Atheist Candidate for Congress Takes on Christian Right Darling

[cleanhippie]

Polls show that atheists remain the most distrusted and despised minority in America. A University of Minnesota study found that 40 percent of Americans believe atheists “do not agree with my vision of American society.” With such widely held prejudice, there’s little wonder 46 percent of Americans are unwilling to vote for an atheist in a presidential election. It’s also why atheist politicians have, for the most part, kept their atheism a secret until long after leaving office.

Take Barney Frank (D-MA). In 1987, while serving in the U.S. Congress, Frank stepped out of the close to announce he was gay. But he kept his atheism a secret until he had long retired from public life. Pete Stark (D-CA) was one of the longest serving congressional members in U.S. history, representing California’s 13th congressional district from 1973 to 2013. It wasn’t until 2007 before Stark, in an interview with the Secular Coalition of America, acknowledged he was openly atheist, which made him the first congressman in U.S. history to declare his atheism while still in office.

If the U.S. congress proportionately represented the will of the American people, there’d be no less than 50 atheists serving in the federal legislative branch of government. Instead there are none. Not a single open-shirted atheist walks among the 535 members on Capitol Hill today.

James Woods is hoping to change that scorecard as he fights to become not only the representative of Arizona’s 5th Congressional District, but also the first elected member of Congress running unabashedly as an atheist.

http://www.alternet.org/belief/watershed-moment-atheism-america-first-major-party-candidate-congress-campaign-atheist

Hizzah!

[AtheistCrusader]

1. He's going to have a tough fight.

He'll be smeared left right and center. Might send him a contribution just on principle.

[LostOne4Ever]

2. He is in a blood red district

Last edited Sat May 3, 2014, 03:50 PM - Edit history (1)

He is going to be crushed

[el_bryanto]

3. I wish him the best

Here's his website --> http://jameswoodsforcongress.com/.

I think he'll have a tough time, but he seems very strong, and I wish him well.

Bryant

[Prophet 451]

4. I wish him lots of luck

Here, our deputy PM is openly an atheist (although the PM recently revealed himself as strongly religious and we already knew he was an asshole). Someone's faith or lack thereof, should be a complete non-factor unless they're sacrificing goats or something equally extreme.

[AverageJoe90]

5. Are you from Australia, by the way? (if you don't mind the question?)

Just asking, because I know Tony Abbott just took office over there and he does seem to be quite the rightist wingnut......

[Prophet 451]

7. No, I'm British

Our PM, David Cameron (excuse me while I spit), recently came out with some religious rhetoric along the lines that his "Big Society" (which essentially consists of savage cuts to welfare and hoping charities would bridge the gap) were modeled after Jesus.

Our Deputy PM, Nick Clegg, is openly an atheist but it's become sadly clear that he's there purely to make up the numbers.

[LeftishBrit]

10. Good description of Davy...

I would also add that Cameron is weak and lazy, and inclined to let strong-minded Ministers walk all over him. A lot of this 'Jesus loves welfare cuts' crap really comes from Iain Duncan Smith, Secretary for (cutting) Work and Pensions, who has a sort of moral crusade against benefit claimants, and really is, unusually for British politicians, something of a religious right-winger.

I live in the constituency next door to Cameron's. We also have a Tory MP, Nicola Blockhead (oops, I mean Blackwood), who fortunately is not likely to be Prime Minister. But she got into Parliament partly as a result of political pro-lifers conducting a vicious smear campaign against her pro-choice opponent. After her election, she gave talks in several churches in the constituency about the wonders of the Big Society. I remember muttering that she needn't bother, as even God, if he existed, could not rescue THAT idea!

[Prophet 451]

12. I can't say what I think of IBS

Or this post would be (rightly) removed. He once said that it was a sin to be unemployed.

[LeftishBrit]

8. The leader of the Opposition is also an atheist...

As for Cameron, I don't think he's so much 'strongly religious' as pandering to those inclined to desert the Tories for UKIP, many of whom are hostile to same-sex marriage (one of Cameron's few decent policies) and even more hostile to immigration by those heathens, especially Muslims.

Fortunately, most British Prime Ministers have not made an issue of their faith, to the point that in many cases no one really knows whether they were atheists or believers (in some cases, they probably didn't know or care themselves). There are still debates about whether Churchill was a believer or not.

[pinto]

11. I think many of the "strongly religious" politicians here in the US do the same.

Regardless of their personal viewpoints they echo those that are likely to garner them the most votes. Usually framed as representing their district's or state's population. While that may be true to an extent, I think it's a calculated political ploy.

[rug]

6. DUpe topic.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1218126105

[el_bryanto]

9. Different story though. nt