Atheist Politicians
Jeff the Baptist wrote a post responding to a post of Hube's about a survey indicating that a majority of Americans would not vote for an avowed atheist for President, the only group that gained a majority rejecting them. Like Jeff, I had to think about that one for a while. I was definitely uncomfortable with the idea but I couldn't quite put my finger on why. His post today, and a topic that was brought in our RCIA class tonight (the process those converting to Catholicism go through), crystallized it for me.
First, the discomfort comes from the simple fact that an atheist doesn't believe in God. If someone doesn't believe in God, what do they believe in? If there's no overarching moral law, then he's running for office just for power. If there is no external force in our lives and we're just a random collection of cells that happened to become a human person, rather than a dog, tree or a rock, who cares about other people? Why should I look out for my fellow man?
The answer can be found in the notion of natural law. Catholic teaching (and at least some Protestants as well, I believe) is that God has written on our hearts a natural law that gives us an innate sense of right and wrong, which can manifest itself in our conscience. (I'm not a natural law theologian by any means, so I may get some details wrong.) It's this natural law that leads those who deny God to still lead good lives that show they care about their fellow man. They may not believe in God, but due to following their, they are following the natural law He has written on their hearts. (Or as Jeff puts it, they "get it.")
So, I could vote for an avowed atheist who was following, even unknowingly, the precepts of natural law, which should be the basis of our civil laws in any event. A topic for another time is whether or not civil laws should extend beyond natural law.