Defending Civil Rights - My Latest Letter to the Washington Post

Today I sent the following Letter to the Editor of the Washington Post about the Post's complete lack of coverage of the Iowa Atheists & Freethinkers bus ad controversy. I've been fortunate to have two Letters to the Editor published previously, so I'm hoping this one makes the cut. I'll post any reply I get from them, as well as a link should they publish it. Meanwhile, here's what I wrote:

To the Editor, Washington Post:

Over the past two weeks, there has been a civil rights battle brewing in Iowa, and Post readers have been denied coverage of this important news. The Des Moines Area Rapid Transit authority first posted, then removed, then reposted ads on the sides of buses that read “Don’t Believe in God, You’re Not Alone.” The ads were sponsored by the Iowa Atheists & Freethinkers, and complaints came from right wing Christians religious groups. Iowa’s governor professed to be “personally disturbed” by the ads.

Yet an exhaustive search of the Post’s online archive I conducted today reveals not a word about this incident. Atheists, like all Americans, enjoy the freedom of (and from) religion and the freedom of speech as explicitly protected in our Constitution. Their ads should be just as welcome on the side of a bus as an ad for the Crystal Cathedral, or for the latest Ferragamo shoe. The Washington Post should also be covering discrimination against atheists, wherever it occurs, just as you routinely cover other kinds of racial and religious discrimination. Shame on you for not doing so.

Sincerely,
Philip L. H