Seven Days Left Until the Caucuses...

That means Iowa has seven more days to basque in the white hot light of media attention at the center of the American political universe; seven more days to birddog presidential candidates as they crisscross the state in their final push to win the Iowa’s electoral votes; seven more days for atheists, freethinkers, and humanists to make our voices heard.

On Tuesday, February 4, the hordes of journalists, talking heads, and TV cameras will slip away, not to be seen again until 2023. 

That’s still seven more days than most other states in the country get.

So let’s take advantage of every minute of every day that we have left before the caucuses to protect the separation of church and state, fight creeping theocracy in America, and preserve religious freedom for secular and minority Americans.

Here are five things IAF members can do in the next week to tap into the media attention for the secular issues that matter to us.

1. There are still dozens of campaign events all across Iowa. You can easily find them all at the Des Moines Register’s Caucuses Candidate Tracker. Go to the event nearest you and ask  that candidate — whoever it is — a question. “I’m an atheist. What will you do to earn my vote?” “What will you do to preserve the separation of church and state in America?” Or come up with one of your own. I’ll give you extra points for recording your questions and posting them on social media. Use #AtheistVoter on every video you post. Also, send it to me. I’ll put it up here on Heathens of the Corn.

2. Check out the Atheist Voter page at American Atheists. It is a treasure trove of information about secular issues, presidential candidates, and other actions you can take to magnify the voices of atheists and freethinkers.

3. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. Concentrate on one issue. Make it short, sweet, and to the point.

4. Talk to your friends. Find out who are planning to caucus and who are not. Every time you find someone in that latter group, persuade them to change their minds. Twist their arms. Shame into going to the caucuses. Whatever it takes. (Okay, there are legitimate reasons why some people can’t attend the caucuses. We should probably cut them some slack. Everybody else needs to go. The stakes are too high for anyone to pretend their voice doesn’t matter.)

5. GO TO YOUR CAUCUS.

Atheists and nonbelievers in America can no longer afford to be complacent. Evangelical Christians have organized effectively for the last forty years. They have honed their tactics to a razor sharp edge and use them to promote theocracy every chance they get despite their shrinking population.

We need to take advantage of our growing numbers and do the same. 

Get active. Ask questions. Raise your voices. Caucus on February 3. Most importantly, VOTE. Protect your freedom of religion the way America's founding fathers intended when they wrote our godless Constitution.

[Edited to include more things you can do.]

By Robert Cook

Activism Chair

Why Does Sandy Salmon Hate Social Studies?

Sandy Salmon, Republican State Representative from Blackhawk County, just filed a peculiar bill at the Statehouse. HF 2072 would prohibit the adoption of statewide core Social Studies standards by the Board of Education.

This bill prohibits the state board of education from adopting, and the department of education from authorizing or requiring, statewide core social studies standards for kindergarten through grade 12.

Not science, math, literature, or anything else. Just Social Studies. I find that more than a little odd.

The core standards at every grade level have a few threads in common. They concentrate heavily on teaching how to use reason, standards of evidence, and accurate facts from primary sources to analyze social and historical claims.

Sandy Salmon is a hard right conservative, creationist, and Christian Nationalist. She believes that the Founding Fathers were all evangelical Christians, just like her. She believes that America was founded as a Christian nation based on Christian principles, requiring Christian solutions to governmental problems.

I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that Salmon’s religious beliefs color her perspectives on American political institutions, society, economics, and history. Her Christian nationalism is impervious to reason, standards of evidence, and accurate facts. She doesn’t understand that America was never a Christian nation — except in the trivial sense that a majority of citizens are Christian. She doesn’t understand that our Constitution explicitly conflicts with Christian principles. She doesn’t understand that true freedom of religion means that no religious beliefs deserve special privileges or government support.

Sandy Salmon doesn’t understand any of it and doesn’t want anyone else to understand it either. HF 2072 if passed would effectively gut history and civics education classes in our public schools.

I give it 50/50 odds of passing this legislative session.

(Shameless plug: Go buy “The Founding Myth”, by Andrew Seidel. It explains the history of Christian Nationalism and its current threat to our government and Constitution in clear, compelling, thorough detail. Read it, then come hear Andrew speak about it this upcoming Monday, January 29, 6-8 PM at the Ohmstead Center Sussman Theater at Drake University.)

By Robert Cook

Activism Chair

Come See Andrew Seidel, Author of The Founding Myth

I am so looking forward to this. Spread the word, folks. Andrew Seidel, author of The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism Is Un-American will be speaking at Drake University Ohmstead Center Sussman Theatre on January 27th, 2020 from 6-8 PM. The book is fantastic, a must-read for everyone who cares about Christian theocratic overreach in America. It is the perfect antidote to the historical lies of David Barton

Please join IAF at this event. The Constitution of the United States needs your support and so do we.

See you there.

