Lori Lipman Brown
• Skeptics & Atheists
Lori Lipman Brown is something new in America: a political lobbyist for humane secular values. I don't know that she can do anything to deflect America from heading down the road of semi-theocratic state. But it is a nice idea.
"I think a lot of people find it difficult to understand why anyone would live an ethical life if they weren't fearful of going to hell," Brown said. "For those of us who don't have a deity, this is the only life we believe we have, and there's a huge responsibility on us, here and now, to make sure we help our fellow people and leave the world better for future generations."
On the job barely three weeks, the former Democratic Nevada state senator presents an "attractive" side to atheism, her supporters say – something they claim is needed while the Religious Right wields enormous clout in Washington and nonbelievers are stigmatized.
"She puts a face on secular America that wasn't there before," said Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association. "It's so much easier to demonize people you haven't met."