AndrewHall has it right. When the Family has garnered, gleaned, and stolen the power it feels it needs, this "democratic" nation will become a theocracy. And many of the nation's most influential political leaders (House, Senate) will be leading the charge to dump the Constitution and institute God's Law. The first group to disappear will be the abortion doctors and their staffs; the second will be us: atheists, agnostics, and anyone else who hasn't actively prayed, or something, for the last ten years. Then when we've been eliminated, it's Katie bar the door. Everyone except for the most hopelessly religious zealots will feel the axe of ethnic cleansing.

In my experience, any sort of physical display will merely piss off the privileged Christians, which will be in a vast majority, so they'll have a built-in support group right there. Your daughter's best opportunity is in her address. She could lace her words with quotes from atheists from all walks of life. Hundreds can be found in The Atheist Bible, which is subtitled as "an illustrious collection of irreverent thoughts." I bought it at Borders Book Store. Might just be the best seventeen dollars I've ever spent.

It's all of the above. I hate it when I can see value and accuracy in every, or nearly every, response. But it is what I see in this matter. I dealt with a fundamental Christian for about six months. We'd meet somewhere for lunch every so often and discuss Christianity and Atheism. For her, it was Christianity VERSUS atheism; and I would have to admit that it was the opposite for me.
But, most importantly, she was adamant in her insistence that she really believed in all the fundamentalist blather: that the earth is 6000 years old, that God put every single thing on the earth, us and everything else, that he loved us and watched over us, that he listened to and granted our prayers, etc, ad infinitum. When I challenged her on anything she denied anything but the items I just mentioned. Those were real, to her. Science has it all wrong, I'm going to burn for eternity in hell because of my blasphemy and atheism.
She was brought up in a fundamentalist household. Her husband was, too. They met at a Christian gathering ten years ago. All their spiritual relationship consists of is confirmation of whatever the other one says. But -- mind you -- they both are absolutely certain that they're right. When I say they have no real reason to believe in their way, they deny it, deny it, deny it. There is proof all around, everywhere, they say.
There was no getting through to them and I finally refused to discuss the matter any longer. I knew that they believed that way because they were brainwashed as children, and what they learned as a child is in so deep that they'll never discard any of it as nonsense.

Yes, Scientology certainly is no religion. It is the plot of a science fiction novel from the 1950s being formed and formalized. Nothing more than that. But the fruitcakes that populate it think that -- guess what? -- their path is the true, the only true, path to spiritual salvation. Sounds like every religion I'm familiar with. But with Tom Cruise as their poster boy, they show just how fruity their beliefs, and their members, are.

I live in fear. Really. These people represent us. We elected them to do so. They must know that religious bias in public office is inappropriate. It could be said to be illegal. If these fruitcakes become a majority, what's in store for us atheists? For Jews? For gays, like Barney Frank? And then Democrats; people who have had an abortion; doctors who performed abortions; people who THINK abortion is a possibility in their own lives. The list could fill several dozen single-spaced pages. These friggin' nuts are dangerous! The people who voted for them are nearly as dangerous. This nation is going to hell in a handbasket.

I've already donated $100 to the Red Cross and Doctors without Borders. If we decide to give more, I'll go to your suggested conduit.

And -- just trying to help -- it should be ". . .for US atheists to donate. . . ." up there in your first paragraph.

I am a contributor to the ACLU, glaad, and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. I know they can't do much without money, so I give them some of mine. They need it. If you want to support them, it's pretty easy, and it's worth it. Believe me when I say that we need them, and they need us to get involved.

I'd be there. In a heartbeat. And my wife would want to go, too, I think. Just to be able to show this country that we do exist, and in larger-than-thought numbers. I'd want to do more than that, but just to do that would be meaningful to me.

I'm with rblevy, above. As long as President Obama and the Democrats in the Senate and House cower fearfully and silently in the corner under the diatribes of the religious and political right, the nasty right wing will continue and probably produce some success(es) in 2012. Bob Gibbs, the White House Press Secretary, is alone as the only one who seems to see through the fog and call it simple nastiness, and no one else seems to care. The Democrats are the ins now and they take wwwaaayyy too much solace in that. If they don't start speaking out, soon and emphatically, they're going to be the outs, maybe even this year.

Martin Luther, the father of Protestantism, probably summed up what religious devotion is all about: "To be a Christian, you must pluck out your eye of reason."
That should tell you what religion is all about. The people sitting on the editorial board have plucked out their eye of reason. News people. No wonder I'm a grumpy atheist.