I’ve been thinking about my role as the Activism Chair of IAF and I have to admit I’ve been struggling with it. I want to inspire our members and fight back against the growing religious privilege and creeping theocracy in Trump’s America. But he necessity of social distancing has thrown all of our usual events out the window: the Pride Parade, the table at the Farmer’s Market, the rally at the Family Leader Summit. All of our usual protest formats don’t work nearly as well in the Age of Covid.
Our President panders to Christian Nationalists and packs our Federal Courts with right wing hacks who’s only qualifications are hatred of Roe v Wade. What are we going to do about it? What can Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers do about it?
We need a project like the bus ads that put IAF on the map ten years ago. We need to do something that inspires secular Iowans; something that gets in the face of theocrats; something that attracts attention for humanist reasons.
I’ve only come up with one vague idea that I alluded to in my last post. Maybe we should do another billboard or bus ad campaign. Our bus ad a decade ago said, “Don’t believe in God? You are not alone?” It was simple, innocuous, and intentionally non-threatening — and yet it triggered a local firestorm of protest by Christians who wanted to feel persecuted. Let’s use that as our inspiration. It’s a good starting point but I don’t think repeating our old ad would have the same effect now. Just pointing out that atheists exist and aren’t going away has been done before by us and other groups. I think that particular meme has lost its edge.
We should create an ad more pointed, in-your-face, and relevant to current events. How about something inspired by Andrew Seidel’s book, “The Founding Myth?”
Let’s put this on a billboard: “Christian privilege is Un-American. Help us support our godless constitution!”
Well, okay, I suspect that has some problems. I’m running out of ideas so I’m asking for your help. Let’s crowdsource this. What can we do to fix this ad? Should we jettison this one and do something else altogether? I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
For that matter, maybe a bus ad or a billboard isn’t the best use of IAFs time and money at all. What other activist projects or ideas should IAF knock out of the park? Be creative, but whatever we do will have to follow the rules of social distancing in this Age of Covid.
Talk to me folks. I feel like we are letting (and like I am letting) this critical moment slip through our fingers, like tears in the rain (yeah, that’s a Blade Runner reference). We have to do something now before it gets away from us.
Thanks for listening.
By Robert Cook
Activism Chair
Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers