Kyrsten Sinema, a nontheist was elected by a narrow margin in to the House in Arizona. Believe it: Atheists win in a landslide

Election Night proved fruitful for more than just Democrats; atheists are walking taller, too.

An email from the Secular Coalition of America notes some of their highlights from Tuesday, calling it “a big day for the country and for secularists in general.”(This, despite the fact that the only open nontheist in Congress, Pete Stark, lost.)


Among them:

•“Kyrsten Sinema, a nontheist was elected by a narrow margin in to the House in Arizona.”

•“Additionally, Tammy Baldwin was elected to the Senate in Wisconsin, she is the first openly gay Senator and does not list a religious affiliation.”

•“The defeat of Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) and Senate candidate Richard Mourdock (R-IN), candidates who used their faith to justify their positions, helps illustrate the uneasiness many voters have with policies that are not based on reason. Recent polls from Catholics for Choice and the Public Religion Research Institute also bear out this trend.”

The group says that the majority of nonbelievers voted for Obama by 70 percent to 26 percent and that “Obama won more than half of those who seldom or never attend religious services, and a full 70 percent of the religiously unaffiliated, according to CNN’s exit polls.”

The group also says “The Senate also has a couple of new faces that we look forward to working with,” including Tim Kaine who, “while being a devout Catholic, is a strong proponent of church-state separation.”