by Justin Scott, founder and Director of the Eastern Iowa Atheists
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| Kim Reynolds is sworn in as Iowa's 43rd governor and 1st female to hold the position. |
05/26/17
The Honorable Kim Reynolds
Office of the Governor of Iowa
State Capitol
1007 East Grand Ave.
Des Moines, Iowa 50319
Dear Governor Reynolds,
Congratulations on your swearing in as Iowa’s 43rd governor. Your willingness to serve the people of Iowa is commendable and is greatly appreciated.
I’m writing you today on behalf of the Eastern Iowa Atheists, an advocacy group for atheists and other non-religious Iowans with roots in Eastern Iowa that I created last year. We work to protect the separation of religion from government in local city governments and public schools across Eastern Iowa while promoting positive atheism. The EIA serves Eastern Iowa through various volunteer and activism opportunities as well as through community outreach and education efforts.
In your first remarks as governor, you shared a little bit about your path to the governor’s office, what it was like for you growing up in Iowa and what can happen when passion meets opportunity despite what challenges come along. For an Iowan that doesn’t know much about you it provided me valuable insight into how you became the person you are today.
I connected with the parts in your speech where you talked about working hard for what you want, not wasting your hard-earned money and the challenges of waiting on the public in a restaurant environment. One of my earliest jobs was waiting tables at a Pizza Hut back home throughout high school and college so I know exactly what you mean when you talk about the earning potential of knowing how to “turn tables”.
I also connected with your sentiment about seeing an opportunity to take your ideas and turn them into action. Two years ago, after being a Christian for 32 years of my life, I realized that I was an atheist. It was through this process that it became painfully obvious that there really wasn’t a voice for atheists in Iowa politics. We had no one fighting on our behalf here in the state and we certainly had no lobbying group down in Des Moines to stand up for atheist rights and a secular worldview. That’s when I decided that I had to get involved by approaching presidential candidates during the Iowa Caucus and asking them questions about the Separation of church and state, and what role their religious beliefs would play in the White House should they be elected President. I didn’t stop there. I continued by bird-dogging legislative candidates and elected officials on secular topics and on issues that are important to godless Iowans and continue to do so every chance I can.
Through my activism, I also noticed that there was a need for both an advocacy group for atheists in Eastern Iowa and the rest of the state to connect, network and work together on the issues that are important to us so I created the Eastern Iowa Atheists. The EIA is an advocacy group that provides atheists and nonreligious Iowans an opportunity to work together to promote positive atheism, to hold our elected officials accountable for their actions and to fight for the Constitutional Separation of religion and government. It is important to note that the rising number of atheists and nonreligious in Iowa is following the national trend according to all available research studies:
Through my activism, I also noticed that there was a need for both an advocacy group for atheists in Eastern Iowa and the rest of the state to connect, network and work together on the issues that are important to us so I created the Eastern Iowa Atheists. The EIA is an advocacy group that provides atheists and nonreligious Iowans an opportunity to work together to promote positive atheism, to hold our elected officials accountable for their actions and to fight for the Constitutional Separation of religion and government. It is important to note that the rising number of atheists and nonreligious in Iowa is following the national trend according to all available research studies:
- According to a 2017 study by a study by psychology scientists at the University of Kentucky, it is likely that the number of atheists in the United States is much larger than originally thought as there are “potentially 80+ million (atheists) in the USA and well over a billion worldwide”.
- According to a 2016 study by the Pew Research Center during the 2016 presidential election, as reported on by The Washington Post, non-religious voters became “the nation’s biggest voting bloc by faith for the first time in a presidential election year”.
- According to the Pew Research Center’s 2014 Religious Landscape Study, the percentage of Iowans that are either “absolutely certain” or “fairly certain” that they believe in a god has dropped from the 2007 poll with the same question while the number of Iowans that reported that they “do not believe in a god” has increased.
- According to the same study on religion found that those that identify as religiously unaffiliated grew from 16.1% in 2007 to 22.8% in 2014. But now those percentages are being challenged as a new study suggests that the true number of atheists, not only in the United States but in Iowa, could be substantially larger than previously estimated. Current estimates imagine that nearly ¼ of Americans and Iowans do not believe in a god.
With all of that said, there were a few parts of your speech that I didn’t connect with and I assume other atheists in Iowa didn’t as well.
Despite describing all of the personality traits of a very strong willed and independent person, you stated that you “learned to place your faith in God”. While you never specified which one, I want you to realize that there is a growing number of citizens in Iowa that have zero faith in a god, your god or any god for that matter. Instead, we rely solely on the power of humanity, of human beings coming together to solve the problems and struggles we face. We understand that one’s faith in something can be the motivator to do good works and that everyone has a right to religious freedom but let me be clear, we are hoping as our new governor that when you face difficult decisions you will use all of the real world tools at your disposal and will instead put your faith in the people of Iowa.
We want a leader that aims to uphold and even strengthen the Constitutional Separation of religion and government in Des Moines. We want a leader that can understand and appreciate the plight of all of their constituents, not just the religious ones. We want a leader that is sensitive to the worldviews of all Iowans by operating in a religious neutral manner that doesn’t appear to put one religion over another or religious belief over nonbelief. One way for you to be a great leader for ALL Iowans is by ending the unnecessary and divisive practice of ending every speech with the phrase “god bless America/Iowa”.
You probably didn’t think too much about this aspect of your speech and why would you? It probably seems like the nice and right thing to do. But by finishing your speech with this all too common statement, you have just alienated nearly 30% of the state in just your first speech. They may never voice this to you and you may never be made aware that this bothers them because, as studies continue to prove, coming out as an atheist is no easy proposition in a state where nearly 8 out of every 10 people considers themselves to be religious.
To those of us that do not want or need the blessing of your god and certainly don’t want to hear your god being referenced in any speech that you give, it’s a completely unnecessary and offensive statement to include. We feel that it’s not the governor’s role or responsibility to invoke their personal god into governmental work. Instead, focus on the job at hand and be a leader in upholding the secular nature of the government you lead.
Lastly, we ask that when you speak about the landscape of Iowa that you actually speak about atheists and nonbelievers.
Your unique position as leader of our state allows you a platform that can help bring atheists out of the shadows and into public acceptance. We are real people with real concerns. As a voter bloc, we are a blossoming force that is ready to influence public policy. Please recognize us every time you have the opportunity and it will pay dividends.
Atheists in Iowa want what’s best for this great state, a place many of us have called home for decades and will continue for decades to come. But we also want to feel welcome, appreciated and respected. By being cognizant that there are atheists in your state that want to work with you and your administration and by making these small concessions, you’ll demonstrate that you are committed to bringing atheist and non-religious Iowans to the table.
Congratulations again on your accomplishment. Please let me know if there’s anything I or the Eastern Iowa Atheists can do to help you bridge a gap between your office and the atheist community of Iowa. We want to do all we can to educate people on what atheism is and isn’t to help normalize it in the process.
We not only want you to go down in history as Iowa’s first female governor but as Iowa’s first gubernatorial champion for atheists and other nonbelievers across the state.
Thank you for your time and consideration!
Justin Scott
Founder and Director
Eastern Iowa Atheists
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