Nonbelivers, assemble!

A recent New York Times article by Samuel Freedman [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/18/us/18religion.html] describes how attempts to rally nonbelievers together for political influence have proved largely unsuccessful. Though recent years have shown a surge in popular atheist literature, nonbelief is not functioning as a focal point for identity politics. Lori Lipman Brown, director of the Secular Coalition, estimates that of the thirty million nonbelievers, only a few hundred thousand are actively involved in political action qua nonbelievers. Freedman speculates that reasons include the fact that open atheist support is not generally viewed as a boon by candidates, nonbelievers are difficult to organize, do not make their beliefs visible, and are are more policy-oriented than geared for mobilization.

The most intriguing facet for me is the statement that open atheist support for a candidate or initiative may be a flag for believers. Freedman writes, "As both presidential candidates ardently court religious voters, atheist support is considered so controversial that several Democrats writing on the atheist blog Petty Larseny quipped that the best way to hurt the Republicans was to form a group called Atheists for McCain." If this sentiment is widespread, politically-active atheists, who are already more likely to associate with interest groups not associated with religion, are intentionally avoiding atheist identity groups because advocacy might have iatrogenic effects. The religious-orientation model of voting implemented by Karl Rove in the 2004 elections and by both candidates in the 2008 elections calls for explicit appeals to Christian voters as such, but appeals to the 4-9% of voters who are self-identified as nontheistic [Cambridge Companion to Atheism] are done without reference to their identity as nonbelievers. With Barack Obama's specific mentioning of nonbelievers in his inauguration speech and intentional attempts to endear the faith-based initiative to nonbelievers (see his quote- "The goal of this office will not be to favor one religious group over another, or even religious groups over secular groups,") the nonbelieving bloc has been getting acknowledgment like never before. Especially as awareness of the connectedness between religious participation and political views has risen significantly since 2004, it's likely that nonbelievers will have a more substantial political presence as a group.