Inouye, Akaka, Abercrombie must apologize
Congress passes resolutions supporting "God" and discrimination

Both the US Senate (SR 292) and House (HR 595) recently passed resolutions supporting the inclusion of "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance and "In God We Trust" as our national motto. Below is HCSSC's letter to Hawaii's Senior Senator Daniel Inouye; separate letters were also sent to Senator Daniel Akaka and Neil Representative Abercrombie (see contact information below).

Senator Daniel Inouye
United States Senate
722 Hart Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-1102
Phone: 202-224-3934, Fax: 202-224-6747

RE: Respecting Religious Diversity; Honoring the Separation of State and Church (Page 1 of 3)

Dear Senator Inouye:

Hawaii Citizens for the Separation of State and Church (HCSSC) is our state's leading defender of religious liberty. HCSSC was founded on the principle that government must never demonstrate any preference for one particular religion over others or for religion generally over non-religion and we ask that you respect and honor this constitutional principle of freedom.

You recently voted in support of Senate Resolution 292 supporting the inclusion of "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance and "In God We Trust" as our national motto.

This resolution was a blatant act of discrimination against millions of Americans and the vast majority of Hawaii residents. Most of your constituents do not believe in "God."

The Hawaii State Federation of Honpa Hongwanji Lay Associations (representing nearly 100,000 Buddhist in Hawaii) unanimously passed a resolution in support of restoring the original text of the Pledge of Allegiance, without any reference to "God."

Hawaii's substantial Japanese population is mostly Shinto, a pantheistic religion that does not recognize a monotheistic "God." Many Hawaii residents practice Taoism, Confucianism, and other non-theistic Eastern religious traditions. Native Hawaiians practice their traditional ho`omana, which also does not acknowledge a singular "God." Hindus and Sikhs recognize multiple deities and polytheism.

The vast majority of Hawaii residents, however -- as many as 52% -- are non-religious (either agnostic, atheist, secular, or indifferent), according to numerous surveys. We deserve respect. We demand equality. And we do not appreciate the government's exclusive endorsement of the Judeo-Christian idea of "God."

By voting to support Senate Resolution 292, you deliberately endorsed discrimination against thousands of Hawaii residents. You demonstrated bias in favor of a monotheistic "God"-centered religion over all others and non-religion.

The Ninth Circuit was right to declare that the inclusion of "Under God" in the Pledge (or anywhere else in the taxpayer funded public domain) was unconstitutional.

For more than 150 years our nation's motto was "E Pluribus Unum," which means "out of many, one." In 1956, Congress changed the motto to "In God We Trust."

"E Pluribus Unum" is a beautifully inclusive slogan, which truly represented the diversity of America. "In God We Trust," on the other hand, is an exclusive and false declaration. It is exclusive and false because millions of Americans do not believe in or trust in "God."

The following charts illustrate the diversity of religious views in Hawaii and the United States. The sources are published on the internet at the URLs provided.

Although Christianity remains the predominant religion in the United States, the percentage of American adherents to the Christian religion has declined sharply.

The first area of inquiry in 2001 American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) concerned the response of Americans to the question: "What is your religion, if any?" Only 76.5% of Americans identified themselves as Christian or as belonging to any Christian sect.

The key findings of the 2001 ARIS were:

1. The proportion of the population that can be classified as Christian has declined from 86% in 1990 to 76.5% in 2001;
2. Although the number of adults who classify themselves in non-Christian religious groups has increased from about 5.8 million to about 7.7 million, the proportion of non-Christians has increased only by a very small amount - from 3.3% to about 3.7%;
3. The greatest increase in absolute as well as in percentage terms has been among those adults who do not subscribe to any religious identification; their number has more than doubled from 14.3 million in 1990 to 29.4 million in 2001; their proportion has grown from just eight percent of the total in 1990 to over fourteen percent in 2001;
4. There has also been a substantial increase in the number of adults who refused to reply to the question about their religious preference, from about four million or two percent in 1990 to more than eleven million or over five percent in 2001.

772,843 Hawaii residents (nearly 70%) are unaffiliated with the Christian religion, according to a survey recently conducted by the Glenmary Research Center, a Catholic organization. Only about 29% of Hawaii residents belong to any of the Christian sects, down from about 34% in 1990. Approximately 100,000 residents are practicing Buddhists; other faiths include Jews (estimate 7,000), Hawaiians, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Shintos, Unitarians, Wiccans and others. Again, the vast majority of Hawaii residents (more than 630,000) are atheist, agnostic, secular humanist, or religiously indifferent.

It is also important to note that attendance numbers claimed by churches should always be viewed with skepticism. The Catholic Church, for example, counts adherents according to baptismal records (instead of actual attendant members) and does not take into account the many thousands who leave the church or Christianity altogether as teens and adults. Many evangelical churches are known to exaggerate and inflate membership numbers.

Hawaii Citizens for the Separation of State and Church believes that the government should remain neutral on all matters of religion. By voting to support an exclusively "God"-centered view of religion you have failed to fairly represent Hawaii residents. You have damaged and weakened the separation of state and church and the principle of religious freedom.

On behalf of HCSSC and its members and supporters, I hereby request that you refrain from any and all activity which would endorse one religious view over others and non-religion. We urge you to vote against any other resolutions or bills supporting the "God"-centered view of religion that may come before the United States Senate.

Be fair to all Hawaii residents. Don't discriminate against people who don't believe in "God." Pronouncements such as "God Bless America," "In God We Trust" and "One Nation, Under God" are insulting to non-believers. If you believe in "God," that's fine; it is certainly your right. But please don't impose your particular brand of religious belief on the millions of Americans and the majority of Hawaii residents who have chosen to reject the "God" idea.

The courtesy of your written apology is appreciated.

Sincerely,

<signature>

Mitchell Kahle
President

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ACTION ALERT: Tell your Senators and Representatives to stop perpetuating religious discrimination.

Senate Resolution 292 - supporting the inclusion of "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance and "In God We Trust" as our national motto.

Senator Daniel Inouye
United States Senate
722 Hart Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-1102
Phone: (202) 224-3934, Fax: (202) 224-6747

Senator Daniel Akaka
United States Senate
141 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Tel: (202) 224-6361, Fax: (202) 224-2126

House Resolution 459 - supporting the inclusion of "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance and "In God We Trust" as our national motto.

Representative Neil Abercrombie
House of Representatives
Congress of the United States
1502 Longworth HOB
Washington, DC 20515-1101
Phone: (202) 225-2726, Fax: (202) 225-4580