Wow, didn't see that one coming.
Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.), a member of Congress since 1973, acknowledged his nontheism in response to an inquiry by the Secular Coalition for America (www.secular.org ). Rep. Stark is a senior member of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee and is Chair of the Health Subcommittee.
Although the Constitution prohibits religious tests for public office, the Coalition's research reveals that Rep. Stark is the first open nontheist in the history of the Congress. Recent polls show that Americans without a god-belief are, as a group, more distrusted than any other minority in America. Surveys show that the majority of Americans would not vote for an atheist for president even if he or she were the most qualified for the office.
Herb Silverman, president of the Secular Coalition for America, attributes these attitudes to the demonization of people who don't believe in God. "The truth is," says Silverman, "the vast majority of us follow the Golden Rule and are as likely to be good citizens, just like Rep. Stark with over 30 years of exemplary public service. The only way to counter the prejudice against nontheists is for more people to publicly identify as nontheists. Rep. Stark shows remarkable courage in being the first member of Congress to do so."
In October, 2006 the Secular Coalition for America, a national lobby representing the interests of atheists, humanists, freethinkers, and other nontheists, announced a contest. At the time, few if any elected officials, even at the lowest level, would self-identify as a nontheist. So the Coalition offered $1,000 to the person who could identify the highest level atheist, agnostic, humanist or any other kind of nontheist currently holding elected public office in the United States.
In addition to Rep. Stark only three other elected officials agreed to do so: Terry S. Doran, president of the School Board in Berkeley, Calif.; Nancy Glista on the School Committee in Franklin, Maine; and Michael Cerone, a Town Meeting Member from Arlington, Mass.
Pete Stark (76 this year) was first elected to Congress in 1972 from Fremont-Anaheim, Califiornia. He showed up as a blip on my A-dar, but only 'cuz I'm familiar with his reputation as a liberal firebrand. He was on-the-record speaking out and voting against the Chimperor-in-Chief's Iraq war proposal: "Congress must not walk in lockstep behind a president who has been so callous to proceed without reservation, as if war was of no real consequence..."
Posted by: Rev. Art | March 12, 2007 at 01:41 PM
It's actually Fremont-Alameda, or, in other words, the Oakland suburbs. Anaheim is way down in Orange County, quite a whiles away. He was elected in '72, but began serving in '73.
By a strange coincidence, I used to live in Stark's district.
Posted by: R.J. Lehmann | March 12, 2007 at 02:25 PM
God save us beleaguered atheists from our so-called "friends."
It looks like Pete Stark is a clown.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/07/23/ED251350.DTL
Oh well, as with gays of yore, most atheists keep it in the closet. Ergo, Pete Stark is most assuredly NOT the first atheist to win federal elected office. I believe we even had some presidents back in the day. Represent.
http://www.gnxp.com/blog/2007/03/faiths-of-founding-fathers.php
Posted by: monkey | March 19, 2007 at 12:47 PM