WASHINGTON, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- The non-profit American Atheists won't participate in the Conservative Political Action Conference next month because the group distorted its intent, CPAC said.
CPAC spokeswoman Meghan Snyder said Tuesday American Atheists -- which protects the civil rights of atheists -- "misrepresented itself" about the organization's willingness to "engage in positive dialogue and work together to promote limited government," Politico reported.
Earlier Tuesday, after announcing the group would have an information booth at CPAC, American Atheists' chief David Silverman told CNN he wasn't worried about angering the Christian right.
"The Christian right should be angry that we are going in to enlighten conservatives," Silverman told CNN. "The Christian right should be threatened by us."
Silverman said warned if "conservatism doesn't embrace religious neutrality, its influence will wither and die."
"People of any faith tradition should not be attacked for their beliefs, especially at our conference," Snyder said. "He has left us with no choice but to return his money."
Brent Bozell, president of the Media Research Center, said American Atheists should not have been included in the conference to begin with, and urged all conservative groups to withdraw from the conference.
"American Atheists is an organization devoted to the hatred of God. How on earth could CPAC, or the ACU [American Conservative Union] and its board of directors, and [ACU board chairman] Al Cardenas condone such an atrocity?" Bozell said.
The conference, scheduled for March 6-8 just outside of Washington, will include speeches by conservative Republican leaders such as New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida.
