Could US Atheists Establish a Political Party?

How viable is a political party with the word “atheist” in its name?

Troy Boyle, a corporate legal representative for a finance company, thinks very viable. Last March, he and a friend founded the National Atheist Party, which they believe to be the first American political party organized on the belief that God does not exist.

Boyle, 45, got the idea to start the party while watching an interview with Richard Dawkins, the British evolutionary biologist and author of several “New Atheist” manifestos, including the best-selling “The God Delusion.” In the interview, Dawkins wondered why atheists did not organize to influence politics.

“It struck me like a bolt of lightning when he said it,” Boyle recalled. From his home in Elsmere, Ky., he started researching atheists in politics. “And I found nothing. So I picked up the gauntlet. I decided to start a political party.”