Pete Stark steps up

Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) recently "came out of the closet," "outing himself" (There are many parallels between prejudices against atheists and homosexuals, something I've seen noted by Richard Dawkins, among others. Contrast the tone of that link to this one from a San Francisco paper.) as a non-theist. He's the first member of Congress ever to publicly make such a declaration.

Here's a nice celebration of this significant event by Sam Harris. The American Humanist Association took out an ad in the Washington Post to congratulate Stark.

And here's an insane response from the Christian Seniors Association, a group that says that "the liberals in Congress want to throttle any school child who bows his or her head in prayer" and that liberals are "bullies who are so determined to use the power of government to silence prayer and every other religious expression of free speech." It is completely appropriate that lamentation that there is an atheist Congressman is accompanied by such idiotic nonsense.

There's plenty more backwards stupidity (and I should note that when I mention "nonsense" and "stupidity" in this context I'm not referring to their religion, but to their arguments) from Christians:

"It is unfortunate in a society that is going down the path of godlessness and making right wrong and wrong right, that we continue down this path by celebrating one member of Congress who denies that God exists altogether," Concerned Women for America Director of Legislative Relations Mike Mears told Cybercast News Service.

"The founding fathers ... founded this country on godly principles," Mears said. "Fifty-one of the 56 signers [of the Declaration of Independence] had a Christian worldview and [Stark] wants to change that and celebrate - basically - godlessness."

Perhaps George Bush the elder will now suggest that Pete Stark should not be considered a citizen or a patriot.