Confession time…

In 2006, I ran for the US House against an unholy a far-right DINO and lost in the Primary. I drop the phrase, "I placed second in a three-way race", to either joke-it or to save face—it could be either. In reality, the incumbent got 86.2%, I got 10.0% and Mr.Last Place got 3.8%.

As the campaign began, I struggled with admitting I am an atheist. Is it a lie of omission to cloak it in "my faith sustains me"? My faith is really in my fellow-man—unfortunately, they haven't been born yet. Do I tell the truth and suffer the harassment, vilification, demonization and possible danger? That asks the question: how brave am I? Fortunately (and amazingly!), I was never asked!

But I did struggle! The ethics of atheists are maligned frequently, as we have no "god" to guide us. Strangely enough, my ethics are very fine, thank you—god or no god! Christians, and christianists, have no qualms about lying. Yet I feel "unclean" when I lie. Go figure!

My plan (woefully naive, I'm sure) was to win the seat, serve one term and impress my constituents with my brilliance, dedication and effectiveness that they wouldn't mind when I came out of the closet, as it were. (*cue laughtrack*)

Which is why I took the many hours it required to blog on the lack of atheists in Congress. But, while researching for the post below, I discovered that there may, indeed, be atheists already there…

Read Atheism and the American Congress, by [moi]