Filner (D-CA), Rep. Harman (D-CA), Rep. Honda (D-CA), Rep. Lofgren (D-CA), Rep. Miller (D-CA), Rep. Sanchez (D-CA), Rep. Sanchez (D-CA), Rep. Schiff (D-CA), Rep. Sherman (D-CA), Rep. Solis (D-CA), Rep. Tauscher (D-CA), Rep. Waters (D-CA), Rep. Watson (D-CA), Rep. DeGette (D-CO), Rep. DeLauro (D-CT), Rep. Bean (D-IL), Rep. Emanuel (D-IL), Rep. Jackson Jr (D-IL), Rep. Schakowsky (D-IL), Rep. Moore (D-KS), Rep. Cardin (D-MD), Rep. Van Hollen (D-MD), Rep. Markey (D-MA), Rep. Meehan (D-MA), Rep. Neal (D-MA), Rep. Olver (D-MA), Rep. Levin (D-MI), Rep. McCollum (D-MN), Rep. Clay Jr (D-MO), Rep. Berkley (D-NV), Rep. Holt (D-NJ), Rep. Pallone Jr (D-NJ), Rep. Payne (D-NJ), Rep. Rothman (D-NJ), Rep. Udall (D-NM), Rep. Ackerman (D-NY), Rep. Crowley (D-NY), Rep. Hinchey (D-NY), Rep. Israel (D-NY), Rep. Lowey (D-NY), Rep. McCarthy (D-NY), Rep. Nadler (D-NY), Rep. Rangel (D-NY), Rep. Serrano (D-NY), Rep. Slaughter (D-NY), Rep. Velázquez (D-NY), Rep. Price (D-NC), Rep. Kanjorski (D-PA), Rep. Schwartz (D-PA), Rep. Kennedy (D-RI), Rep. Scott (D-VA), and Rep. Baldwin (D-WI). Gosh, those darn Boy Scouts really know how to mess up a “perfect” score. I wonder if these legislators just couldn’t bring themselves to face voters in their districts knowing they had voted against the Boy Scouts… or if they are just ignorant of the blatant establishment of a national religion being promoted by the Scouts!

Seriously, since the Boy Scouts believe and ascribe to doing their duty to God, I can understand why the Secular Coalition would want to deny them the opportunity to camp at an Air Force or Army facility and think that it would help ensure the separation of church and state. (It’s really what Thomas Jefferson would have wanted, right?)

Just so you fully know what it means to get a high ranking, here are the ten most important bills in each law body, in the opinion of the atheists:

For the House of Representatives:

• Vote against Department of Defense using federal funds to support activities of the Boy Scouts of America, in particualar the periodic national and world Boy Scout Jamborees. [That measure passed 418-7 despite the atheists.]
• Vote for an Amendment to the Job Training Improvement Act that would strike a provision expemting faith-based organizations from mandated hiring practices even when Workforce Investment Act funds. [That measure failed 186-239 despite the atheists.]
• Vote against Passage of the Job Training Improvement Act which exempts faith-based organizations from mandated hiring practices when receiving federal funds. [That measure passed 224-200 despite the atheists.]
• Vote for Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act allowing federal funding of stem cell studies using conventional embryos. [That measure did pass 238-194. Tell me, however, what does this strictly have to do with seperation of church and state? I certainly can see how someone might be against the bill due to religious reasons, but other than that… what gives from the atheist side?]
• Vote to require Secretary of Defense to report to Congress on a plan to prevent religious proselytizing at the Air Force Academy. [That measure failed 198-210 despite the atheists.]
• Vote against Amendment to the Head Start Reauthorization which exempts faith-based organizations from mandated hiring practices. [That measure passed 220-196 despite the atheists.]
• Vote against Constitutional Amendment to ban same-sex marriage. [That measure failed because it required a 2/3 majority but only achieved 220-196. Again, I find it very interesting that “secular” world frames marriage as a seperation of church and state issue…]
• Vote against stripping federal courts of jurisdiction to hear any case pertaining to the Pledge of Allegiance. [That measure passed 260-167 despite the atheists.]
• Vote against protecting the Mt. Soledad Easter Cross. [That measure passed 349-74 despite the atheists.]
• Vote for override of Presidential veto of Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act. [That measure did pass 235-193, although again I wonder how this ends up on the list.]

OK, so I can see the federal funds being used at faith-based organizations, indirect use of federal money by the Boy Scouts, trying to take “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance. But the Stem-cell research and Same-Sex Marriage issues really twist my brain. In these cases, it seems that the Secular Coalition for America believes that simply taking a contrary position to one held by many (but not all) religious people in some way promotes the seperation of church and state.

By that logic, do they also believe that we should allow murder, because there are many who oppose it due to their religious beliefs (and that fact that it came down in the Ten Commandments)? “That’s just silly…” you may say — but can someone answer how it’s different?

Back to their important list of legislation: For the Senate side:

• Vote against invoking cloture on Janice Rogers Brown confirmation to be U.S. Circuit Judge for D.C. [That measure passed 65-32 despite the atheists.]
• Vote against confirmation of Janice Rogers Brown. [That measure passed 56-43 despite the atheists.]
• Vote against invoking cloture on William H. Pryor, Jr. confirmation to be on U.S. Court of Appeals for Eleventh Circuit. [That measure passed 67-32 despite the atheists.]
• Vote against confirmation of William H. Pryor, Jr.. [That measure passed 53-45 despite the atheists.]
• Vote against invoking cloture on Samuel A. Alito confirmation to be on U.S. Supreme Court. [That measure passed 72-25 despite the atheists.]
• Vote against confirmation of Samuel Alito. [That measure passed 58-42 despite the atheists.]
• Vote against invoking cloture on Brett M. Kavanaugh confirmation to be U.S. Circuit Judge for D.C.. [That measure passed 67-30 despite the atheists.]
• Vote against confirmation of Brett M. Kavanaugh. [That measure passed 57-36 despite the atheists.]
• Vote against invoking cloture on the Federal Marriage Amendment. [That measure did fail to achieve 3/5 majority required, 49-48. Again with the same-sex marriage!]
• Vote for federal funding of stem cell studies. [That measure did pass 63-37].

Again, very interesting. Apparently certain judges were very important to the atheists and their rankings. Alito, Brown, Pryor, and Kavanaugh were bad. But no mention of John Roberts. The only pattern I see is Roe v. Wade. Is Roberts excepted from the list because he said Roe v. Wade is settled law?

So if my guess is correct, then that means that Same-Sex Marriage and Abortion and Stem Cell Research are all seen by the Secular Coalition as issues involving the “seperation of Church and State”.

Very interesting indeed.