Free Republic

THE population of nonreligious Americans -- including atheists, agnostics and those who call themselves "nothing in particular" -- stands at an all-time high this election year. Americans who say religion is not important in their lives and who do not belong to a religious group, according to Pew Research Center, have risen in numbers from an estimated 21 million in 2008 to more than 36 million now. Despite the extraordinary swiftness and magnitude of this shift, our political campaigns are still conducted as if all potential voters were among the faithful. The presumption is that candidates have everything to gain...

If you believe any of the hogwash about the irrelevance of the religious right to this election, take a look at the numerous right-wing evangelical websites promoting the 40/40 Prayer Vigil, which began in September with a prayer for Christian voter registration and ends--you guessed it--just before election day, Nov. 2. The 40/40 stands for the forty days and forty nights that Jesus supposedly spent wandering in the desert before finally saying no to Satan's temptations. I'm sure that you won't have any trouble figuring out which political party the Southern Baptist Convention--America's largest religious denomination and one of the...

Faith and the American Voter: A Look Back By Susan Jacoby [The text is not on Internet yet. If you are over 55 you probably got this in the mail today. The article was your standard anti-Christian, separation of church and state, the founding fathers were all secularists, Christians=Taliban, rant. You can do a Google on this woman; she is a real Christian hating, crusading leftist and Bill Moyer's fellow traveler.] 4 months ago the other AARP publication ran a cover story on Danny Glover. They presented his hateful anti-American, anti-white, bigoted, moronic views, as if he was the wise...

One Nation, under Secularism? January 8, 2004 Everybody’s getting religion these days. By everybody, I mean of course all the presidential candidates, especially Democrats concerned with outreach to voters far from Vermont. Responding to this trend, Susan Jacoby, writing in the New York Times, notes regretfully that “secularism has become a dirty word.” In an essay titled “One Nation, under Secularism,” she argues that the Framers of the Constitution were driven by “secular convictions” when they wrote “the nation’s founding document.” She wants us to appreciate “the nation’s secular heritage.” She deplores “the misconception, promulgated by the Christian right, that...