Our first atheist politician comes out of the closet

[HelloDollyLlama]

When people talk to pollsters, they often lie. It has already been established that they lie about how often they vote, go to museums, go to symphonies and operas, give to charity, have sex, and use drugs. Often pollsters are reporting the self-image of American people, rather than how they really live.

This includes going to church. A number of national polls have consistently said that over 40 percent of Americans claim they go to church each week. But independent studies show that the figure is actually 21-26 percent.

So, at least a third of religious people are liars and hypocrites. And since millions are lying about going to church, we can assume that many are also lying when they say they believe in God. And then of course there are all the people who claim to be religious, but admit that they don’t go to church. So some of them don’t really believe, either: when they say they’re Catholic, they’re really saying “my parents were Catholic and I got married there, but I haven’t been to Church since Monte Carlo night.�

Likewise we can assume that we have many, many political leaders who don’t believe in God.

But how many politicians are willing to say so publicly? One guy, Congressman Pete Stark. And he didn’t START his career that way – he didn’t reveal his “preference� until he was 75 years old and had already served 24 years in Congress, in a seat that is so safely Democratic that he beats his opponents by about 3 to 1. So that isn’t exactly high on the Nathan Hale Scale of Bravery. Bu he’s ahead of everybody else.

In our political world, being an atheist is more horrible than being gay (Barney Franks is out of the closet), or soliciting in a public toilet (Larry Craig still wants to pursue his career), or patronizing prostitutes (Vitter), or killing someone in a car crash (Kennedy, or even Laura Bush), or using illegal drugs (our last three presidents), or molesting children (Foley), or not paying your taxes on time (seemingly half of Obama’s cabinet), or being a proven criminal (dozens of examples from Marion Barry to Ted Stevens). Recent polling says that more than half of America would never vote for an atheist presidential candidate; the number of people who are willing to vote for an atheist actually dropped from 49 percent to 37 percent.

Name another minority of 15-30 million people, who have almost no voice in government. Blacks, Jews, Mexicans...? Nope. The closest example is our 3 million Native Americans, but even they get land, casinos, an entire bureau of the Interior Department to take care of them, and the occasional politician (including Hoover’s Vice President, Charles Davis).

And it doesn’t seem to bother anybody that this one minority, the atheists, has no voice.

For 30 years, meanwhile, our political discourse has been dominated by the three pillars of Republican arch-conservatism, and two of them have a strong under-current of evangelical stupidity: the ethos of the god-guns-gays culture warrior, and the messianic, God-told-Bush-to-invade-Iraq Crusader lunacy of the neocons. It is only because of their donations to the Republican party from religious loons, and their obnoxious insistence on ramming their views down our throats, that we have spend so much time arguing about THEIR issues. I mean, look at how much time we wasted on abortion, school vouchers, school prayer, intelligent design, putting the Commandments in courtrooms, stem cell research, euthanasia, cloning, civil unions, HPV shots, contraception, sex education, faith-based initiatives, banning books, assisted suicide....As though we don’t have serious issues to discuss, like two wars, a dying industrial base, and a Depression.

For 30 years, the voices of religion – fear, hate, illusion, intolerance and wilful ignorance – have dominated our political life. As for the voices of atheism – logic, reason and tolerance – not only are they being ignored, but no one even acknowledges their existence. If you asked one of our political leaders what they think of atheists and their views, you would get a blank stare, and some serious stammering and backpedalling.

Atheists potentially have more to offer America than any group. Philosophy and politics cannot work without clear thought, logic, and a resistance to fallacy, and atheists play that game better than anyone out there. And the tide is turning: virtually everything religious people believe – from the pseudoscience of Genesis, to the absurdity of heaven and hell and the resurrection and other miracles, to the rigid and intolerant moral views on everything from gays to genocide to slavery – is slowly being exposed as fallacy.

So when do the grownups get their turn? And when can we have an actual atheist political leader who isn’t 77 years old?

The thing is, we already HAVE atheists among our political leaders. We just need them to come out, the way Stark did.

Come out and lead! It's time for the Atheist Revolution! If the evangelicals can launch a 30-year revolution of suicidal folly, we can do the same, and save the country!

[JoeyKnothead]

Terrific Post. Actually, whichever word is stronger than terrific.

[Fallibleone]

Your first atheist politician may have just come out of the closet. We've had an open atheist knocking about for a few years now.

