"Godless Politician"

[Beady]

I refuse to go anywhere near Politics and Religion, so I'm putting this here (haven't seen it mentioned anywhere else):

HE'S NOT EXACTLY a profile in courage. After all, Pete Stark is 75 and has represented his liberal district near San Francisco for more than 30 years. It's unlikely that he'll be tarred and feathered or sent packing for admitting that he's, well, a godless politician.

Nevertheless, last week Stark broke a political taboo. He became the first member of Congress to say publicly that he doesn't believe in "a supreme being." The next most powerful politician to identify himself as a "non-theist" in response to a question by the Secular Coalition for America was a school board president in Berkeley.

 

[zombiebex]

In 1967 and in 2007, the values of many -- maybe most -- Americans feel rooted in religion. As a society we need to have conversations about right and wrong. But in this increasingly pluralistic country we also need to uphold the idea that morals are not the exclusive property of any one religion. More controversially, we need to welcome the idea that values are not the exclusive property of religion itself.

Good article. Really treated him with respect. But I doubt he'll be winning any more terms in office. But then again, he's 75...

 

[joeybernard]

Now all we need is to see a non-theistic politician being newly elected. Then I think we could see some real light at the end of the tunnel.

 

[CynicalSkeptic]

Interesting. If you go to the Wikipedia page, he's listed as a Unitarian. There is another listed as "Unitarian Universalst", 6 listed as "non-affiliated", as well as a few Budhists. Also a handful of generic "Christian" and "Protestant" which probably means they don't go to church every Sunday.

 

[CurtC]

Interesting. If you go to the Wikipedia page, he's listed as a Unitarian.

True, but that does not conflict with his being an atheist.

 

[Dunstan]

I find the phrase "godless politician" (and also "godless atheist") amusing. We're all godless; it's just that only some of us admit it.

 

[GodSend]

Some of us are not Godless