Thesecular movement refers to a social and political trend in theUnited States,[1] beginning in the early years of the 20th century, with the founding of theAmerican Association for the Advancement of Atheism in 1925 and theAmerican Humanist Association in 1941, in whichatheists,agnostics,secular humanists,freethinkers, and othernonreligious andnontheisticAmericans have grown in both numbers and visibility.[2] There has been a sharp increase in the number of Americans who identify as religiously unaffiliated, from under 10 percent in the 1990s to 20 percent in 2013.[3] The trend is especially pronounced among young people, with about one in three Americans younger than 30 identifying as religiously unaffiliated, a figure that has nearly tripled since the 1990s.[3][4]
The secular movement in the United States believes a secular government is essential to religious freedom. It is generally opposed to religious overreach, including theChristian right, and promotesliberal positions on social issues such asgay rights,reproductive rights, andseparation of church and state.[5][6]
The secular movement has involved the rapid growth of national and local atheist, agnostic, freethinker, and humanist groups, with organizations such asAmerican Atheists, theAmerican Humanist Association, theFreedom From Religion Foundation, and theAtheist Republic reporting rising membership and like-minded groups appearing in communities around the country.[7] This trend has been aided in part by theInternet, which has allowed atheists and other secularists to connect through blogs andsocial media websites such asFacebook,Twitter, andMeetup.[8][9] This has enabled the formation of secular groups even in conservative,Bible Belt areas.[10][11][12] National secular groups that once had constituencies of a few thousand have used social media to attract followings in the hundreds of thousands.[13][14] Secular student groups in colleges and high schools have also seen rapid growth.[15] TheSecular Student Alliance, a national group formed in 2001, grew from 80 campus affiliates in 2007 to almost 400 in 2013.[16]
In 2014, reflecting an approach similar to the "coming out" strategy of the gay rights movement, a group called Openly Secular was formed to encourage nonreligious and nontheistic Americans to speak out. The group's mission "is to eliminate discrimination and increase acceptance by getting secular people—including atheists, freethinkers, agnostics, humanists, and nonreligious people—to be open about their beliefs."[17] In one video produced for the group, comedian and television personalityBill Maher urged atheists to be open about theirreligious skepticism, dismissing theBible as a book "based on ancient myths".[18]
The secular movement works to increase the visibility of nonbelievers, including throughadvertising campaigns.[19][20][21] With the number of local secular groups growing, a national group, theUnited Coalition of Reason, was formed in 2009 to use advertising as a means of promoting those groups. It operates by entering a media market and working with local atheist and humanist groups to form a local "Coalition of Reason", and then purchasing local advertising, usuallybillboards or transit ads, to promote that coalition. The group has executed this strategy in over 75 media markets in the United States.[22] Typical ads convey messages such as "Are You Good Without God? Millions Are" and "Don't believe in God? You are not alone." These ads often create local controversies, and have sometimes been vandalized.[23]
In 2002, theSecular Coalition for America was formed to lobby on behalf of secular Americans inWashington, D.C. In 2007, as a result of a campaign by the group, Rep.Pete Stark of California became the first open atheist in theUnited States Congress.[24][25] In 2013, a political action committee was launched to support nonreligious political candidates and candidates sympathetic to atheist and humanist concerns.[26] The Secular Coalition for America claims that over two dozen members of Congress have privately reported being atheists, but refrain from openly identifying as such.[27]
As America's secular demographic has grown and become more visible and active, a number of lawsuits have been brought to challenge references to God and religion in government. These cases have had limited success.
In 2002, theNinth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the inclusion of the words "under God" in thePledge of Allegiance violated theEstablishment Clause of theUnited States Constitution. That ruling was overturned by theUnited States Supreme Court inElk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow, 542 U.S. 1 (2004). The Supreme Court ruled against the plaintiff,Michael Newdow, not on the substantive legal issue but on a technicality, declaring that he lackedlegal standing because he did not havecustody of his daughter, on whose behalf he had brought the suit. Newdow subsequently filed a second case, and in 2010, the Ninth Circuit reversed its earlier decision and ruled that the "under God" wording did not violate the Establishment Clause.[28]
In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled against the Freedom From Religion Foundation inHein v. Freedom From Religion Foundation, 551 U.S. 587 (2007), which challenged the expenditure of tax money through theWhite House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. The court ruled that taxpayers do not have legal standing to challenge expenditures by the executive branch. In 2011, theSeventh Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a challenge to theNational Day of Prayer, again on standing grounds.[29] In 2013, a federal court rejected a challenge, brought by Newdow and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, to remove "In God We Trust" from American currency.[30]
In 2014, courts inMassachusetts andNew Jersey rejected challenges to state laws requiring daily recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools. The lawsuits, brought by the American Humanist Association, claimed thatequal protection guarantees under the respective state constitutions prohibited daily recitation of the pledge because the "under God" wording discriminated against atheists. The courts ruled that, because participation in the exercise is voluntary, the laws do not violate equal protection.[31][32]
InTown of Greece v. Galloway, the Supreme Court in 2014 rejected a challenge to the use of sectarian prayers by some local legislative bodies.[33] Though seen as a setback for church-state separation, the ruling also stated that municipalities cannot discriminate against minority faiths in allowing invocations, and atheists and humanists subsequently used it to assert their right to participate in the invocation process. Months after theGalloway ruling, an atheist gave the invocation at a regular meeting of the Town of Greece board.[34]
The secular movement has also been active in public discourse over the definition ofreligious freedom. Atheist and humanist groups opposed the Supreme Court's 2014 decision inBurwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., which gave corporate employers the right to opt out of thebirth control mandate of theAffordable Care Act on religious freedom grounds.[35]
In March 2012, several national secular groups sponsored aReason Rally on theNational Mall in Washington, D.C., with a lineup of speakers and performers that includedRichard Dawkins,Tim Minchin,Bad Religion, andJames Randi. The stated purpose of the rally was "to unify, energize, and embolden secular people nationwide".[36] Crowd estimates ranged from 8000 to 30,000.[37][38] In 2015, organizers announced plans for a second Reason Rally, but did not set a date.[39][40] The second quadrennialReason Rally was held on June 4, 2016 at theLincoln Memorial inWashington, D.C.[40]
New Atheist authors such as Dawkins,Sam Harris,Daniel Dennett, andChristopher Hitchens helped give the secular movement momentum, though many American secularists disagree with the politics and style of the New Atheists.[41][42] Dawkins has been involved in public disputes with atheistfeminists who have criticized remarks he has made aboutsexual harassment.[43] The New Atheist authors have been highly critical of Islam, connecting terrorism to the religion of the perpetrators, and many secularists have denounced such views asIslamophobic.[44] Some within the secular movement, such as theAmerican Humanist Association, have expressed "a strong distaste for efforts to propagate a crusade mentality against Islam".[45] However other prominent figures in the Secular movement disagree, such asAyaan Hirsi Ali, who believes that "political correctness is counterproductive" and that we must "acknowledge the issue ofIslam."[46]