Washington Office director linked to groups promoting atheism, secularism and Wicca By Craig M. Kibler The Layman Online Wednesday, May 14, 2003 The director of the Washington Office of the Presbyterian Church (USA) is a longtime director of an organization that is formally aligned with groups promoting atheism, humanism, secularism, skepticism and Wicca. Elenora Giddings Ivory is a director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a liberal public policy advocacy group founded in 1947 with chapters nationwide. For the 2001 fiscal year, the most recent year for which data is available, the Form 990 submitted to the Internal Revenue Service by Americans United shows the organization with assets of nearly $12 million. Giddings Ivory was a director as long ago as 1998, when she was identified as an officer of the organization on its Form 990. She also was identified as an officer of Americans United when, as a panelist during a May 2002 conference on "Religion, the Marriage Movement & Marriage Policy" sponsored by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, she argued that the Bible presents an inconsistent view of marriage and singleness – including the circumstances of Jesus' birth. Americans United for Separation of Church and State long has been criticized. In 1998, for example, The Charleston Gazette criticized the organization and its executive director, Barry Lynn, saying that, "From his point of view, when government directs public funds to education or welfare services provided by religious organizations, it means that 'churches are making deals with the devil.'" At the 214th General Assembly in Columbus, the Washington Office gave a "Partners in Mission Award" to the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, a lobbying group whose aggressive pro-abortion policies conflict with General Assembly positions. The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice is one of the partner organizations with Americans United. The coalition favors no limit on women's choice to have abortions, including so-called late-term abortions. It has been virulently critical of pro-life groups, whose concerns have been reflected in abortion-policy statements by the General Assembly. For instance, the General Assembly has said that abortion should not be used as a birth-control method and has recognized the deeply held convictions of pro-life advocates. Nonetheless, the Presbyterian Church (USA) is one of the denominations affiliated with the coalition, and Giddings Ivory is a director of the organization. In preparing a report on the "Partners in Mission Award" for the National Ministries Division of the General Assembly Council, Giddings Ivory praised the coalition for seeking "to ensure reproductive choice by upholding women as responsible, moral decision-makers." Americans United for the Separation of Church and State also has filed lawsuits in support of its advocacy positions. One of those actions, filed in December 2002 in conjunction with the American Civil Liberties Union, sought to compel the Board of Supervisors in Chesterfield County, Va., to either discontinue offering a brief prayer by local ministers, priests and rabbis before every meeting or allow a "witch and local Wiccan priestess" to participate, according to the Washington Post. The suit claimed that the board's refusal to allow the witch to participate amounted to religious discrimination, with Lynn accusing the supervisors of acting like "theological kingpins," the Washington Post reported. "This strikes at the core of the principle that we make no distinction about religion," Lynn said. Kelly E. Miller, chairman of the Chesterfield Board of Supervisors, told The Post that the board would fight the lawsuit, and that the county should continue to allow prayers only from Jews and Christians. "That is basically a non-religion," Miller said of Wicca. "It doesn't recognize the God that we have recognized. My perspective is that we should continue to follow the Judeo-Christian perspective. In the name of diversity, we need not throw away our Christian heritage." In pursuit of its advocacy programs, Americans United has partnered with various organizations, such as the Progressive National Baptist Convention, the Progressive Religious Partnership, the Unitarian Universalist Association and the Witherspoon Society, to name a few. It also has partnered with the Secular Student Alliance, which claims that its purpose is "to educate high school and college students around the country about the value of scientific reason and the intellectual basis of secularism in its atheistic and humanistic manifestations." Rob Boston, the assistant director of communications for Americans United, is a member of the advisory board for the Secular Student Alliance. In addition to its relationship with Americans United, the Secular Student Alliance promotes its partnerships with other groups – all of which, like Americans United, has a representative on the Secular Student Alliance's advisory board. Some of those partnerships include: The Atheist Alliance Inc., which describes itself as "a democratic association of independent, autonomous atheist societies" whose goal is "to establish strong, democratic atheist organizations in every state, and indeed, worldwide." The American Humanist Association, which describes itself as "a national organization founded in 1941 to promote humanism in the United States." Gay and Lesbian Atheists and Humanists, which says that some of its goals are to "support equal rights for lesbians, gays, transgenders, and bisexuals" and to "educate people about atheism and humanism." The Internet Infidels, which describes itself as being "dedicated to the growth and maintenance of the most comprehensive free thought web site on the Internet." The group says its mission is "to defend and promote metaphysical naturalism, the view that our natural world is all that there is, a closed system in no need of an explanation and sufficient unto itself." They also say that they "stand as a bulwark against the forces of superstition, especially the radical religious right." American Atheists, which says it is "dedicated to working for the civil rights of Atheists, promoting separation of state and church, and providing information about Atheism." The Military Association of Atheists & Freethinkers, which describes itself as being "dedicated to the principles of freedom, free thought, and the separation of Church and state" that is open to all those "who identify themselves as atheist, agnostic, freethinker, secular humanist, skeptic, or another form of religious non-belief." The Freedom From Religion Foundation, which calls itself "a membership organization for freethinkers – atheists, agnostics, secularists, humanists, rationalists" that "acts as an umbrella for those free from religion." The International and Humanist Ethical Union, which calls itself "the only umbrella organization of humanist, rationalist, atheist, secularist, ethical culture and agnostic groups around the world." The Washington Office has drawn criticism for years. Lodged in the National Ministries Division, the Washington Office is the lobbying arm of the Presbyterian Church (USA). While more than 50 percent of PCUSA members are registered Republicans, the list of causes promoted by the Washington Office reads like the Democratic Party platform. In recent years, it has supported partial-birth abortions while lobbying against prayer in public schools and protection of believers from religious persecution. In September 2000, the Washington Office and Church and Society Magazine were ranked the lowest in a prioritization process by a committee scrutinizing the National Ministries Division. Nevertheless, both have continued to receive full funding while PCUSA leaders have made major cuts in the programs that were ranked the highest – evangelism and racial-ethnic church development.

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