[HelloDollyLlama]

Your first atheist politician may have just come out of the closet. We've had an open atheist knocking about for a few years now.

Somebody Liverpudlian? I used to live in Yorkshire but didn't follow the local politicians up north....

[aerobatty]

I forget who did the poll, but it was repeated on John Stewart's Daily Show that the American public will elect a Muslim before they elect an atheist. In fact, atheists are dead last in every poll.

I think a sign that things are starting to finally change, even if only a tiny bit, is that in Obama's inauguration speech, he actually acknowledged atheists. He also said that it was time for science to take its rightful place. Bush Sr. said outright that atheists were not patriots. I saw the video clip myself. You just know Jr. felt the same-maybe even more strongly.

For anybody running for office, it is still, and will be for a long time to come, political suicide to proclaim your self an atheist. In fact, it is even worse now than it was in Lincoln's day. He made many comments disparaging to religion that today would probably get him impeached or assassinated. (Oh yeah. He was assassinated, wasn't he?)

I think our job as atheists is to be the best representatives we can be. Try not to belittle believers, but when the opportunity presents itself, to counter whatever logical fallacy they might present with reason and logic.

I'll give a recent example I experienced. It was this past good Friday and one of my coworkers noted the clouds on the horizon coming in. (Of course, they were forecast, but that's beside the point). He said "Yep. Here they come. Every year at 3pm on good Friday it clouds up. That's when Jesus died on the cross. First I pointed out to him that Good Friday was always on a Friday, so since the actual date was different every year, that kind of didn't make sense. That stumped him for a few seconds, but he managed to come right back with, "Well, that's what the church declared, so that's when it happens." Then I asked him, "Does it just cloud up over you, or is it cloudy everywhere? There are other people in the world, you know." I could see the hamsters going into high gear for that one, but he never did come up with a response. Fortunately for him our break was over, but I think I gave him something to think about at least.

[HelloDollyLlama]

Time will help the cause. The evangelicals owned U.S. policy for 30 years, and fooled a lot of people. Now the reign of terror is ending, and the people who got conned by them are going to age off the system.

I forget who did the poll, but it was repeated on John Stewart's Daily Show that the American public will elect a Muslim before they elect an atheist. In fact, atheists are dead last in every poll.

I think a sign that things are starting to finally change, even if only a tiny bit, is that in Obama's inauguration speech, he actually acknowledged atheists. He also said that it was time for science to take its rightful place. Bush Sr. said outright that atheists were not patriots. I saw the video clip myself. You just know Jr. felt the same-maybe even more strongly.

For anybody running for office, it is still, and will be for a long time to come, political suicide to proclaim your self an atheist. In fact, it is even worse now than it was in Lincoln's day. He made many comments disparaging to religion that today would probably get him impeached or assassinated. (Oh yeah. He was assassinated, wasn't he?)

I think our job as atheists is to be the best representatives we can be. Try not to belittle believers, but when the opportunity presents itself, to counter whatever logical fallacy they might present with reason and logic.

I'll give a recent example I experienced. It was this past good Friday and one of my coworkers noted the clouds on the horizon coming in. (Of course, they were forecast, but that's beside the point). He said "Yep. Here they come. Every year at 3pm on good Friday it clouds up. That's when Jesus died on the cross. First I pointed out to him that Good Friday was always on a Friday, so since the actual date was different every year, that kind of didn't make sense. That stumped him for a few seconds, but he managed to come right back with, "Well, that's what the church declared, so that's when it happens." Then I asked him, "Does it just cloud up over you, or is it cloudy everywhere? There are other people in the world, you know." I could see the hamsters going into high gear for that one, but he never did come up with a response. Fortunately for him our break was over, but I think I gave him something to think about at least.

[Confused]

Time will help the cause. The evangelicals owned U.S. policy for 30 years, and fooled a lot of people. Now the reign of terror is ending, and the people who got conned by them are going to age off the system.

The truly sad part here is that religious affiliation should have no influence in political policies. Utopian, I know. But our basic structure is laughable when we consider that church and state are suppose to be two distinct entities that should have no influence upon one another.

[Fallibleone]

Your first atheist politician may have just come out of the closet. We've had an open atheist knocking about for a few years now.

Somebody Liverpudlian? I used to live in Yorkshire but didn't follow the local politicians up north....

Nick Clegg, leader of the Lib Dems.