Atheist seeking US citizenship told to convert to Christianity

Margaret Doughty, an atheist and permanent US resident for over 30 years, was told by immigration authorities this month that she has until Friday to officially join a church that forbids violence or her application for naturalised citizenship will be rejected.

Doughty received the ultimatum after stating on her application that she objected to the pledge to bear arms in defense of the nation due to her moral opposition to war. According to a letter to US Citizenship and Immigration Services by the American Humanist Association on Doughty’s behalf, officials responded by telling her that she needed to prove that her status as a conscientious objector was due to religious beliefs. They reportedly told her she’d need to document that she was “a member in good standing” of a nonviolent religious organisation or be denied citizenship at her June 21 hearing. A note on official church stationary would suffice, they said.

Doughty’s reasoning was perfectly valid, atheist groups have argued in response to the rejection threat. The Freedom From Religion Foundation sent a letter to Citizenship and Immigration Services, calling the government request “illegal and unconstitutional.”

“It is shocking that USCIS officers would not be aware that a nonreligious yet deeply held belief would be sufficient to attain this exemption,” Andrew L Seidel, a staff attorney at Freedom From Religion Foundation, wrote after laying out a list of Supreme Court tests that suggest a rejection would be unusual and improper. “This is a longstanding part of our law and every USCIS officer should receive training on this exemption. Either the officers in Houston are inept, or they are deliberately discriminating against nonreligious applicants for naturalization.”

The American Humanist Association later followed suit, urging the agency to back down or face litigation.

A petition supporting Doughty’s quest for citizenship has also been launched at Daily Kos. As Raw Story reports, Doughty took to Facebook this week to thank people for their support.

“Over the past two days not only good friends but people I don’t even know have sent notes of support,” she wrote. “They are people with a wide range of beliefs, beliefs that I respect – Christians, Muslims, Jews, Atheists, Agnostics and others. I think that is part of what has always appealed to me about America -– that people of all beliefs can live together accepting and respecting each other and working together for the common good.”