THE BIG STORY WITH JOHN GIBSON
5:47 PM EST September 19, 2005 Monday
ASMAN: There are all kind of lobbyists on Capitol Hill. Well, now for the first time there is one for atheists. She is Lori Lipman Brown, executive director of the Secular Coalition for America. And she joins us now.
Thank you for coming in, Ms. Brown.
LORI LIPMAN BROWN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SECULAR COALITION FOR AMERICA: Thank you for having me.
ASMAN: I've got to have philosophy before politics. They say there are no atheists in a foxhole. If you were in an attic in New Orleans and the water was coming up to right below your chin, do you think you'd be praying?
BROWN: Well, first of all, let me correct, there are atheists in foxholes. And in fact, I believe we're going to have a bunch of veterans who are atheists in D.C. in October.
ASMAN: But do you think that if your life was on the line, you'd actually break down and pray?
BROWN: No.
ASMAN: You don't? So you've got absolutely true faith in atheism?
BROWN: What we would do is actually try to do whatever we could do to help ourselves.
And in fact, even in the Katrina aftermath, humanists and atheist groups, all of the groups that don't rely on a higher power to have things happen, have taken a very active role in raising money and going out there and trying to help, because we believe that we have to do the best we can in this life and do the most good that we can to make things as good as they can be right here and now.
ASMAN: We certainly support those activities 100 percent.
But now how do you win hearts and minds inside the beltway? Not too many politicians want to be seen as offering favors to atheists.
BROWN: Well, it's not favors. Basically, we'll just work to uphold the Constitution. The founders were good about not putting God into our Constitution and keeping religion and government separate, not only to protect people like myself, but also to protect religious people. We work in coalition with a lot of religious groups who also believe that government and religion should be...
ASMAN: Can you name a religious group that is against, for example, say, using the word "God" in the Pledge of Allegiance?
BROWN: On that issue, we're not going to be in coalition with very many other groups.
I see a number of different areas. There will be some issues where we overlap, like money going to federal programs that someone might try to allow them to discriminate based on religion, even though it's federal money. That seems to actually be something that might happen very soon that we might have to fight with a large coalition.
And then there are other issues where we'll be the only ones out there, just trying to educate. For example a lot of people think it doesn't really matter if they say "under God" in the pledge. But imagine how it would feel having your child, if you're a religious person," every day be led by school officials with "one nation with no God."
ASMAN: OK. We've got to leave that point there. Lori Lipman Brown. We thank you for coming in, Ms. Brown. Appreciate it.
Coming up right here, Tropical Storm Rita is gaining strength as it heads towards Florida. The storm may have its sights set on the hurricane ravaged Gulf Coast. If that happens, how strong will it be and where will it go?
Thank you for coming in, Ms. Brown.
LORI LIPMAN BROWN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SECULAR COALITION FOR AMERICA: Thank you for having me.
ASMAN: I've got to have philosophy before politics. They say there are no atheists in a foxhole. If you were in an attic in New Orleans and the water was coming up to right below your chin, do you think you'd be praying?
BROWN: Well, first of all, let me correct, there are atheists in foxholes. And in fact, I believe we're going to have a bunch of veterans who are atheists in D.C. in October.
ASMAN: But do you think that if your life was on the line, you'd actually break down and pray?
BROWN: No.
ASMAN: You don't? So you've got absolutely true faith in atheism?
BROWN: What we would do is actually try to do whatever we could do to help ourselves.
And in fact, even in the Katrina aftermath, humanists and atheist groups, all of the groups that don't rely on a higher power to have things happen, have taken a very active role in raising money and going out there and trying to help, because we believe that we have to do the best we can in this life and do the most good that we can to make things as good as they can be right here and now.
ASMAN: We certainly support those activities 100 percent.
But now how do you win hearts and minds inside the beltway? Not too many politicians want to be seen as offering favors to atheists.
BROWN: Well, it's not favors. Basically, we'll just work to uphold the Constitution. The founders were good about not putting God into our Constitution and keeping religion and government separate, not only to protect people like myself, but also to protect religious people. We work in coalition with a lot of religious groups who also believe that government and religion should be...
ASMAN: Can you name a religious group that is against, for example, say, using the word "God" in the Pledge of Allegiance?
BROWN: On that issue, we're not going to be in coalition with very many other groups.
I see a number of different areas. There will be some issues where we overlap, like money going to federal programs that someone might try to allow them to discriminate based on religion, even though it's federal money. That seems to actually be something that might happen very soon that we might have to fight with a large coalition.
And then there are other issues where we'll be the only ones out there, just trying to educate. For example a lot of people think it doesn't really matter if they say "under God" in the pledge. But imagine how it would feel having your child, if you're a religious person," every day be led by school officials with "one nation with no God."
ASMAN: OK. We've got to leave that point there. Lori Lipman Brown. We thank you for coming in, Ms. Brown. Appreciate it.
Coming up right here, Tropical Storm Rita is gaining strength as it heads towards Florida. The storm may have its sights set on the hurricane ravaged Gulf Coast. If that happens, how strong will it be and where will it go?
