Running on Empty

Running on Empty

By Bill Britton

I am one of the 4 percent or so who are atheist. As such, I can look at those in public office with, I hope, a more objective eye than one who looks through the filter of religiosity. What I see, in general, are representatives and senators who wear their religion on their sleeves as if belief makes them more qualified to hold public office. I keep my atheism to myself, unless someone asks me about my church or my faith, in which case I answer, “Atheist,” and leave it at that, although I am amused by the various degrees of shock registered on the face of the questioner. I never proselytize, unlike certain fundamentalist types. I believe that religion, or its lack, is a private affair and should be so for members of Congress, who, in effect, proselytize with each faith-based declaration. This country’s founders ran from state religions; now it is running toward them. How sad.