Rep. Joe Walsh, a Tea Party-backed Republican, represents an area not too far from me (the 8th district of Illinois). During a recent town hall meeting, Jacob Kramer of the National Atheist Party had a chance to ask him about his 0% rating from the Secular Coalition for America:
It’s a surprising video… partly because there’s an actual dialogue. No yelling or screaming or protests or fights. The conversation is very cordial, and Walsh at least gives lip service to the idea of respecting (though not agreeing with) the secular viewpoint. If you think I’m totally off on that, let me know. Then again, Walsh also calls America a country founded by “god-fearing men,” suggesting he doesn’t know the secular history of our own country…
I have to tip my hat to Jacob, though. If this is what the National Atheist Party can do — get members of Congress to answer (on record) questions regarding church/state separation and other issues important to Secular Americans and start a real discussion about these issues — more power to them.
Chelsea Link definitely wants more of this (emphasis hers):
These are the types of conversations we need to be having with all our elected officials, because these are the conversations that will actually get us somewhere. If all the NAP did was record and publicize five-minute discussions like this one with every congressperson, they would immediately advance the public discourse on religion and government far more than any other party has in years.
…
Incidentally, Walsh has a document on his campaign website listing the “28 Founding Principles of the United States” and Phil Ferguson has a nice quick takedown of it.