By Robert Cook

Activism Chair

My Peculiar Hobby

I have an odd little hobby. Every year, starting in the middle of January, I obsessively log on to the Iowa Legislature’s website and pore over all the bills that our Congress Critters file over the course of the session. I look for the ones I find interesting or noteworthy — both good and bad — and rant about them to my friends. I do occasionally get some sideways glances as people slowly back away, but it is for your own good.

I tend to concentrate on a few broad categories: church/state separation and Christian privilege, Constitutional encroachments, bigotry, racism, voting rights, — basically anything a good humanist ought to care about.

As they say, all politics is local. If you don’t know what is happening in the Capitol building, your Congress Critters will bite you in the ass because you weren’t paying attention.

Anyway, it’s that time of year. It’s the first week of the session and oh boy, have I got a doozy to kick things off.

House File 2026, introduced by Holly Brink, a Republican from Mahaska County. This bill is “An Act relating to requirements for physicians providing services at an ambulatory surgical center, and providing penalties.” https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/publications/LGI/88/HF2026.pdf

HF 2026 requires all physicians providing surgical services at Ambulatory Surgical Centers to have admitting privileges at a local hospital. Well that sounds innocuous. It sounds like Ms. Brink only cares about patient safety. Who could possibly object to that?

Well I do.

This bill is about abortion and nothing else. It is about eliminating access to safe abortion services and reproductive health care. It is about making it too expensive for Planned Parenthood and related clinics to function in the State of Iowa. It is a TRAP law: Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers. I’ve seen similar laws pop up in other states in recent years, but this one is unusual in that it doesn’t say the word “abortion” anywhere. Not once. It is sneaky and clever, and it’s author clearly hopes that no one will pay close enough attention to realize it’s true purpose until they’ve sent it to the Governor.

Abortion is incredibly safe. Complications requiring hospital admission occur in 0.3% of all abortions. Simply carrying a pregnancy to term carries 14 times more risk to the mother than that. But reproductive health clinics tend to be controversial and frequently in the news. Hospitals don’t like that. Physicians who serve abortion clinics are kept at arms length and rarely given admitting privileges. That is what makes this a TRAP law.

Call your State Legislators and tell them not to support this bill. If they are Republican, tell them you see through their ruse. If they are Democrats, make sure they know that this bill is an anti-choice TRAP law and urge them do everything they can to shut it down.

Register to vote, folks. Attend your caucuses if you can. And vote next November. Bills like this one are the price you will pay if you don’t.

By Robert Cook

Activism Chair

Gather Round, All Ye Heathen of the Corn, and Hear My Words...

Or not. There are no corn-based, angry, red-eyed gods making you do anything around here.

I’d like to introduce myself and welcome everyone to the shiny, brand-spanking-new website of Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers — and to this blog, Heathen of the Corn. My name is Robert Cook, and I am the Activism Chair of IAF. This blog is where I (and others — I’m certainly not doing this all by myself) will talk about atheist and humanist related news, update you on IAF events, and inspire you to feats of activism and kindness.

I see ACES as the core philosophy of this blog. ACES — Activism, Community, Education, and Social — is a program devised by American Atheists and adopted by IAF. It is a way to grow IAF membership by focusing on the needs of the diverse community of atheists, freethinkers, and humanists where we live.

The goals of the ACES program are:

1. Grow and sustain a broad base of support and membership by appealing to the diverse

community of atheists in your community.

2. Increase the visibility of your group by engaging in high-impact activism and

partnering with other local groups to accomplish activism goals.

3. Combat negative stereotypes about atheists and atheism by demonstrating your

involvement in your community through service, community building, collaboration, and educational programs.

4. Expand the scope and reach of your group by building and maintaining a large and diverse membership and a network of community partners and allies.
5. Increase the financial stability of your group by growing membership, utilizing corporate matching or rewards programs, and other revenue streams.

As I said, I am the Activism Chair. The other Chairs are: Bill Shackleford, Education. Joyce Shackleford, Community. And Kai Gillespie, Social.

I love the ACES program. I accepted the Activism Chair a almost a year ago because I want to make the world a better place before I die, at least better than it would be if I had never lived. It feels like the world is catching on fire all around me. Theocrats were — and are still — gaining more power in this country than I have ever seen in my lifetime. They encroach on my ability to live as a non-believer a little more every day even as the population of Nones grows to unprecedented numbers.

We have to do something folks. We have to push back, organize, educate ourselves, and take advantage of our numbers to preserve our rights, lives, and livelihoods. I joined Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers to make a difference, and ACES is our strategic plan to make that difference a reality.

That is the vision I have for the Heathen of the Corn and for Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers. If you feel the same way, please join IAF and help us make Iowa, the United States, and the world a better place.

And thanks for checking out this blog, even if you don’t have a supernatural horror looking over your shoulder.

By Robert Cook

Activism Chair