Ask any American whether they believe their vote matters to any particular elected official or person running for elected office, and many will say “no.” This is especially true of atheists who would like to have a say in conservative politics.
Now, there are strong progressive voices in the atheist community, no doubt. But there are also conservatives–and they deserve to be represented just as much as progressive atheists do. All atheists deserve much better and much more vocal recognition from our elected officials.
Unfortunately, many of our elected officials do not even know that atheist voters exist. Before you scoff–consider whether you or other atheists you know were aware of our movement before you began doubting your religious beliefs. How many times have we heard from atheists at meetings, conferences, and online that they thought they were the only one? If we are challenged to find each other when we are looking, imagine what fog of ignorance must exist for those public officials who don’t even know to look.
The religious right has done an outstanding job of making politicians pay attention to their issues and their leaders by getting their members and followers to get involved in elections and campaigns. Their work has greatly benefited the candidates they supported, and candidates took note and began catering to the religious right’s demands. After more than 30 years of marrying conservative public policy to Christian voters, it has become accepted that one must be religious to be a conservative. We are only seeing a few cracks in this symbiotic relationship with some conservative leaders and elected officials supporting marriage equality.
Using the religious right playbook, American Atheists teamed up with Iowa Atheists & Freethinkers to protest at the 4th Annual Family Leadership Summit in Ames on July 19; the summit featured 10 conservative leaders hoping to get the Republican presidential nomination. More than 35 protesters from Iowa and South Dakota stood in the blazing sun with a heat index over 100 degrees for hours to interact amicably with attendees. Protesters’ signs advocated separation of religion and government, reason over myth, and that Christian beliefs don’t represent all Americans. A few people argued, some stopped to talk, but everyone looked.
I had a ticket to attend the summit. I wanted to hear what the candidates were going to say to a conservative religious crowd. Would their regular stump messages change when they knew the crowd favored Christians? There were more than 2,000 people there and more than 200 news outlets covering the event. So wearing my bright red #AtheistVoter t-shirt, I went inside and visited the media information table and introduced myself and handed the worker my card. I explained I was at the event for American Atheists to report on the messaging of the candidates. I asked if I could be credentialed as media. The head of the press table agreed to do so. So adorned with a MEDIA pass, I entered the auditorium and found a seat in the orchestra pit–between NBC News and the New York Daily News.
The summit was a Q&A format where the interviewer, pundit Frank Luntz, asked the candidates questions and also took questions from the audience members, who queued at several microphones. Before it got started, the host of the event, Bob Vander Plaats had a pastor lead the audience in prayer. I watched as most of the media took pictures of the crowd praying. The pledge of allegiance was also recited. I did not stand and I never say it because of the insertion of “under God”, but it was perhaps best that I didn’t. I was seated in the center of the last of three rows of press and I would have blocked the shots of a dozen photogs.
Some of the candidates talked to the press after their Q&As with the audience. With my media pass, I was able to be part of these events. The first one I went to was for Donald Trump, who made some controversial remarks about Sen. John McCain and also about running as a 3rd party candidate. The press mobbed him but eventually I was able to get in a question.
Me: “Mr. Trump, by coming to a religious-based event like this are you telling atheists that you don’t want their votes?”
Trump: “I don’t know about atheists. They may not like me.”
I didn’t get the chance for a follow-up because his staff ended the presser soon after. But Mr. Trump’s answer seemed honest. I don’t think atheists as a voting bloc had ever occurred to him.
The second media event I went to was for Dr. Ben Carson, who seemed to be the most grounded of the candidates based on the research I had done. Only about 20 media attended his event versus the 50 or so people at Trump’s. But that allowed me more opportunity to get in my questions.
Me: “Dr. Carson, there is a sizeable African American atheist population. When you come to an event like this are you still seeking their votes?”
Carson: “African American atheists population?”
Me: “Yes, sir.”
