Free Republic

A prominent advocate for the irreligious says there are at least 30 "closeted" members of Congress who don't believe in God, and that he hopes a California congressman's Thursday admission of disbelief will encourage others to come forward. The advocate, an advisory board member of the Secular Coalition for America, has for more than a decade plied private admissions of atheism from members of Congress with the promise of confidentiality, and said Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., is in good company. Huffman said in an interview published Thursday that “I suppose you could say I don’t believe in God,” though he's...

A national secular organization is in a frenetic push to ensure that the voices of atheists, agnostics and “freethinkers” are heard in statehouses across the country and in the presidential election in the fall. The Secular Coalition of America plans to have statewide chapters in virtually all 50 states by the end of 2012. “Recently, we’ve seen some of the most egregious bills commingling religion and government at the state level,” spokeswoman Lauren Youngblood said. “If we’re going to fight some of this stuff, we have to fight it at state capitols.” The D.C.-based group, which will outline its plans...