Whew! What a ride the 2023 Legislative Session was! There were (mostly) civilized debates held on topics ranging from the mundane (fencing) to life-altering (women’s and transgender rights), with scarcely time to breathe in between. This column is a look at that session from an atheist’s viewpoint. Atheists tend to be ardent supporters of the separation of state and church and find it alarming that numerous bills seeking to turn religious dogma into state law were introduced.
The 2022 primary campaign, with its barrage of misinformation and lies, financed by the deep pockets of a vaguely Wyoming-ish-named PAC with untraceable donors, swept in a crop of folks calling themselves the “Freedom” Caucus. American Atheists and I, as its Wyoming State Director, have been watching and tracking that caucus nationwide for quite a while. Despite the use of the word freedom, their stated goal is to diminish freedom for those they deem unworthy of equality.
People are also reading…
Imagine, if you will, that some shadowy religious sect had a plan to take over a political party and government, and to rule our nation according to their sacred writings. Now imagine that they won, and you no longer have the right to live by your own beliefs. You must, at least outwardly, live your life according to their rules. You must dress as they say, live where they demand, read only the books they allow and keep silent about subjects they prefer never to be heard. And above all, you must fulfill your God-ordained place in society according to their dogma.
This was the type of legislation the “Freedom” Caucus introduced in the 2023 Legislative Session — bills designed to marginalize transgender kids and women and to keep them in their assigned roles.
The Wyoming I grew up in decades ago was one where we loved our neighbors, no matter how odd they seemed, or how different their lives were from our own. We didn’t care if or where anyone went to church, what clubs they belonged to or with which political party they aligned. Everyone was our neighbor, whether born here or Wyomingites by choice, and we watched out for each other.
The Supreme Law of our nation is the Constitution of the United States, a document that mentions religion only when it forbids its use as a test for public office and when it recognizes that people have the freedom to choose and live by their own beliefs with no government interference or preference for any. That’s it. We are a nation of mostly people of faith governed by a totally secular constitution.
That fact eludes many Americans because of purposeful grooming for the last 70 years. Folks see the words ‘In God We Trust’ on the money, hear them repeated frequently in the Pledge of Allegiance and believe it must be true that we are a Christian nation. However, the pledge was a sales gimmick created to sell U.S. flags, becoming popular (without God) in the early 1900s when the world was in a frenzy of nationalism. The addition of ‘In God We Trust’ not only divided the pledge but has served to separate our people ever since. It was at the behest of Christian lobbyists, in reaction to the Red Scare in the 1950s, that Congress added those few words. I was 3 years old — during MY lifetime, not Thomas Jefferson’s. It wasn’t added to our printed money until I was 6.
So, my fellow Wyoming citizens, we are at a crossroads. We can determine that we are indeed a free and equal state, where we care for ALL. Or we can grant further power to those who would use religion to separate us. The choice is firmly in our own hands, but we have to vote — in both the primary and general elections for every position! We have, for too long, left the choices up to the party activists, with most of us not even bothering to register. And, of those who have registered, about half don’t show up to cast a ballot.
I encourage every eligible voter in the state to read the platform of the Wyoming GOP, now strong supporters of the Freedom Caucus. It’s not a pretty picture. In fact, it is unpatriotic and downright dangerous; Wyoming deserves far better.
Do it. Read what they plan to do to our freedom. Then Register! Vote! Do it for the transgender kid across the street. Do it for the gay guy at the store. Do it for people of other, or no, faiths. Do it for every woman in your life. Do it for yourself. Do it for our democracy. Just DO IT! The time for complacency is over.
