Just today I read an article that states that approximately 12% of our nation now considers themselves atheist, agnostic, or without religion in their lives and the percentages naturally are higher among the liberals and progressives than any other political ideology. It's been my personal observation too that generally the more well educated you are the more likely it is that you'll renounce organized religion.
This seems to bring up the likelihood that, with as many candidates as there are running for president, many of them liberal and progressive, and most highly educated, that one or more of them might just fall into that 12% which means one thing - They're deceiving us.
Now if my conclusion is true, I find it completely understandable a candidate with those traits would not allow that aspect of their makeup to be public and would even pretend to be something he or she is not. After all, this nation has not exactly been kind to politicians that don't play the religious card and I could see the rationalization being formed that the good intentions of the candidacy outweigh the little white lie necessary.
I've often believed firmly that politics is not the only venue where this deception takes place. I really think there are fakers within the clergy as well. It makes perfect sense. One thing that often causes people to lose faith is delving deeply into real religious history, not just the cleansed versions most organized faiths put out. To me, the more I studied the historical evolution of mankind's faith, the more apparent it became that it was all just manipulations of man and not some divine master plan.
The path to becoming a minister or priest generally involves a great deal of research into the origins of the particular sect and, no matter how slanted the instruction might be, the actual history has to be used to put it all into context. It's my view that this is often a wakeup call to the students that reinforces their doubts about the message they've chosen to share. I would like to believe that the ones that decide to continue on with their ministry despite their crisis of faith do so because they believe the podium will give them the power to really help the lives of others. We saw a perfect example of this recently within the diaries of Mother Theresa.
While I can forgive the deception I'm also deeply angry that our society has forced it upon us. For the most part, the atheists and agnostics I've been privileged to know in life are rational, ethical, giving people and natural leaders. It really upsets me that this group of talented and intelligent individuals is largely excluded from the political process unless they lie about their beliefs.
Now this post is not about putting down others that have come to different conclusions about religion and philosophy than I have. I come from a long line of deeply religious people and I've had compelling religious experiences in my own life that were richly rewarding. I understand there's nothing inherently evil in faith or in people that can view the same history I have and come to a different philosophy.
It's instead about how we can evolve in our society to where the issue is no longer important, where candidate character is evaluated by their words and actions more than their location on Sunday morning.