Fairly recently, the local chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State convened to discuss what we can do to keep Jefferson’s wall of separation standing here in the Bible Belt. We didn’t come up with a one-size-fits-all solution, but it was generally agreed that we need to do more grassroots citizen activism, directly lobbying those in power so that they come to realize there are staunch church-state separationists and even unbelievers among their constituents.
One of the finer examples of how to make this happen here in the Midwest are the recent efforts of Nikki Moungo and her supporters at helping their hometown of Ballwin, MO continue bringing people together rather than allowing civic deism drive people apart. She spoke twice to her local aldermen, on Sep 8th and again on Sep 22nd, and in the end the board decided against allowing a Catholic group to mount an “In God We Trust” plaque underneath the existing “Ballwin: Bringing People Together” sign.
Since Nikki lives just a few hours up I-44 from us here in OKC, we happen to have a number of friends in common, so Chas and I got in touch to discuss her activism and whatever else came up. The final result of this somewhat rambling discussion was episode #107 of the Oklahoma Atheists Godcast:
AOK Godcast ep #107 feat. @Nikki2U @BirdTerrifier @D4M10N http://t.co/AjVbo2ohwz #NormalizeAtheism #jesustakethewheel
— Oklahoma Atheists (@AtheistOK) October 7, 2014
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