Dr. Schempp’s case was one of the two cases decided by the Supreme Court (The other was Madalyn Murray O’Hair’s case) that removed compulsory prayers from the public school system. This event is in honor of the 50th anniversary for that case.

On Monday, June 10th, Dr. Schempp will be at the PA General Assembly. We are hoping that he will have the opportunity to address the Assembly. At 11am, he will take part in a press conference to discuss the “Public School Religious Freedom Month” resolution, honoring the 50th anniversary of the Abington V Schempp and Murray v Curlett cases. The press conference will be in the Media Room at the Capitol, and feature other speakers as well, including David Silverman, President of American Atheists and Brian Fields, President of PA Nonbelievers, and others as we can arrange it.

More information about the case is available here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abington_School_District_v._Schempp

This a resolution which PA Nonbelievers drafted, and that all citizens (religious and irreligious, Republicans and Democrats) who respect the U.S. Constitution should be able to support. There is no reason this should not be a fully bipartisan resolution, but we need your help.

Please contact your member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and strongly urge them to contact Rep. Cohen’s office offering to co-sponsor the resolution.

Amidst an ongoing series of right-wing resolutions declaring “Year of the Bible,” “Prayer Month,” “National Fast Day,” “American Religious History Week,” and several Boy Scouts resolutions, as well as a bill that, if passed, would prevent students from
anonymously suing their school districts in state courts if they feel their school is hosting an unconstitutional religious display, this new resolution celebrates the rights of ALL students to be free from coercive school-sponsored religious exercises.

If you know your PA State Representative, call their local office, identify yourself as a constituent, and express your support for Rep. Cohen’s upcoming Public School Religious Freedom Month resolution and ask that they co-sponsor the resolution. This is important even if you know they are an adversary. If the Representative does not take your call personally, ask that they respond to you promptly by phone, email, or letter. (And let us know what their response is!)

If you don’t know your State Representative, go to this page:
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/findyourlegislator/#address
and look for the “PA House” or “PA Rep” listing for your street address, township, borough, or city. Please do not contact your State Senator regarding this resolution. This is a House, not Senate, resolution.

If you need help identifying your representative, or have other questions, please feel free contact us.

This effort will only require a few minutes of your time, and is very important in letting the legislators know that they have atheist voters in their district and we are watching how they will vote, even if they don’t co-sponsor the resolution. For those of you who are too shy to pick up the phone, look for the “envelope” icon under your representative’s photo, and click on it to send an email.

Please help, and please SHARE this message with your FB friends throughout PA.

Carl Silverman
Capital Area Director
PA Nonbelievers
Camp Hill

TICKET SALES ARE NOW LIVE! Go here to purchase tickets for this event!

It will be located at the Embassy Suites Airport Hotel in Philadelphia, and take place the weekend of September 13-15, 2013. We have arranged a special price of $130 per night, and you can use code “113″ to reserve your hotel room at that rate. You can call the hotel at: (215) 365-4500. Your hotel reservation includes breakfast, internet, parking and Happy Hour.

The Freethought Society, Lancaster Freethought Society, PhillyCoR, and PA Nonbelievers are working together to plan this year’s conference.

The Freethought Society will be throwing one of its famous anti-superstition parties on Friday the 13th of September at 7pm to kick off the conference weekend. This party is not part of the ticket price and will cost the small additional fee of $13. General admission to the conference costs $100 for the whole weekend, and includes Saturday lunch and Saturday dinner. You can find out more about our other packages on the ticket page.

You can also help us out by sharing our handout cards on bulletin boards, and by sharing the webpage on social media!

Check out the main website for the event here. You can also catch us on Facebook, and join the event for updates as we get them.

Brian Fields
Co-Organizer
2013 PA State Atheist/Humanist conference
President, PA Nonbelievers

It is a free event, and the tickets are available here: http://annualoration2013.eventbrite.com/

It will be held at the Irvine Auditorium at the University of Pennsylvania on March 12, 2013 at 6:30pm located at 3401 Spruce St, Philadelphia, PA.

First, this is a reminder that our annual elections will take place on March 2nd, 2013. The election will be held at the Unitarian Universalist church in York, PA at 10am. We have 4 board members up for re-election (3 year seats):

Gail Crow
Paulette Parquette
Jason Fegley
Chris Feaster

Gail and Jason have indicated to me that they do not intend to run for re-election due to obligations in their personal lives, which leaves their seats open for new directors! We also have an empty 2 year seat on our board.

