Here Are All The Atheists In Congress

Sovereign · #1 by **Sovereign** » Sep 19, 2013 3:15 pm

Below, we've managed to cram all of the atheists serving on Capitol Hill into one important GIF:

Yeah, there isn't a single admitted atheist currently in Congress.

A few months after retiring, former Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) also announced his nonbeliever status, a declaration he made more than 25 years after coming out as the first openly gay member of Congress.

That Frank felt more comfortable going public with his sexuality in 1987 than he did with his secular beliefs at any point during his House career says a lot about the stigma surrounding atheism in electoral politics. In 2011, Herb Silverman of the Secular Coalition of America told the Guardian that his group was aware of 27 members of Congress other than Stark "that have no belief in God." It's unclear who they were, or are, but none of them -- perhaps except Frank -- have since decided to speak out.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/1 ... 44108.html

DarthHelmet86 · #2 by **DarthHelmet86** » Sep 19, 2013 5:28 pm

The word has been twisted with hateful things for awhile, politicians want to get elected and in many places not just America being an atheist is seen as all those hateful things and you just wont get elected so they wont admit to it till they don't want or wont be elected anymore. It wouldn't surprise me if the USA with its heavy concentration of fundamentalists has the worst case of bias against atheists but it still exists in other countries as well.

JVRaines · #3 by **JVRaines** » Sep 19, 2013 10:12 pm

You can't get elected in this country unless you end every speech with "God bless America."

chairman bill · #4 by **chairman bill** » Sep 19, 2013 11:01 pm

I remember hearing a woman say she wouldn't vote for Neil Kinnock (Labour Party leader of the time) because he was an atheist. Then again, I heard others say they wouldn't vote for him 'cos he was Welsh & 'cos he was ginger. Bigotry comes in all sorts of shapes & colours. Refusing to elect someone simply on the basis of religion, is plain ole bigotry.

Ironclad · #5 by **Ironclad** » Sep 19, 2013 11:31 pm

I'm always amazed at how much anger atheism generates, especially from the enlightened New World.

zulumoose · #6 by **zulumoose** » Sep 20, 2013 7:36 am

Ironclad wrote:I'm always amazed at how much anger atheism generates, especially from the enlightened New World.

I wouldn't include the USA in that phrase, in fact there is not much outside western Europe that I would apply that phrase to, in terms of the general population.

There are plenty of places where maybe the top 10% could be called enlightened, very few where the general population fits the term.

archibald · #7 by **archibald** » Sep 20, 2013 7:39 am

'PRINCETON, NJ -- While more than nine in 10 Americans would vote for a presidential candidate who is black, a woman, Catholic, Hispanic, or Jewish, significantly smaller percentages would vote for one who is an atheist (54%) or Muslim (58%). Americans' willingness to vote for a Mormon (80%) or gay or lesbian (68%) candidate falls between these two extremes.'

http://www.gallup.com/poll/155285/athei ... dates.aspx

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