This is great news. Hopefully his courage will make it easier for other atheists in government to come out.

Cue the "this is why california is falling apart in a sea of sin" yelling from the zealots.

Kudos to Stark for speaking the truth, at the risk of his own political popuarity.

And speaking of 18th Century beliefs (i.e. the freethinkers), how about this one: "I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".

Brian Flemming Blog extraction:

UPDATE (11:30 a.m. 3-12-07): Just got some more specifics. Our first godless congressman is...a member of a church! Stark is a Unitarian.

I got the details from our tireless godless lobbyist, Lori Lipman Brown at the Secular Coalition for America. Lori was surprised that the staffer at Stark's office wasn't aware of the press release, as the SCA coordinated with Stark's press team and they approved the release.

More details from Lori: In a questionnaire submitted by the SCA, Congressman Stark answered "Yes" to the statement "I am a nontheist," a term the questionnaire defined as "a humanist, atheist or other freethinker who does not believe in a supreme being or beings." Stark also answered "Yes" to a question asking if the SCA could publicize his answers.

However, Stark does not identify with the term "atheist."

Here's the rundown on the four politicians mentioned in the press release. In bold are the terms these politicians were willing to use to describe their religious beliefs:

--Terry S. Doran, School Board President, Berkeley, Calif.: "Atheist, humanist, Bright."

--Nancy Glista, School Committee Member, Franklin, Maine: "Atheist, humanist, freethinker."

--Michael Cerone, Town Meeting Member, Arlington, Mass.: "Atheist."

--Pete Stark, Congressperson, 13th District Calif.: "Unitarian."

The Unitarian Universalist Church accommodates both god-belief and godlessness.

Baby steps...

You can donate to Stark's re-election fund here.

You can donate to the SCA here.

Interesting. Thanks for posting that, Erick. For those (like myself) who don't frequent Brian Flemming's blog, Erick's excerpt seems to have come from here: http://www.slumdance.com/blogs/brian_flemming/archives/002530.html

I'll probably send this guy a campaign donation. Knowing their is a non-believer in office will send the Rethuglicans to bring out an insane fundy candidate and harass him for being an "immoral godless heathen" despite over 20 years of excellent public service.

I too am a non-believer.

Feel free to write me a check. ;)

Woa! Why is Brian Flemming being taken seriously? I think I'll make a documentary using bad arguments and marginalized scholarship, that way people will listen to me.

Woa! Why is Brian Flemming being taken seriously? I think I'll make a documentary using bad arguments and marginalized scholarship, that way people will listen to me.

An example, just one, or is this just a drive by attack.

By those standards, Norm, we now demand from you that you only post peer-reviewed scholarly journals! ;)