September 2024 Meeting Review: Standing Up to Project 2025 and Other Threats to Democracy
By George Francis Kane
On Saturday, September 21, Hemant Mehta gave a presentation at the First Unitarian Society in Minneapolis titled “Standing Up to Project 2025.” The event was co-sponsored by Minnesota Atheists and Humanists MN. For both organization it was the resumption of a lecture series that is annually on a 3-month hiatus for summer picnics. I estimate that there were about 100 attendees.
Hemant Mehta is a veteran atheist activist who has worked with or presented at the convention of several national atheist/Humanist organizations. He came to prominence as “The Friendly Atheist” by “auctioning his soul on e-bay.” In that project, he auctioned his time to attend religious services and to report on them from an atheist perspective.
The September presentation did not actually dwell much on the Project 2025 plan for the makeover of government upon the election of a conservative Republican for president. By this time, of course, the identity of that conservative Republican had been established as former president Donald Trump. Rather than detailing the project timeline or the specific plans for each executive agency, Mehta instead focused more broadly on the Christian nationalist vision for the future of America.
Mehta also spoke about current and ongoing attempts of Christian nationalists to impose their religion on government activities. For example, he recounted how the Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction, Ryan Walters, was undertaking to require Bible instruction in every 5th through 12th grade public school classroom. The annual education budget that he submitted included $6 million for Bibles.
Mehta discussed the countermeasures being taken by secularists in different legislative venues. Jared Huffman of California is one founder and leader of the Congressional Freethought Caucus who has gained national recognition by fighting the culture wars battles against Christian nationalists. Nationally, Mehta claimed, there are about 160 legislators who identify as non-religious, and so far, they are not being challenged on their faith in their electoral campaigns. In Minnesota, the Secular Government Caucus is active and rapidly growing.
After his presentation, Mehta fielded questions from the audience. One questioner inquired if critical thinking classes would inoculate future voters against Christian nationalist disinformation. Mehta responded that the schools should be teaching critical thinking anyway, and that the most important weapon against disinformation is reporting by fact checkers.
Another member of the audience asked if the most effective way to fight the culture war is to try to motivate uninvolved voters or to hammer specific dividing-line issues. Mehta responded that we should not waste our time trying to change the minds of people who are already set in their opinions.
Mehta predicted that if Trump is elected president, there would be many retirements on the Supreme Court, so that he could replace aging conservatives with a stable of young conservatives.
After the meeting, attendees socialized with food and beverages. August Berkshire and his partner, Rachel Wilson, staffed a table to speak with people about Minnesota Atheists.
