If he is successful, Arizona’s James Woods will be the first person elected to United States Congress to openly campaign as an atheist.
The last admitted atheist in Congress, Rep. Pete Stark, D-California, served for decades before publicly sharing his atheism. Similarly Rep. Barney Frank, D-Massachusetts, opened up about his atheism last year””after he was no longer in office.
Woods, who is running for Congress in Arizona’s Congressional District 5, wants to be the first to successfully campaign as an atheist, as well as the first blind member of Congress in nearly 100 years.
I wouldn’t vote for an atheist because they can have no moral code higher than what they themselves believe to be moral. Granted, perhaps that is better than many politicians who are openly immoral, but at least an immoral person can be called to account. An amoral person is by definition not accountable to a higher authority or absolute truth.
Dittos 1. AooF. Additionally, I would not vote for a blind person as a legislator, as I think the quality of his interactions with elected officials might be impaired. Part of judging a man’s credibility is watching body language.
The article says he isn’t the only atheist politician in Arizona. Where do they find these people? Sedona? It will be interesting to see if there are enough folks in conservative Arizona who will elect a progressive liberal Democrat. Sadly — in a less literal sense — he wouldn’t be the only blind atheist in Congress.