Well, really have you ever heard of any other kind of atheist other than godless?

I’m damn glad that Tina Tchen, the director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, and representatives from the Justice and Health and Human Services departments will be meeting with members of the Secular Coalition for America. Three policy matters are on the agenda: military proselytizing, faith-based initiatives and child medical neglect.

Even though there are fundamental differences between atheists and any religion–like whether or not there is a God, or Gods or not–this meeting paves the way for non-mainstream faith to speak up.

Coalition leaders are billing their visit as an important meeting between a presidential administration and the “nontheist” community. And it is. This is huge. And it’s also important because it shows that there may be a policy shift away from the fundamentalist chokehold that has gripped Presidencies for decades.

But the White House says that Tchen’s office

regularly meets with a wide range of organizations and individuals on a diverse set of issues.

The Secular Coalition for America has some high profile board members like authors Salman Rushdie and Christopher Hitchins. Coalition activists have concerns about proselytizing in the military and a rise in the military’s evangelical culture, as do many in non-mainstream religions.

They want the Department of Defense to give protected-class status to nonbelievers, as it does to members of minority religions. Which makes sense because atheism/nontheism is a belief system.

While President Obama has emphasized that faith-based groups that receive government money for charitable work shouldn’t proselytize or discriminate on the basis of religion, the coalition would like to see an executive order solidifying that position.

The coalition would also like laws in put into place which would allow sick children to be removed from their homes for treatment if their families deny them medical care because of faith-healing belief systems.