Secretary of State Gregg Amore speaks at RI Atheists' Day of Reason event

"The ideas around what a republic was, what a democracy was, what critical thinking was, what reason was, and how to act on policy through reason used to be celebrated."

“I'm a member of the Rhode Island Atheists, and today we're here to celebrate science and reason,” said John Mertus, speaking in the Bell Room of the Rhode Island State House. “I have a friend who has been a pediatrician at low-income health centers for about 30 years. When you're a pediatrician and have to give shots, you have to read out the things that could go wrong. It's required by law. She deals with many Americans who ask, ‘Is this going to cause autism? Is this going to cause any problems?’

“At that time,” continued Mertus, “Rhode Island had a large Guatemalan population and the Guatemalans would come in and when asked about this, they'd say, ‘You have a shot to prevent whooping cough?’ because they've seen their babies die of it. It wasn't even a question, ‘Please give it.’ This is a problem of rationality. Science is so good at dealing with real things that people start to fear things that aren't there.”

The Rhode Island Atheists gathered to celebrate the Day of Reason, to “mark the importance of reason, religious freedom and separation of church and state in Rhode Island.” The remarks of John Mertus were made ahead of remarks by Secretary of State Gregg Amore and State Representative Jennifer Stewart (Democrat, District 59, Pawtucket), both history teachers. Mertus continued:

“I want to talk about the Rhode Island Atheists and misconceptions. Many people think that atheism is anti-religion or anti-God, and that may have been true in the late 20th century. But today's atheists, especially us, are strong believers in the freedom of religion. We understand that people are spiritual and that people get their motivation from God or religion.

“We believe in freedom of religion, but we also believe in freedom from religion. We do not believe that religious people should impose their views upon us. We're humanitarians. We believe in what the founding fathers wrote, ‘the pursuit of happiness.’ That means that people have a right to decide. They decide on their bodies, they decide their religion, they decide what they want to do. And lastly, we're a group that is opposed to the weaponization of religion, a weaponization that turns religion into a quest for power.”

The full video is at the bottom of this piece, and the remarks by Secretary Amore are presented below, edited for clarity.

“I'm a person of faith, but I agree with everything you said. As a former history teacher and someone who spent 27 years in the classroom talking about the founding of this nation and what it means to be an American, it's important to go back and look at that.

“But I'll start in 2013. In 2013, I ran for the House of Representatives and I was on record and very clear that I was pro-marriage equality and that if I was elected to the House of Representatives, I would vote for marriage equality. My two primary opponents disagreed with me and my general election opponent disagreed with me, but I prevailed. My first vote in the General Assembly was for marriage equality. I'm very proud that the first vote I ever took was for marriage equality.

“I got home and there was a voicemail on my home device, which I no longer have. I only have a cell phone, but there was a voicemail on my home phone, and it was from Bishop Thomas Tobin of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, who was my constituent because I was an East Providence representative and the bishop lived in the home right next to Gate of Heaven Cemetery on the East Shore Expressway. He called and said, ‘Could you please call me back?’

“I got on the phone and the Bishop said, ‘I'm so disappointed in your vote for marriage equality that I'm changing my affiliation from a lifelong Democrat to an unaffiliated voter. My disappointment revolves around the fact that you are a Catholic school-educated kid. You went to Sacred Heart Elementary School and then you went to Providence College and you decided to make this vote against all the teachings of the Catholic Church.’

“And I said, ‘Yes I did,’ and as every good Rhode Island history teacher does, I quoted Roger Williams and the Liberty of Conscience. I said to the Bishop, ‘I'm using my liberty of conscience, my reason, and my ability to analyze the situation to make a vote based on justice and the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.’

“The Bishop said, ‘We will all be judged.’

“I said, ‘I like my chances.’

“That is how my [political] career started. Before that, I taught American history and what we know about American history is aligned with what all of you folks are talking about daily. We know that there's a direct line from Providence, to Roger Williams, to Thomas Jefferson and religious liberty in Virginia, to Thomas Payne and the Age of Reason, to James Madison and the First Amendment. There's a direct line.

“We also know that the Founding Fathers of the Revolutionary period were informed by the Enlightenment. That's a fact, by the way, that used to be celebrated. The ideas around what a republic was, what a democracy was, what critical thinking was, what reason was, and how to act on policy through reason used to be celebrated. That was considered to be American exceptionalism. That was considered to be something that separated us from the rest of the world.

“Fast forward from Roger Williams to Rhode Island General Michael Flynn, who is out there today, after having ascended to the highest levels of government and the United States military, talking about the need for a national religion, a religion that would be Christian nationalism.

“I hear this and I cringe. I ask myself, ‘Did he ever read the Founding Fathers? Did he ever read Madison? Has he ever looked at the Constitution closely? Has he looked at Article Six, Clause Three, which talks about there being no religious test for political office?’

“The word God is not in this document [the Constitution] at all. It is this document that makes us Americans. It is not our heritage. It is not our religion. It is not our background. It is not our economic status. This is the document that makes us Americans. It's the thing we all share and this document was based on the Enlightenment. This document was based on the Age of Reason. This document was based on the Deists, who were Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Payne, James Madison, and kind of George Washington - he was an Anglican when he needed to be and then an Episcopalian when he needed to be - but the reality was these folks were giving lip service to their fellow countrymen who they knew were believers, spiritual, and associated with churches, but they called themselves Deists because the Deists knew that whoever the creator was put them in a position to reason and make decisions about themselves and public policy.

“That is what we should return to if we are going to revere the founders. If we're going to revere the founders, then we should revere the founders' ideas, which are based on the Age of Reason. It is a pleasure to be here with you today. I am fully in support of talking about this subject all the time so that we do not have religion-informed public policy. We want everybody to do whatever they want regarding their religious freedom and their choices, but we want to make sure this exceptional country and this exceptional document are kept intact. And the only way to do that is through reason.”