What You’ve Given North Carolina Senate Candidate Kay Hagan

Only a couple days after the first post, you all have sent fantastic letters to Senate candidate Kay Hagan‘s campaign as well as to her opponent (and anti-atheist fearmongerer) Elizabeth Dole and thrown a lot of support her way.

So far, you’ve raised $1620 and that’s only counting the people who commented on this site.

Here’s one more incredible letter sent by reader Sarah Hewitt to the Dole campaign:

To Ms Dole or to the reader of this e-mail,

I grew up in the 1990s and remember my parents voting for Mr. Dole in 1996. I remember reading about Elizabeth Dole and hoping she could successfully run for President herself one day. As a young girl, I had few strong female role models I could identify with, and I respected the moderate positions and understandable stances that Ms Dole took in a complicated political setting. In the current hubbub surrounding the Presidential election, I hadn’t thought of Ms Dole in some time, as I’m not a native of North Carolina but rather of Michigan.

A few days ago, I was extremely upset to read about the attacks made by the Dole campaign concerning Kay Hagan’s plans to attend a fundraiser held by atheists, agnostics and other non-religious voters. That simply meeting with them and accepting their money is criticized by the Dole campaign outrages and saddens me. As an atheist from a Christian family who understands and respects my personal beliefs and values I have come to expect and demand decency and fair treatment from the believers around me, including the politicians who represent my rights. The separation of church and state is a controversial issue right now, but it is beyond extreme to attack a political opponent for simply being willing to hear from the minority side of the debate who are only trying to protect their civil right — not to interfere with the rights of others to practice religion.

The language used in the press release paints the non-believers in America with an ugly brush, and I am disappointed in my former role model for this low move. Atheists and agnostics are not and should not be treated as second-class citizens or political untouchables. Taking advantage of prejudices against us is as disgusting a tactic as it would be to take advantage of a local prejudice against any other minority.

I hope but do not expect that a public apology and explanation for this incident will be forthcoming. In the meantime, I will make sure that my friends and family know what has happened, and I will be donating money to Hagan’s campaign — the first time I have ever donated money to a political campaign in my life — as a way of speaking out against this kind of abhorrent behavior.

Sincerely,
Sarah Hewitt

If you want to donate, you can do so here.

To response to a comment made on this site, I have inquired about an interview, but no response from Hagan’s campaign yet.