Congressional Candidate Distances Himself From ‘Atheist’ Label

His words show just how loaded the term still is today in politics.



THE WASHINGTON POST VIA GETTY IMAGES
Jamie Raskin is a “humanist,” but he says that doesn’t necessarily mean he doesn’t believe in God.

05/04/2016 06:18 pm ET | Updated 15 minutes ago
Nick Wing

There are more than 500 members of Congress, and not a single one has publicly stated that he or she doesn’t believe in God. Not subscribing to traditional religious beliefs remains such a third rail in American politics that a candidate has never before entered Congress as an avowed atheist.

Last week, nonbelievers saw a potential secular savior in Maryland state Sen. Jamie Raskin (D), who won a heated primary and cleared a path to Congress in his deeply blue district. Raskin is a member of the American Humanist Association (AHA) — a nonprofit that promotes the philosophy that people can be good without a God — and was supported by the group’s Freethought Equality Fund political action committee.

In a recent interview with the Washington Post, however, Raskin appeared to distance himself from the atheist label.

From the Post: