1st openly Non-Theist Member of Congress Announced in 1 week
In a bit of surprising news, the Secular Coalition for America has revealed that in just one week, it will unveil the name of the first open “non-theist” member of Congress in history.
This is the result of a contest held by the organization in which it challenged the public to find out the “highest level atheist, humanist, freethinker or other nontheist currently holding elected public office in the United States of America.” This leads me to wonder whether the announcement will be held in cooperation with this member of Congress, or if this member is going to be “outed” for their lack of beliefs. (Update: as you can read in the comments, there will apparently be no outing, because this member of Congress has the guts to stand up voluntarily.)
This proceeding shows that Americans’ consideration of the possible lack of religion among politicians actually lags years behind their consideration of candidates’ sexuality. For years now, openly gay members of Congress have been elected and re-elected. But I cannot identify one instance in American history in which an open non-believer has been elected to the House or Senate.
What’s next? Are we going to need to consider whether atheism is a lifestyle choice or whether people are born that way?
Next monday will be a very interesting day.
I’m betting it’s Bernard Sanders.
This person (whomever it may be) has agreed to be identified and (I expect) will hold a press conference with Lori Lipman Brown. The Secular Coalition works in coalition with other groups and focuses on presenting a positive image of atheists. They would never reveal a person’s atheism if that atheist were in the closet.
In case you don’t know… The Secular Coalition for America is a new 501(c)4 advocacy organization whose purpose is to amplify the diverse and growing voice of the nontheistic community in the United States. http://www.secular.org/
Thanks for the clarification, Janice.
Do I take it that the individual Congressman or woman will be forcibly “outed”, meaning that the revelation will be the SCA’s and not his or hers)? If so, this confirms my suspicions of the SCA as being puerile–and cruel. Pity. You might have had me as a member. This is not the way.
Read the comments, Dan.
I can’t begin to guess who it is but Monday will be a great day.
Get active…www.atheistactivist.org
It’s about time. The world is a much more interesting place when everyone in it is not the same. I’m glad someone is standing up to the intimidation of conformity.
Wow. I must admit I’m amazed they found someone willing to do this, and elated that they have. One small step for (American) man…
I’m pretty sure it’s John Walter Olver, Massachusetts 1st District.
Not John Olver. It’s Peter Stark. No other member of Congress was even willing to privately confirm being a non-theist to the Secular Coalition.