“My own first awareness of – and personal contact with – the Anti-Religious Left occurred when I, as a libertarian, spoke at a meeting of Long Island Secular Humanists (LISH) in February of 2000. My talk was entitled “Theocracy in America: The Second Coming of the Christian Right,” and it dealt with the details of the truly abominable Christian Reconstructionists, who openly preach death by stoning for a multitude of Old Testament sins. It was very well received, and afterwards I enjoyed speaking with many of the attendees. They put me on the list to receive their newsletter/journal, which I often found engaging. I liked its definition of secular humanism (“the philosophy of life guided by reason and science, freed from religious and secular dogmas”) and especially its commitment to First Amendment principles.

But then I got the March 2004 issue. The French government had just prohibited public-school students from wearing anything “religious,” so the Question of the Month was: “Do you agree with France’s ban on religious garb or symbols in their Public Schools?” This was the first time I encountered something that I thought was beyond debate for this publication. I considered it as far-out as Amnesty International asking its American members whether they “agree” with torture in Pakistan. Even its language is Orwellian: Talk of banning “religious symbols” in the public schools of the West has always referred to symbols placed by the school – not worn by students, which had never before been an issue. The whole point of not having those symbols is that they, like a teacher-led prayer, might violate the religious convictions of students, who are themselves free to express those convictions. What was going on here?”

More at Lew Rockwell.