Any member of PA Nonbelievers is welcome to run for our board of directors. If you aren’t already a member, please consider joining us. We are a 501(c)3 educational non-profit organization, and all donations are tax-deductible as permitted by law.

Here’s looking forwards to a great 2013!

Brian Fields
President
PA Nonbelievers

As you may already know, PA Nonbelievers memberships operate on a calendar basis. That means all current memberships will expire on December 31, 2012.

Here is the 2013 PAN Membership Form! We’re working hard to protect your rights in PA – As well as to provide a welcoming community for Atheists, Agnostics, Humanists, and all other non-believers in Central PA. We need your support, however, as we can’t operate without your donations. If you aren’t already a member, please – Join us!

Take time and fill out this form and become a member. Take a stand against religious fundamentalism, and for the Separation of Church and State. We are a 501(c)3 tax exempt organization, and your donations are tax deductible to the extent that the law permits.

http://www.panonbelievers.org/noshow/winter-solstice-party/

Hope to see you there!

Brian Fields
President
PA Nonbelievers

Both of York’s daily newspapers have written articles about whether the United Way will continue to support the Boy Scouts, in light of their exclusionary policy toward the LGBT community. This issue has received a great deal of publicity recently, and some United Way agencies, such as the Capital Region agency that serves Harrisburg, have decided to stop funding the Boy Scouts.

Not so the York County United Way, according to Robert Woods, its executive director. A story in the York Daily Record on October 11, 2012, written by Tim Stonesifer, includes the following paragraph: “Woods stressed that the two United Way organizations have ‘very different’ anti-discrimination policies, and the York group’s anti-discrimination policy applies only internally, not directly to partner organizations.”

Really? The United Way of York County’s own website (http://www.unitedway-york.org/UnitedWaySystem.html) states their position quite differently:

United Way organizations ensure that each organization in which they invest is a non-profit, tax-exempt charity governed by volunteers and that each organization submits to an annual, independent financial audit, provides services at a reasonable cost and maintains a policy of non-discrimination. A vast network of volunteers and the simplicity of corporate payroll deduction keep administrative expenses low.

Either Woods is not familiar with his own organization’s policies, or he cynically assumes that everybody else is too lazy to actually look them up. PAN has brought this contradiction to the attention of the reporter, who has contacted the United Way, seeking clarification. We will pass along any response we receive.

Why is this an issue for PAN? While we strongly oppose the Boy Scouts’ treatment of their LGBT members and volunteers, we are directly affected by the Boy Scouts’ long-standing bigotry against atheists and agnostics, as expressed in their bylaws:
(http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/guidetoadvancement/appendix/charterandbylaws.aspx)

Section 1. Declaration of Religious Principle, clause 1. The Boy Scouts of America maintains that no member can grow into the best kind of citizen without recognizing an obligation to God. In the first part of the Scout Oath or Promise the member declares, “On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law.” The recognition of God as the ruling and leading power in the universe and the grateful acknowledgment of His favors and blessings are necessary to the best type of citizenship and are wholesome precepts in the education of the growing members. No matter what the religious faith of the members may be, this fundamental need of good citizenship should be kept before them. The Boy Scouts of America, therefore, recognizes the religious element in the training of the member, but it is absolutely nonsectarian in its attitude toward that religious training. Its policy is that the home and the organization or group with which the member is connected shall give definite attention to religious life.

PA Nonbelievers wrote to the United Way of York County in September, asking how it can reconcile its own stated philosophy with the Boy Scouts’ clear policy of discrimination. To date we have not received a reply, although apparently the United Way will simply state that it doesn’t care whether its partner agencies discriminate.

So what have we learned? The United Way of York County is so determined to maintain its partnership with the Boy Scouts that it will lie about what its published rules for member agencies actually mean. And it is so contemptuous of atheists and agnostics that it does not deign to respond to us at all.

Pam Zerba
Editor, PANViews

If you haven’t bought your ticket yet, student or not, what are you waiting for? We’ve added a ton of speakers, and there’s more to come – Beat the rush, and buy your ticket now!

The website to go to is http://www.atheistpa.org.