Atheism Hasn’t Hurt Pete Stark
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James Joyner | Monday, March 19, 2007 |
Congressman Pete Stark’s public profession of atheism hasn’t hurt him, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.
Atheism might be the last political taboo, but it doesn’t seem to have hurt Rep. Pete Stark in his East Bay district. In town hall meetings in Newark and San Leandro [Saturday], the 35-year congressional veteran received only cheers and applause when a speaker brought up a survey this week that named Stark as the highest-ranking politician in America who was willing to admit he doesn’t believe in God.
Stark waved away any suggestion that he was being courageous when he described himself to the Secular Coalition for America, an association of atheist and humanist groups, as “a Unitarian who does not believe in a Supreme Being.”
“It’s not courageous to make a simple statement about personal beliefs,” he told about 70 people at the San Leandro City Hall. “What is courageous is to stand up in Congress and say, ‘Let’s tax the rich and give the money to poor kids.’ Now that’s courageous.”
Standing up and saying you’re an atheist might be political suicide in most of the country; the San Francisco Bay area isn’t among them.
And, surely, saying, “Let’s tax the rich and give the money to poor kids” is anything but “courageous.” Indeed, it’s the height of demagoguery, targeting an unpopular minority and citing perhaps the most sympathetic beneficiary group.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.
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Standing up and saying you’re an atheist might be political suicide in most of the country; the San Francisco Bay area isn’t among them.
True... we're not exactly talking about the heartland, here. Bottom line, here is that Stark's experience... contraty to the apparent lean of the article.. cannot be taken as a measure of much of anything at all.
Atheism Hasn’t Hurt Pete Stark
Traditionally, doesn't the harm happen, um, later?
Maybe not, but have they discovered that he's a closet heterosexual?
Sure, it works in San Francisco. As far as the "Rob the rich, Feed the poor, Till there ain't no rich no more" philosophy, it also works in San Francisco. Neither would fly in any other part of the country.
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