Are atheist supporters a liability to a political campaign in the US?

I think we can be, but I don't think the answer is to shut up about our atheism. Rove-types can gleefully exploit our atheism as a sign of our candidate's untrustworthiness, un-Americanness, foreignness, etc. So what is the solution, other than continuing to push for the normalization of unbelief in general, which given epidemic ignorance in the US, could take a very, very, very long while?

If people knew just how many atheists and non-believers were in their lives, they wouldn't be so quick to judge all of us. It's not so much about normalization as simply refusing to be demonized. We are nearly 10% of the population, it's time we started being ourselves.

What would be the chances of an atheist presidential candidate? I think worse than a gay candidate, a black female or someone on a wheel chair. We already know it is much less than a brainless asshole.

It's like something my father -- who was a believer -- used to say. He said there were certain people like cab drivers and surgeons, people who held your life in their hands, that he could make a case for almost preferring they be agnostic or atheist. After all, he thought maybe they'd be that much more motivated to save your life because they didn't believe you were going to some 'eternal reward' if something went wrong, so maybe saving you would be that much more important.

Those who believe in an afterlife don't seem able or willing to understand that those of us who believe that this is the only life anybody is going to get can be convinced (if we don't already believe it) to work toward making the world we're in as good as it can be, instead of making it a fetid garbage dump because we're 'gwine up to hebbin' in the next life, and it doesn't matter if we leave the earth a steaming pile of dreck.

They just think because we don't believe we're going to burn in eternal hell that we don't care about anything.

I'm sure there are some genuinely nihilistic atheists and agnostics, don't get me wrong ... it just seems the shape of believing in an afterlife would be a very much greater temptation to take a nihilistic view of the planet we live on than not having any belief in one.

My 2¢.

I saw the "Godless Americans PAC" launch teleconference earlier this year. Check out www.godlessamericans.org

I'm on their e-mail list, anyway. ;)

The solution is to not let them dictate the assumptions of the debate.

Why should atheism mean someone is untrustworthy and unAmerican? We all know that's a bunch of bull so when someone says "this person is an atheist therefore they are unpatriotic" for example. You say something like, "A foundation of American values is religous freedom, this person is excersising this right in a highly responsible manner but deeply searching his concious and belifes."

Something like that. We have to get better at taking control of the debate, as long as we let the otherside set the rules they will always rig it so they win. I mean look at what they just did for Delay?

You can also question the assumption about an ateist supposed lack of morals. Be prepared with facts like well known atheists who were couragous or generous, etc...