Obama and Non-Believers

Nine years after vice-presidential candidate, Joseph Lieberman, proclaimed that the Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, not freedom from religion, President Barack Obama, with no doubt deliberate forethought, stated in his inaugural address yesterday that in addition to Christians, Muslims, Jews and Hindus, the American mosaic is comprised of "non-believers."

It was more than a sociological observation. It was a definite statement of inclusion in the public square of those who do not hold to a faith in God, and an acknowledgment of them as fully enfranchised citizens and civic actors. Of course, this is something that we have always argued for, but for which there has been scant official acknowledgment. Indeed, those not holding to theistic confession have been marginalized in American life. Being validated by the highest authority in the land is a matter of great significance to this constituency.

In part, it is a product of the spate of atheism books, which at a minimum, have opened space for non-believers, and have engaged a widespread public debate. But there are other factors as well.

In "Dreams From My Father," Obama describes his mother as possessing the values of a "secular humanist." Her father had been a member of a Unitarian Church. This throw light on Obama's own religious identity. He recalls that as a community organizer on the Chicago's South Side he was encouraged to join a church, in part to give him legitimacy with the community on whose behalf he was working. Is this another case of pragmatism trumping ideology? Also, descriptions of his own Christian beliefs reveal a very liberal type of Christianity, where personal autonomy seem to supersede doctrine, even to the point of Obama claiming agnosticism about the afterlife.

Finally, perceptive politician that he is, Obama must be aware that non-believers comprise a significant and growing percentage of the voting public, to the point wherein their numbers cannot be ignored.

But whatever the case, we need be thankful that Obama has widened the circle of inclusion at a moment that could not have been more dramatic.