"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus..."

Our new president hesitated for just a moment.

"...and nonbelievers."

In the first minutes of his presidency, Barack Obama acknowledged that there are Americans who do not believe in a higher being. He included them in "our patchwork heritage."

Sasha Bartolf [1], Legislative Associate at the Secular Coalition for America [2], will describe how the nation's first lobbying organization for nontheists is working to remove the theocratic yoke from our federal government.  The Coalition, representing an estimated 10-16% of the population -- humanists, atheists, agnostics and other nontheists in our society -- works to protect and restore our government's secular character, which has served to protect both theists and nontheists for over 200 years.