Source: Beliefnet

Wire Service: RNS

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/158/story_15899_1.html

On January 6, 2005 Beliefnet/RNS reported, "bracing for what's to come from a Republican-controlled White House and Congress, people who don't believe in God are joining forces as never before to make sure their rights don't get trampled in what they perceive as a stampede of religious zeal. Riding a post-election spike in new memberships, groups of humanists, agnostics and other non-theists are raising funds to put their first-ever lobbyists on Capitol Hill. To shape an agenda, leaders from as many as 20 non-theistic groups will convene Jan. 15-16 for their largest summit since Ronald Reagan took the Oval Office with help from the Moral Majority in 1981. For those who regard themselves as 'freethinkers,' organizing into cohesive teams for any purpose has never been an easy task. But the effort this time has gained fresh momentum as those outside the world of organized religion brainstorm how to defend their freedoms in what feels to them like a time of siege."