A student of philosophy who identifies as an atheist is representing a national state/church watchdog in a “secular values voter” campaign in Maryland.
Parrish S. Knight will appear in a full-page ad headlined “I’m Secular and I Vote,” in which he is shown wearing an “A” for atheist pin in a photo taken in front of the Thurgood Marshall Memorial on the Maryland State House grounds in Annapolis. That ad will appear in the Annapolis Capital Gazette on Sunday, July 3. He will be featured on a billboard about the campaign later this year.
The ad is part of a national multimedia secular voter campaign launched by the Freedom From Religion Foundation in this critical election year.
FFRF points out that Knight is one of 75 million nonreligious Americans who want Congress, state legislatures, public officials and courts to listen to “secular values voters” by keeping religion out of government and social policy — and that includes on the urgent question of abortion rights.
“We are secular voters,” Knight writes. “Our secular values include separating government from religion, reproductive rights, abortion services, contraceptives and comprehensive age-appropriate sex education, equal rights for women and racial and ethnic minorities, racial equality and reasonable gun laws.”
Knight, who identifies himself in the newspaper ad as an “IT specialist, philosophy student, longtime Marylander . . . and Atheist,” notes: “The ‘Nones’ (those of us unaffiliated with religion) are now 29 percent of the U.S. population. We are the largest ‘denomination’ by religious identification!”
Adds Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor, “FFRF is putting public candidates and officials on notice that the nonreligious now represent nearly a third of all adult Americans. We are the true ‘values voters’ and it’s critical that our secular viewpoint be heard and represented.”
Knight, saying he “trusts in reason, science and America’s secular Constitution,” lists a compelling number of secular voter demands: To keep religion out of government and social policy, out of public schools, and out of bedrooms, personal lives and health care decisions — including when or whether to have children, and whom to love or marry. “Use my tax dollars only for evidence-based, not faith-based, purposes,” he emphasizes.
FFRF is running the billboards and newspaper ads in time for the July 3-4 weekend in about half of the United States, with the rest appearing around Sept. 17, Constitution Day.
The campaign is particularly timely coming on the heels of the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Gaylor observes that 98.8 percent of FFRF’s membership supports Roe, which is consistent with a YouGov analysis showing that atheists, at 91 percent overall, are the most likely to identify as pro-choice.
Gaylor called the Supreme Court’s ruling against abortion rights “an alarming wake up call,” and part of the Supreme Court trend to privilege religion at the expense of individual liberties. “That’s why our secular voices must be heard and why it’s essential to keep religious dogma out of our laws.”
The Freedom From Religion Foundation serves as the largest association of freethinkers in North America, with more than 36,000 members including nearly 700 in Maryland, and works as a state/church watchdog to safeguard the constitutional principle of separation between state and church. To learn more, visit: ffrf.org.
