Great piece by Katrina Vanden Heuvel of The Nation on the rising influence of the secular demographic:
Rediscovering Secular America
Millions of Americans are nonreligious, yet the American political and social landscape has rarely had to deal with secular Americans as an organized demographic category, as a portion of society that will stand up for its rights and demand a place at the table. With the rise of the Secular Coalition for America, that is all changing.
The American press and general public have frequently found it easy to dismiss nonreligious Americans as insignificant, as a group that can be ignored, even sometimes vilified. With the SCA and its member groups raising the public profile of nonreligious Americans, it is less acceptable to scorn the nonreligious and/or to exalt religiosity, especially in public affairs.
The SCA and its member groups have essentially made it their mission to construct the "secular American" demographic, so that the conversation over "values" and other public policy matters is no longer slanted in a way that gives religion a presumption of superiority. Those Americans who are not religious now have an identity - "secular Americans" - that can be compared and contrasted, on a level playing field, with that of "religious Americans."