[7] This trend has been aided in part by the Internet, which has allowed atheists and other secularists to connect through blogs and social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Meetup.
[16] In 2014, reflecting an approach similar to the "coming out" strategy of the gay rights movement, a group called Openly Secular was formed to encourage nonreligious and nontheistic Americans to speak out.
The group's mission "is to eliminate discrimination and increase acceptance by getting secular people—including atheists, freethinkers, agnostics, humanists, and nonreligious people—to be open about their beliefs.
"[17] In one video produced for the group, comedian and television personality Bill Maher urged atheists to be open about their religious skepticism, dismissing the Bible as a book "based on ancient myths".
[27] As America's secular demographic has grown and become more visible and active, a number of lawsuits have been brought to challenge references to God and religion in government.
In 2002, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the inclusion of the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance violated the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution.
Newdow subsequently filed a second case, and in 2010, the Ninth Circuit reversed its earlier decision and ruled that the "under God" wording did not violate the Establishment Clause.
The lawsuits, brought by the American Humanist Association, claimed that equal protection guarantees under the respective state constitutions prohibited daily recitation of the pledge because the "under God" wording discriminated against atheists.
Atheist and humanist groups opposed the Supreme Court's 2014 decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., which gave corporate employers the right to opt out of the birth control mandate of the Affordable Care Act on religious freedom grounds.
[45] However other prominent figures in the Secular movement disagree, such as Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who believes that "political correctness is counterproductive" and that we must "acknowledge the issue of Islam.