For Immediate Release: September 7, 2012
Contact: Paul Fidalgo, Communications Director
[email protected] - (207) 358-9785
Statement from Ronald A. Lindsay, President and CEO of the Center for Inquiry, on the conclusion of the Republican and Democratic National Conventions:
“Much about these political conventions has been extremely disheartening to secular Americans: Trivial bickering about who mentioned God a sufficient number of times, the fact of our warming planet being used as a punchline for derision, and leaders constantly citing Bronze Age mystical texts as a basis for acting on our very real problems. And at almost no point were nonreligious Americans mentioned or made to feel welcome in either party’s verbose orations.
“Our nation, and our entire planet, face so many great challenges that demand a clear focus on what is true and what is not. Reliance on facts, science, and real data have never been more crucial to the formulation of policy and for helping voters decide which candidates will have the best programs to resolve our pressing crises. Secular, evidence-based reasoning is the only reliable means by which all Americans can evaluate and discuss critical policy questions. A fixation on religion and faith will only serve to obscure the issues and divide us as a people. It is our sincere hope that as the campaign goes on, the candidates and the media will refocus their attentions on debates based on reality and reason rather than myths and faith.”