US politicians seldom coming out as atheists

[lpetrich]

‘I prefer non-religious’: why so few US politicians come out as atheists | World news | The Guardian

The 2020 presidential election has produced the most diverse field of candidates in history. There are women, people of color and an openly gay man. There are billionaires, socialists and a self-help guru. The Vermont senator Bernie Sanders’ view of religion is not particularly clear but there are no known atheists.

Non-believers remain few and far between in American politics. In Congress, the only one to publicly “come out” as such is Jared Huffman, a Democrat representing California’s second district and a leading proponent of impeachment of Donald Trump.

This lawmaker isn’t sure that God exists. Now, he’s finally decided to tell people. - The Washington Post (Nov 9, 2017) is about Jared Huffman's beliefs. He prefers to call himself a "humanist" rather than an agnostic or an atheist.

Experts on religious identity in Congress say Huffman seems to be only the second member in contemporary records to describe his ethical system as not being God-based. The first was long-serving Democrat Pete Stark, also of Northern California, who made news a decade ago when he came out as an atheist. Historians debate the specific spiritual views of the earliest members of Congress, and records for many are thin.

...
U.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) became the first member to identify as “unaffiliated,” in 2013, and has remained private about her beliefs since. Her spokesman has added only that she does not consider herself an atheist.

KS was sworn in with a copy of the US Constitution. IMO, much more reasonable than any religious book.

 

[lpetrich]

Back to the Guardian about JH.

In an interview at his Capitol Hill office, he characterized himself as “non-religious, humanist, spiritual albeit without any particular dogma. I’m a spiritual drifter. ‘Seeker’ would be a perfectly good word, too.”

Asked how he would define spiritual, Huffman said: “I’m interested in the morality and values that hold us together, the things that through time have really been the foundations of many religions, but I just see so much in organized religion that doesn’t work for me that I can’t really find a fit there.”

...
“Atheism seems to bring with it the notion of being anti-religion as opposed to non-religious,” he said. “I prefer non-religious because I just want everyone to make their own religious choices. I’m not against them having religion.

“I would never call religion categorically bad. I see too many good things happening by people of faith and even organized religion. I think Pope Francis’s encyclical was one of the most impactful statements on climate change and nature in recent times and I’ve seen other really great leadership on important moral issues from people of faith. I’ve seen a lot of lousy, immoral stuff as well. So it’s just a mix.

Several of the 2020 US Presidential candidates want to seem like they are running for High Priest(ess), like Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, and Pete Buttigieg. Bernie Sanders, though Jewish, states that he does not participate in any organized religion, but that "I think everyone believes in God in their own ways. To me, it means that all of us are connected, all of life is connected, and that we are all tied together." That does not seem like what is typically meant by "God".

The number of non-Christian members of Congress is now 63, Pew says, made up of 34 Jews, three Muslims, three Hindus, two Buddhists, two Unitarian Universalists, and 19, including the Arizona senator Kyrsten Sinema, who decline to specify a religious affiliation.

Some of the Jews may be Jewish agnostics or atheists, and maybe some of the Hindus, Buddhists, and UU's. Even among the believers, some of them may be nominal at best.

JH gets along with some of his religious colleagues rather well, but some evangelical Protestants are another story.

I may not think that Jesus Christ is the divine son of God but he was a great teacher, and I’m fascinated by his teachings and there are great lessons and values in them. I can have that conversation with lots of my religious colleagues. It’s harder with the evangelicals who are on the far right and want to believe that their extrapolation of those teachings means that they’re against gay marriage, climate change is a hoax and all these other things that they manage to work into their worldview.

...
Asked if he suspects Trump himself is a secret atheist, Huffman said: “I think he’s a narcissist. He worships himself.”

...
In 2007 the Democrat Pete Stark, also from northern California, announced he did not believe in God. Stark has since left Congress, but Huffman believes he is still not alone.

“I have many fellow travellers, very few publicly. I think there’s still fear of this conventional wisdom that being an atheist or agnostic or a non-believer is somehow the worst possible thing in politics. My experience has been that that’s not the case, but how you do it matters.”

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

So long as the phrase "coming out" has any meaning in our culture it is certain we are a bunch of bigots.

 

[Patooka]

Then what the fuck was the "war on Christmas" trump keeps ranting about for?

 

[Jarhyn]

Then what the fuck was the "war on Christmas" trump keeps ranting about for?

The one where he plans on waging war on a foreign nation, on December 25th, no doubt. Leave it to him to take it as a suggestion.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Then what the fuck was the "war on Christmas" trump keeps ranting about for?

He's objecting to the invasion of Christmas Island! It's got more Muslims than Christians!


(Pay no attention to the fact that it has more Buddhists than Muslims.)