LogFAQs > #883603592

TheCyborgNinja posted...

crinalex posted...

Because being non-offensively religious is less harmful than anything else when trying to get votes. I'm sure more politicians will start coming out as atheists as it gets more and more accepted in society.

Not in America. It's going backwards in this regard. The religious people are possibly more fanatical and misguided than the puritans who landed hundreds of years ago.

You're out of touch. Most of America identifies as Christian even though very few are actively practicing. Fundamentalists are loud and regressive, yes, but they're not most Christians. There are also many people of other faiths who still have the belief in a higher power part going for them.

An atheist is unelectable at this time.

Running for a spot in state legislatures as an atheist is outright illegal in some states. Obviously, these laws are trumped by the “No Religious Test Clause” of the United States Constitution, which is found in Article VI, paragraph 3, and states that:

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.

However, these laws are still on the books and have given atheist candidates trouble in the past. Cecil Bothwell, an atheist who in 2009 won an election for a Asheville, North Carolina city council seat, was almost unseated by local critics who pointed to a provision in North Carolina’s constitution that prohibited nonbelievers from being elected. This provision of the state constitution is similar to provisions in Arkansas, Maryland, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.

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Never write off the Doctor!