Are There Atheists in Foxholes or Politics?

by Laura Snedeker

When California Representative Pete Stark made the news two weeks ago, he hadn’t committed fraud, made inappropriate sexual advances, declared a run for the presidency, or done anything else that makes politicians media targets. No, Representative Stark is, by his own admission, an atheist.

He’s also the highest-ranking elected “non-theist” in the United States, according to the Secular Coalition for America. And according to the deputy historian for the House of Representatives, he’s the first “self-proclaimed non-theist.”

Emphasis on “self-proclaimed.” It’s unlikely that in more than 225 years of self-government that there have been no atheists or agnostics in the House, because despite the Founding Fathers’ lofty intentions in mandating a separation of Church and State, there is still an immense stigma associated with being a non-Christian.

We’ve only had one self-declared Catholic president, and Keith Ellison’s election as the House’s first Muslim generated an incredible amount of controversy over whether Rep. Ellison would sell out the country to Osama bin Laden.

In fact, it’s extremely ironic that American leaders’ condemnation of fundamentalist Islam has coincided with a resurgent right-wing Christian movement. It’s not even enough for politicians to generally acknowledge a belief in a god, either. For instance, recently, Focus on the Family leader James Dobson challenged Fred Thompson, the Law & Order actor and former senator, to demonstrate his Christian faith, if he is going to run for president.

“Thompson hasn’t clearly communicated his religious faith, and many evangelical Christians might find this a barrier to supporting him,” Dobson said. Is that a threat? Declare your belief in God, or we’ll make sure you lose.

The national obsession with religion worries those of us who aren’t religious or who believe religion should be a private matter. Americans don’t bat an eye at White House prayer breakfasts and complaints about federal tax dollars going to support faith-based community groups are ridiculed as atheist paranoia.

Bill O’Reilly, Fox News’ blowhard political pundit, is well-known for his tirades against “secular progressives” and the “secular media,” as if CNN and The New York Times were conspiring to eliminate Christians from the public arena. The mainstream media have their faults, but to their credit they remain mostly-secular institutions, unlike the government.

As the presidential election nears, we’ll hear more and more about the top contenders’ deep religious convictions and personal faith, and we’ll be deluged by photos of candidates entering church doors in key regions of the country. Just to pre-empt false charges of being one of those dangerous godless types.

(Cartoon by London's Hugh MacLeod of gapingvoid and used through a Creative Commons license.)

politics
religion
atheism
Pete Stark
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