For the first time anyone can remember, a major party candidate for federal office has come out as an atheist. Wynne LeGrow posted a diary at the big orange about his candidacy for congress in Virginia’s fourth congressional district.
Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) recently (2007) admitted that he is an atheist, but he has been in office since 1972, so it was not an issue in his election. Plus Stark is in CA, not VA. No doubt there are others, but they don’t have the courage to come out.
I have done a quick survey of atheist/secularist/humanist websites, and curiously, only one (The Center for Inquiry) has covered this story. Atheist complain a lot about government officials and candidates being unwilling to admit when they are non-believers, so why the lack of coverage? Weird.
As an atheist, it certainly makes me happy that a candidate does have the courage to admit his non-belief. However, I am extremely curious to see how this turns out. Will his declaration of non-belief doom his candidacy? Is he opening himself up to bigotry and stupidity? Does this unnecessarily shift the focus off of the issues? Or is this a step in the right direction? Will he be able to effectively counter the stupidity and expose the bigotry for what it is and turn a potential political liability into a strength?
What do you think?
If he is anywhere near being a viable candidate, then the answer would be “YES”.
Well, of course. But this would happen even if he only had a “D” next to his name and didn’t declare his non-belief.
Again, if he is a viable candidate, then everything but this will quickly become a non-issue.
Is this a step in the right direction?
Yes, without a doubt, it is.
I wish that this was possible. But in this country it just cannot happen. I admire his principles but it is hard enough in this country to just go through your daily routine if you are an outwardly declared non-believer.
It has taken the gay community generations to even begin to turn the tide on the outward hatred and loathing that has been dumped on them and tear down the stereotypes that so effectively kept them underground for most of this country’s existence. Publicly declared atheists, particularly in flyover America, are simply a microscopic number in comparison to the gay population. So I believe it will likely take many generations and much courage from non-believers outside academia and science to begin to create an environment where non-believers can comfortably express their honest views in this country.