Iowa Legislature Day 1: The Obligatory Magic Spell

It is opening day of the 2023 Iowa Legislature. It starts with a flurry of activity. Our legislators have a lot to do and only 110 days to get it all done. One of the first and most important items of business is to resolve that each daily session begins with a magic spell to appease Big Daddy Who Lives In the Sky.

If you don’t cast the magic spell, Big Daddy Who Lives in the Sky gets very, very angry and donors threaten to stop sending money.

And there it is, House Resolution 2, filed by Siegrist:

A Resolution to arrange for opening the sessions with prayer.

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, That a committee of one be appointed to arrange for opening the sessions with prayer.

Theocracy Is UnAmerican: A Rally for Secular Government 2023

The red wave fizzled in the midterm elections across the country — everywhere except here. In Iowa, Christian Nationalists actually gained seats, achieving a supermajority in both legislative houses. They have the numbers to pass any bills they feel like and no reason to hold back. I expect this year to be so much worse than last year, and 2022 was a bad year for secular-minded Iowans.

Yeah, I know, I’ve said that every year since 2017. Unfortunately,  I’ve been proven right every single year. But there are some things atheists and humanists can do to push back against the theocratic agenda; to make our voices heard at the Capitol and express our frustration and disapproval.

One of those things is Theocracy Is UnAmerican: A Rally for Secular Government. 

Sponsored by Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers in the Capitol Rotunda, this event will take place 1:00 PM Thursday, March 23, 2023.

Our speakers will defend secular government, protect church/state separation, and push back against the Christian Nationalists who seek to tear down our democratic republic. 

I plan to give the opening remarks. Other speakers include our Press Officer Jason Bennell, Connie Ryan of Interfaith Alliance of Iowa, and FFRF constitutional attorney Ryan Jayne. As we confirm more speakers I will update the list accordingly.

Prior to the rally, Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers and other like-minded groups will host outreach tables for legislators, staff, and visitors to the Capitol (set up at 9:00 AM).

Please attend if you can. There is power in numbers.  Ask for the day off now, put it in your calendar, and come to this rally. We need a crowd so large that Legislators and the Media cannot ignore us.

Christian Nationalists control the Iowa House and Senate but a third our our legislators still support secular government and our Constitutional rights. Let’s add our voices to theirs and inspire all the other secular citizens of Iowa to join us.

Reason On the Hill 2023

Reason on the Hill is back! Mark your calendars, folks: Monday Feb. 13 from 9:00 AM to about 3:00 PM in the Rotunda of the Iowa Capitol Building. Cosponsored by our friends  in Humanists of Linn County, Reason on the Hill is our secular lobby day. Please join us if you can to speak to your legislators, promote church/state separation, and encourage reason/science based public policy. 

We need your help with this. We need people to host our outreach table in the morning and then speak to legislators in the afternoon. If you can make it, please let us know. Clear your calendar and ask for the day off now. 

We will set up the outreach tables at 8:30 AM and spend the morning talking to legislators, staffers, lobbyists, and visitors to the Capitol Building. 

Okay, I have a confession. Feb. 13 is a Monday. Legislators spend Monday mornings driving back to the Capitol from their homes after the weekend so most won’t be there until later. They gavel in at 1:00 PM.  I am embarrassed to admit that when I reserved this time slot last Spring, I did not realize this. But there will still be a crowd of staffers, lobbyists, and probably a few early bird legislators there for us to talk to.

On the other hand, it was also the only unclaimed time left during the Session. There were no other options. 

We will tear down our outreach tables a little before Noon and go to lunch. 

After 1:00 PM, we will return to lobby our legislators in person.

In the midterm elections, Christian Nationalists gained seats in both chambers of the Iowa Legislature and the Executive Branch. They have the numbers to pass any bill they like. Our political climate is more polarized than ever. Because of that, theocrats have little reason to restrain themselves and every reason to keep their base riled up. 

Secular voices have to make themselves heard and Reason on the Hill is one of our most effective ways to do that.

We will partner with other like-minded groups to host outreach tables and meet with legislators. Reason on the Hill is open to any organization that supports our goals of science-based legislation, secular government, and the separation of church and state.

Find out more about Reason on the Hill at this link or on FaceBook.

You can reach me at Activism@Iowaatheists.org

Welcome Back!

Hello everybody. Welcome back to Heathen of the Corn, the official blog of Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers — all shiny, polished, revamped, and rebooted. (Okay, really just that last adjective. You know what I mean. We are posting anew, starting over.) 

And this time around, it won’t be just me. We are reaching out to several other members of IAF to provide regular updates and fresh weekly content. If anyone out there wants to write a relevant guest post about atheism, freethought, humanism, human rights, secular government, philosophy, godless parenting, your personal journey out of religion etc. (it’s a long list, you get the idea), please contact me. We need to talk.

We will use this space to keep you informed about all things IAF: monthly meetings, social events, charitable activities, educational programs, and activist events. To start with, my own posts will mostly (but not entirely) concentrate on the 2023 Iowa Legislative Session. I expect a flood of horrible, theocratic bills to be filed — and signed into law.I will do my best to keep you informed as they all work their way through the House and Senate. I do this every year. It’s my weird hobby. 

Anyway, I hope you will check back here regularly. I will push these blog posts out to FaceBook and maybe some other social media. I am also seriously considering consolidating Heathen of the Corn posts in a biweekly email newsletter for those not interested in FaceBook or the IAF website.

Thank you for checking out the Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers Blog, and thank you for your interest.

IAF Condemns Violence and Hate against the LGBTQ+ Community in Colorado

By: Chris Freeman, Director At Large

The weekend of November 19, 2022, brought an all too familiar scene back into the national spotlight. A man, and confirmed member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, entered Club Q in Colorado Springs and repeatedly shot into the crowd, killing 5 people and wounding at least 19 others.

The shooting looks very much like a "bias-motivated" crime - a hate crime. Club Q was seen by the local LGBTQ+ community as one of the few places to express their identity without fear. In addition to the loss of the individual people who were murdered, that community is almost certainly grappling with the loss of something many of us take for granted - a sense of safety.

If you look through the hate crime statistics from the FBI (https://crime-data-explorer.fr.cloud.gov/pages/explorer/crime/hate-crime), an uncomfortable trend is unavoidable. The top five most common types of bias offenses against LGBTQ+ people is overwhelmingly violence against their person. Bias offenses against various Christian groups are overwhelmingly property crimes. In this country, and probably the world over, the dominant group does not have much to fear from any of the oppressed groups no matter what their propaganda says.

The vast majority of anti-LGBTQ+ violence is a direct result of religious radicalization. And as Martin Niemöller claims in his poem "First They Came", we are in this together. The Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers group recognizes that we have a duty to show up whenever civil rights are attacked.

We mourn the loss of Daniel Aston, Kelly Loving, Ashley Green Paugh, Derrick Rump, and Raymond Green Vance. We did not know them, but our lives are enriched by people just like them. They are our sons and our daughters, our friends and our neighbors. Our hearts go out to their families, who are dealing with a loss most of us never have to even imagine.

But we don't stop at "thoughts and prayers". There are many ways to provide support, directly and indirectly.

Club Q has chosen Colorado Give 365 (https://www.coloradogives.org/donate/COHealingFund) as the official donation site.

Blood donation is another effective way to ensure emergency services are properly equipped.

Call your legislators to fight against laws which remove legal and social protections for vulnerable populations.

And in your daily life, take a stand against minor injustices.