Vote for Atheists!

On a list of the qualities that would make a person worth voting for, what do you think would come in dead last? It’s not a history of infidelity. It’s not prior pot smoking. It’s not even being gay or lesbian. Nope, according to a new Pew Research survey, it’s a lack of religion.

The recent study of candidate traits found that 53 percent of all respondents said they’d be less likely to vote for an atheist candidate — and a full 70 percent of the Republicans who replied said they wouldn’t. Given that this is a nation in which a third of the population flatly rejects evolution and 30 percent believes the Bible is the literal word of God, perhaps that antipathy toward politicians who don’t practice a religion is understandable. Yet more Americans than ever are identifying as non-religiously affiliated and atheist. A 2012 WIN-Gallup International poll found that in just a seven-year span, the percent of Americans who call themselves “religious” dropped 13 percent, while the population of self-described atheists rose 4 percent. So why are voters still reticent about putting more nonbelievers in office?