Okay, when do you think we will elect an Atheist president...

[WCGreen]

Not in my lifetime, I hate to say.

[BridgeTheGap]

1. When hell freezes over? n.t

[mmonk]

2. Anything is possible now. I really believe that.

The world I was born in was so different than now.

[Christa]

6. I agree

and atheist and a gay person could be elected - not soon, but it is possible that the right person could be gay or atheist.

[murray hill farm]

3. Also, I was wondering...

If we would ever elect a native american for pres.

[stray cat]

4. We probably already have

James Madison as one example

[Skinner]

10. Agreed. We probably already have.

A number of times.

When will we elect a president who admits to being an atheist? I think it will be a long time. Fifty years?

[Starry Messenger]

18. This atheist hopes it isn't that long. :)

I would like it to be within my lifespan so I can watch all the fundgelical heads explode over that one.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

13. By that measure, we've likely already had a gay president.

And I agree with that idea, in total, however I think an avowed one is more the question.

[Shiver]

14. James Buchanan

There have been rumours for some time, based upon his being a bachelor his entire life, as well as his reportedly very close friendship with William Rufus King, Alabama Senator and Vice-President under Franklin Pierce. His Wikipedia page provides a bit more information, if anyone is interested.

Nothing solid, of course, and if he was, definitely not out.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

15. There were rumors about Honest Abe too.

I'm quite certain we've had at least one. I'm highly dubious that a President could stay in the closet today even if he or she wanted to, however.

[Hugabear]

20. We just might, if Charlie Crist ever decides to run for President

Unless you're talking about an openly gay president, not one in the closet.

[prostock69]

22. I was going to say the same thing. He's just going through the motions

Hopefully, the 20 or so Congressmen/women who are closet atheists will come out. I think Obama likes the fellowship of church and the ceremonies, but when it comes right down to it, I truly don't think he believes in the bible, nor does he believe there is a supernatural being who is interfering with our world.

[TTUBatfan2008]

24. You have to take him at his word...

He believes in God. Many Christians, including myself, believe that God gave us free will. I do believe that He has an overall plan for us but free will causes that plan to get side-tracked. I don't believe literally in the Old Testament (such as 7 days being 24-hour days...more like millions of years for each day), and I believe the actions of Christ as described in the New Testament should guide us in how we treat gays, not some obscure passage in the Old Testament. Christ would not treat gays the way these homophobic Christians treat them today.

[PassingFair]

5. I think Jefferson would identify as atheist today.

Also, Lincoln and possibly Madison as well.

"Deist" was pretty much code for "I don't know".

[WCGreen]

7. Actually, they believed in a supreme being but that it was silly

to believe that this supreme being would be overly concerned with the goings on with people in this or any world...

[sampsonblk]

8. Not for a long time

One reason why we have a (partially) black president is that the GOP is in such awful condition.

But most Americans believe in God in some form or another.

For Americans to elect an atheist president, I think you'd need an atheist Obama. A very skilled and likeable candidate. And that candidate would have to satisfy that public that she/he had some alternate form of external moral guide. Otherwise, there is no way to even guess what we are voting for.

"A man bereft a moral compass could easily fall off the edge of th earth."

[UnrepentantUnitarian]

9. Oh, I suppose it could happen in a generation or two...

Religious "baseline" thinking is still well-entrenched in the USA, even though recent polls show that more people are "free-ranging" in matters of ultimate belief...thinking and questing for themselves, with or without the help of religious structures or institutions. If that were to really catch on and develop a sort of "critical mass" and an advocacy of its own, I'd say that would be reflected in national politics as well. Things are changing. More people are definitely changing their views toward religious dogma and church authoritarianism...and even more so in England and Europe it seems. I'm hopeful that President Obama's call for us to move beyond "worn-out dogma" and beyond partisan and tribal divisiveness to a higher "unity of spirit" will be reflected in a continued movement away from religious orthodoxy and a continued insistence upon "thinking for ourselves" even on matters of religion and conscience. I'm really hopeful of that.

[AndrewP]

11. Having an intense relationship with reality, I hope soon

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

12. I can say with no hesitation that it will likely be a Muslim first.

If for no other reason than growing demographics.

[bertman]

16. I'd say it'll happen right after Great Depression #3 (we're in #2) descends upon us

and all those religious freaks figure out that praying to their gods doesn't make one bit of difference.

In the immortal words of Led Zeppelin "cryin' won't help ya. Prayin won't do ya no good."

[dmallind]

17. NOt for at least 50 and more like 100 years

We are several generations behind Europe in outgrowing the need for overt religiosity to be considered a decent person.

There will be a gay president long before an atheist one - the Pew voter surveys have been consistent about which is the worse electoral albatross for decades and I can't imagine anything changing that.

[newportdadde]

19. Agnostic would probably come first but even that is a stretch.

I think we have more then likely already elected several agnostics they just didn't admit it. There are just so many people in this country that think you have to be religious to have good morals.

I had a friend one time who once told me I had amazing morals for not going to church. He was a Catholic and attended service regularly.. that is when he wasn't busy screwing a married woman.

Anyways... openly agnostic way before openly athiest and I'd say either one of those is at least 100 years away if not more or never.

[PVnRT]

21. Lincoln appeared to be at the least agnostic

Numerous times throughout his life, he expressed disbelief and skepticism about what was in the bible, and he even wrote a book on it that was never published at the urging of his friends.

[bigwillq]

23. We've allowed religion

to become too involved in our politics. A lot of what took place yesterday, and even today with this prayer breakfast, revolved around religion. It may very well take a long, long time to have an open atheist or even agnostic become president unless we change procedure.

[prostock69]

25. In order for this to happen, the secular people in this country need to

start banding together and start making our voices heard. We need to be seen as mainstream. We are never mentioned on t.v. The evil stigma that the Christians have successfully labeled us with needs to be shown as untrue. We can't keep hiding out of fear of persecution.

For those interested, there is a new site (1 year old) called Atheist Nexus that is a Community For Atheists, Agnostics, Brights, Freethinkers, Humanists & Skeptics. No believers are allowed. It's very similar to Facebook without the restrictions of not being able to view someones profile before being added as a friend. It's a great place to meet new people, share ideas, get tips on parenting, etc.

[Uzybone]

26. When one gets enough supporters who are just attracted to him/her

by his or her atheism. With a black man as president I really believe anything is possible in that regard. The right candidate just has to come along. Until then it will not happen.