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The Democratic National Committee (DNC) passed a resolution Saturday praising the values of "religiously unaffiliated" Americans as the "largest religious group within the Democratic Party."
The resolution, which was unanimously passed at the DNC's summer meeting on Aug. 24 in San Francisco, Calif., was championed by the Secular Coalition of America, an organization that lobbies on behalf of atheists, agnostics, and humanists on public policy. The group celebrated the DNC's move as the first time a major party "embraced American nonbelievers."
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"Religiously unaffiliated Americans overwhelmingly share the Democratic Party’s values," said the resolution, which adds they should advocate for "rational public policy based on sound science and universal humanistic values."
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Sarah Levin, director of governmental affairs for the Secular Coalition of America, praised it as a way "to ensure that policy is driven by science and evidence, not sectarian beliefs."
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The move comes as Democratic presidential candidates have ramped up their religious rhetoric on the campaign trail, but the party announced it is targeting "nonreligious voters" to try to beat President Trump, who solidified the evangelical vote in 2016.
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"America was founded as a secular government charged with representing and protecting the freedoms of people of all faiths and none," Levin added. "I am proud to see the Democratic Party take that to heart by bringing secular Americans into the fold."
Political pundits have pointed out Democrats' so-called God problem in the past and their efforts to solve it.
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In 2012, the last election Democrats won, a headline from the convention read: "Democrats boo God." In 2016, attendees heckled a preacher during the opening prayer. And on Saturday, Democrats took a shot at believers who use "religious liberty" to threaten the civil rights of LGBTQ Americans.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation's co-president, Annie Laurie Gaylor, called the resolution a "political landmark" that is "long overdue."
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The Wisconsin-based FFRF "is optimistic that the DNC resolution is a sign of bigger and better things to come for freethinkers, and would like to see every party at every level of government adopt similar resolutions."