Key Issues

Key Issues

The following represent the Secular Democrats of America’s position on various issues as they intersect with secularism and religious freedom. Member caucuses may take additional positions on issues not included here, independently of SDA. 

Education

  • We oppose vouchers and all voucher-like schemes.
  • We support universal access to a quality, secular education. 
  • We oppose the manipulation of public schools to advance sectarian, religious agendas. 
  • We support inclusive school environments that respect and celebrate pluralism and foster curiosity among students about beliefs and perspectives different from their own.

Civil Rights

  • We oppose religious exemptions to laws pertaining to public health and safety.
  • We oppose religious exemptions to nondiscrimination laws that deny people—particularly LGBTQ people, single mothers, and religious minorities—their dignity and rights in employment, housing, and public accommodations.
  • We support the right of the government to require any religiously affiliated entity seeking government funding, contracts, or tax breaks, to be held equally accountable to secular entities.
  • We oppose all religious litmus tests. There should be no religious test for running for office, for being considered “American” enough, for becoming an American citizen, or for visiting the United States. 

In the United States, 1 in 6 hospital beds are in a Catholic institution, where care can be dictated by religious doctrine

Healthcare

  • We support bodily autonomy and the right to make choices about one’s body according to one’s conscience when such a decision does not cause harm to others. 
  • We support the right to affordable, accessible reproductive healthcare.
  • We support medical aid-in-dying options for the terminally ill. 
  • We support the repeal of all non-medical vaccine exemptions. We affirm that vaccines work, and assert that vaccine requirements in schools and daycares keep children safe by maintaining herd immunity in our communities.
  • We oppose religious exemptions that allow medical providers to deny healthcare.
  • We support increasing access to peer recovery support groups that are secular, evidence-based and support Medication-Assisted Treatment.

Scientific Integrity

  • We support robust regulation of homeopathic and naturopathic products, practitioners, and providers.
  • We oppose censorship and suppression of scientific research and support measures to protect public officials conducting such research from political influence.
  • We support funding for stem cell and fetal tissue research.   
  • We support the United States’ reentry into the Paris Climate Agreement and oppose any efforts to suppress information about the climate crisis.  

Protecting Children and Minors

  • We support including clergy as mandatory reporters for child abuse and neglect.
  • We support banning the practice of conversion therapy on minors. 
  • We support the repeal of religious exemptions for child abuse and neglect, including faith healing.
  • We support bans on child marriage.

Military and National Character

  • We unapologetically assert that there are atheists in foxholes. They deserve to be recognized and honored for their service to the nation. 
  • We support the recognition of humanist chaplains by the Department of Defense and measures to increase oversight of military chaplains to ensure that chaplains are serving service members of all faiths and none equally. 
  • We support the overdue restoration of the original Pledge of Allegiance and the original national motto—E Pluribus Unum, “out of many, one.”
  • We oppose the promotion of Christianity or “Judeo-Christian values” abroad. To credibly advocate religious freedom abroad, we must proudly stand by our secular, pluralistic democracy. United States officials should not promote certain religions over others, or religion over non-religion. 

One quarter of our service members in the Armed Forces are religiously unaffiliated