lofhay

Sure. Atheists and non-believers are often discriminated against because of their non-belief. Several states in the US have clauses in their constitutions which prohibit "atheists" from running for political office. South Carolina is one of those states. In the last few days the news has had a story about a would-be councilman in Spartanburg, SC who was refused permission to run for office because he is an atheist. He has brought suit, but this will take months, if not years, to resolve, and the state pays to defend its position with taxpayer dollars.

Any resolution of this kind of discrimination must begin with some kind of dialogue between the different factions, but I am not optimistic that this can be done constructively; yet it is worth a try. I know, and the state knows, that the federal constitution prohibits any religious tests for public office, but the state statutes remain anyway because state legislators refuse to take the risk of supporting a constitutional amendment which they know would not be popular.

For more info on this, see Prof. Herb Silverman's article "Atheists in office: Deja vu all over again" in The Washington Post yesterday.