Ray Comfort - Fat Chance - Why Pigs Will Fly Before America has an Atheist President

First printing: June 2016

Copyright 2016 by Ray Comfort. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles and reviews. For information write:

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ISBN: 978-0-89221-745-8

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Edited by Lynn Copeland

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Contents

Chapter One
Why Are There No Atheists in Congress?

A merican Atheists, Inc., the group founded by notorious activist Madalyn Murray OHair, boldly (and incorrectly) claims there are 35 million atheists in America. That number is highly exaggerated, as we will see; still, if there were e`ven a third of that figure, most atheists must wonder why there isnt one fellow nonbeliever serving on Capitol Hill today. Some would argue that there has been one avowed atheist: Rep. Pete Stark. But after admitting his atheism, his support began to tumble. He was able to defeat one Democratic challenger, then lost the next election to a Christian:

So far, only one sitting congressman, Pete Stark of California, has ever admitted to being an atheist while in office. First elected in 1972, Stark came out of the atheist closet back in 2007, but he lost his re-election bid in 2012 after serving in the U.S. House for 40 years.

In a HuffingtonPost article titled Here Are All the Atheists in Congress, another congressman was said to be an atheist, who came out after his retirement in 2013:

A few months after retiring, former Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) also announced his nonbeliever status, a declaration he made more than 25 years after coming out as the first openly gay member of Congress. That Frank felt more comfortable going public with his sexuality in 1987 than he did with his secular beliefs at any point during his House career says a lot about the stigma surrounding atheism in electoral politics.

However, in his memoir, published in 2015, Rep. Frank corrected that misunderstanding and refuted the atheist label:

Subsequently, after leaving office, I half-jokingly objected when Bill Maher, one of my favorite TV hosts, asked if I felt uncomfortable sitting next to a pot-smoking atheist on the set of his show. I replied that there were two of us on that stage who fit those categories. The media reached the conclusion that I had come out as an atheist. In fact, I am not an atheist. I dont know enough to have any firm view on the subject, and it has never seemed important to me. I have had a life-long aversion to wrestling with questions that I know I can never answer. My tolerance for intellectual uncertainty is very low.

But what about Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, a socialist and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate? Some atheists are hopeful that one of their own could end up in the White House even this year. Of the four most likely candidates at this point, outspoken evangelical Ted Cruz is a Southern Baptist, Donald Trump grew up Presbyterian, and Hillary Clinton identifies as a Methodist. But CelebAtheists.com has a listing for Sanders and asserts Bernie indicates he doesnt believe in God:

Larry Sanders sums up his brothers views this way: He is quite substantially not religious.... In October of 2015 Bernie Sanders was on Jimmy Kimmel live. Bernie didnt profess a theistic belief, indicated he didnt believe in god, and promoted the ideals [of] humanism.... Jimmy Kimmel says A moment ago you said God forbid, you say youre culturally Jewish, do you believe ingod? Bernie instantly says, No while Jimmy is mid-sentence. (emphasis in original)

The website lists him under Ambiguous. I find that listing a God-believer as Ambiguous on Celeb Atheists is like listing Hillary Clinton on Celeb Republicans. But more importantly, Sanders did not say No. According to The Washington Post:

When late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel asked Sanders in October whether he believes in God and if that matters to the American people, the senator seemed to avoid a direct response: I am what I am, he said. And what I believe in, and what my spirituality is about, is that were all in this together.

In an article titled Bernie Sanders disappoints some atheists with his very strong religious feelings, the writer stated,

Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders dashed the hopes of some atheists when he declared he had very strong religious and spiritual feelings at a Democratic town hall. Its a guiding principle in my life, absolutely, it is, Sanders said Wednesday (Feb. 3) when a New Hampshire voter asked him about his faith. Everybody practices religion in a different way. To me, I would not be here tonight, I would not be running for president of the United States, if I did not have very strong religious and spiritual feelings. The statement came a week after the Vermont senator told The Washington Post he is not active in any organized religion but believes in God.

This is consistent with what he said in a November 2015 interview with Rolling Stone. After noting that he had a Jewish upbringing but was not observant, he was asked directly, Do you believe in God? Sanders replied, Yeah, I do. I do.

Jack Jenkins, Senior Religion Reporter for Think Progress, acknowledges,

Outside of prominent roles in television or the music industry, being elected to national office is often one of the most visible steps a minority group can take to win acceptance in American society. Yet, for the millions of Americans who openly identify as atheist, the goal of political representation currently remains just out of reach: At present, no one in the 113th Congress identifies as an atheist.

The same remains true of the 114th Congress. Gary Scott Smith, writing in The WashingtonPost, agrees that Congress remains out of reach for nonbelievers: Being identified as an atheist in the United States today is still such a major political liability that a candidate holding this position probably could not gain a major partys nomination for president or even the Senate. Jack Jenkins offered his thoughts on why atheistic views arent likely to be heard in the halls of Congress:

The most practical reason for the lack of atheists in Congress is that, generally speaking, unbelief polls pretty terribly with the American people. A Pew Research survey conducted in May found that Americans consider atheism the least attractive trait for a candidate to possess, with voters more likely to back a candidate who smokes marijuana, has never held office, or has had an extramarital affair than a self-professed atheist.

In an article titled Americans are deeply religious, so will we ever see an atheist president? Gary Scott Smith elaborates on the difficulty of an atheist being elected:

In numerous surveys, at least half of Americans state that they would not vote for an atheist. While the numbers of those who declare that they would not vote for an atheist have declined in the new millennium, a 2014 Pew Research Center poll found that Americans are less likely to vote for an atheist than any other type of candidate....