Carson: “I would be seeking the votes of all Americans. I wouldn’t necessarily divide people up into segments or groups because so many of the things that affect us as a nation in terms of our survival don’t have anything to do with every little special group. Now it is our divisiveness, it is our lack of fiscal responsibility, and it is our failure to take a leadership position in the world–those are the things that are going to result in our destruction. And it will result in everyone’s destruction. And I guarantee you when the jihadists get over here, they’re not going to ask you whether you’re gay or straight, black or white, Republican or Democrat, before they cut you down.”
A couple of minutes later.
Me: “Dr. Carson, the conservative movement has become very religious. If you become our president, how would you convince atheists and religious minority Americans that you are their president too?”
Carson: “Because the things that we will talk about will be the things that affect all Americans. When we talk about liberty and justice for all, we’re not talking about liberty and justice for Christians, liberty and justice for atheists, liberty and justice for gays, liberty and justice for straights. And this is where we have gone off the rails most recently; we pick and choose who is the flavor of the day and how do we make things better for them. That is absolutely the wrong philosophy for a country that is based on equality for all groups.”
Someone then asked Dr. Carson about the recent video showing a senior Planned Parenthood doctor talking about fetal tissue retrieval. Dr. Carson said that as a pediatric neurosurgeon he spent his whole career saving lives and that he operated on babies still in the womb. He said the video would shake people up and shows the “level of depravity that has crept up into our society where we can sit there and sell and distribute the liver and the heart and the lungs. … “
Me: “Are you against fetal tissue medical research?”
Carson: “I do not believe there is a single thing that has been accomplished that could not be accomplished without fetal tissue.”
Me: “Including the polio vaccine?”
Carson: “Including the polio vaccine.”
(Room is dead silent for several seconds–which never happens.)
Another reporter: “How else could that have been done. I have a medical background.”
Carson: “Well, you can use other tissue forms and other cultures. It doesn’t have to be done that way.”
Me: “At the time the polio vaccine was created, there were alternative methods? So millions of people wouldn’t have suffered?”
Carson: “There are always alternative ways. Do I believe in vaccines? Absolutely. Have they saved a lot of lives? Absolutely. Are there ways to do it without killing babies? Yes, there are. And if there are ways to do without killing babies, I am all for it.”
Dr. Carson, who is anti-abortion added: “We need to talk about the relationship between a woman and that baby inside of her. She is protector of that baby–not the enemy of that baby.”
The final candidate I was able to talk to was former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, who was mingling with the crowd during the lunch break. I walked up to him, handed him my card, shook his hand, and introduced myself. He continued to pose for pictures and sign autographs as we talked. I told him that atheists were feeling left out of conservative politics. He raised his eyebrows and said, “What do you expect at this kind of event?” I said it’s not just this event, but I am here because it is free and it is a good way to hear how you all talk to your religious voters. He quibbled with me about whether I should be at this event or attend other conservative non-religious events (are there any?). Then said “Atheists have no reason to feel excluded.” And turned away from me.
I thought that was the end of my adventures with Mr. Santorum, but the next day I spotted him sitting behind me in the lounge at the airport. I snapped a photo. A few minutes later someone recognized Mr. Santorum and got a selfie and then asked for Mr. Santorum’s pitch about why he should vote for him. I could hear a few things they said–and none of them were about god or religion.
After we boarded the plane, the guy who had spoken to Mr. Santorum passed me in the aisle. I asked him if he had gotten good answers and whether he would vote for Mr. Santorum. The guy said “I think so.” and “No.”
Also on the plane sitting across the aisle from me was U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack. I got selfies with both the secretary and the senator. I was able to speak to Secretary Vilsack for several minutes after we deplaned. He asked me about American Atheists and the work we did. We bonded over being Iowans. Of note: Secretary Vilsack sat in coach; Mr. Santorum sat in first class.
My take-away from the Saturday event is that the conservative leaders I spoke with have never considered atheist voters as potential votes or in any way as a voting bloc.
That needs to change. With the nones and together with all the labels used to describe atheists, we make up more than 20% of the U.S. population. It is time this sleeping giant wakes up and demands that public officials listen. We have the numbers, we have the agenda–we need the people to stand up at every political event, rally, town hall, and summit and say “I’m an atheist. Do you want my vote?”
