I wanted to follow up my recent post on the safety of atheists in the bible belt by raising the subject of atheists arming themselves because of concerns over safety. I've heard from more than a few atheists that they would carry a gun on their person at all times if they lived in the bible belt. And I've heard from a few living here in the bible belt who have said that this is exactly what they do. I'm not currently among them, but I'd be lying if I said I hadn't considered it quite seriously. In fact, I'm still not sure that this is not something I might end up doing in the future.

According to The Hill, Edwina Rogers of the Secular Coalition for America says that 28 of the 525 members of Congress do not believe in any sort of gods. Only one, Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) has been willing to say so publicly, but it is encouraging to know there may be others. It is also good to see the Secular Coalition for America and other secular groups getting some attention by The Hill.

Still, the best quote of the article went to Annie Laurie Gaylor of the Freedom From Religion Foundation for this gem:

There’s almost like a religious litmus test for public office, where candidates are forced to declare their piety and compete against each other for who invokes God and ‘God bless you’ the most.

Sad but true. One of these days, we'll get ourselves organized into a real voting block, and then this may change.

The entire article is worth a read.

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For the purposes of this post, I'd like you to imagine that you belong to a group with roughly 1,000 members. It can be a large atheist group, a political organization, or any other sort of interest group. The specifics don't matter. What does matter is that you really value the group. It has been an important part of your life for a few years, and you really enjoy your involvement. The group hold 2-3 meetings a year, and you attend whenever possible. You promote the group, encourage others to join, and hope to see it double in size over time.

If you find yourself thinking at this point that I am talking about a mega-church, I can see why. I could very easily be talking about a mega-church, but I'm not - at least not yet.