{"id":880,"date":"2016-02-09T21:38:16","date_gmt":"2016-02-09T21:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/?p=880"},"modified":"2016-02-09T21:38:16","modified_gmt":"2016-02-09T21:38:16","slug":"atheist-voters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/2016\/02\/09\/atheist-voters\/","title":{"rendered":"#AtheistVoter: Representing the “Nones” in 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>
Photo by Jennifer Boyer, Flickr CC.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A recent study<\/a> by the Pew Research Center<\/a> suggests that \u201cNones\u201d—people who are unaffiliated with any organized religious institution or belief system—now make up the single largest religious group in the Democratic party. Organizations like the American Atheists<\/a> launched the #AtheistVoter<\/a> campaign, and members of this growing voting bloc assembled at the recent Republican presidential debate<\/a> in Iowa, questioning the candidates\u2019 ability to represent non-religious Americans and demanding they \u201cKeep Your Theocracy out of Our Democracy.\u201d Sociologists of non-religion detail how the Nones are increasingly diverse, and their social and political agendas sometimes conflict.<\/p>\n

The history of non-religious and atheist politics in the U.S. is one of constant tension. The non-religious take varying stances on the role of religion in social and political life, and the movement has had to balance \u201caccommodationist\u201d approaches to religion in the public sphere that support religion as a social good and \u201cconfrontational\u201d approaches that position religion as a danger to democracy and progress.<\/h5>\n