Christian evangelicals in America have lost the cultural dominance they once enjoyed, but they’re still a formidable political force, especially in Republican primaries where their votes are eagerly courted. With the number of atheists steadily growing, it is conceivable that there could come a day when atheists gain clout. Then, politicians could end up flattering non-believers and competing for our support the way they currently do with church-goers.

Until a few years ago, the suggestion that politicians might actively court atheists’ support would have been ludicrous. Atheists were rare, isolated and widely despised. What’s more, even among ourselves, we had a reputation for being fractious and quarrelsome, impossible to organize.

But the landscape has shifted. In the last decade, the non-religious demographic has seen dramatic growth all across the country, to the point where they now outnumber every individual Christian denomination in America and are comparable to the number of white evangelicals as a whole.

Of course, even if atheists are more numerous, it doesn’t mean much if all we do is squabble and argue with each other. Unless we can organize and act in concert, we won’t be a political force. But here, too, non-theist groups are betting that that the picture is starting to change and that there can and will be an identifiable “atheist vote” in 2016 and beyond.

The Secular Coalition for America, an umbrella organization of 17 non-theist groups, has made it their mission to represent nonbelievers in the halls of power. They put out action alerts and voter guides, set up state chapters across the country and hold an annual Lobby Day during which non-believing Americans meet with their senators and representatives to talk about the issues that matter to them. So far, nine sitting members of Congress have attended, and the SCA only expects that number to grow.

In May, American Atheists, the venerable secular organization founded by the late Madalyn Murray O’Hair, announced that they’re opening a Washington, DC office and shifting their mission to emphasize “voter engagement, political action and legal advocacy”. According to the new national program director, Nick Fish:

Religiously unaffiliated people make up 20% of the nation’s electorate, but in the most recent election, they only made up 12% of those who voted. There’s a huge segment of voters who aren’t being engaged by anyone ... political parties aren’t reaching out to them. We’re trying to show politicians that they need to fight for our votes.

No matter how organized we get, there will never be an atheist pope decreeing how to vote, nor should there be. Most atheists are staunch individualists, and our deserved reputation for fierce debate and healthy disrespect for authority means we’re highly unlikely to succumb to group-think when it comes to politics. But as long as atheists remain diffuse and disorganized, we’ll be outmaneuvered and outmuscled by religious sects that do move in lockstep and can exert pressure on politicians with no one to counterbalance them.

If atheists are able to organize politically, we’ll find areas of broad agreement on which we can cooperate to advance causes that most of us value, even without a hierarchical authority handing out marching orders. The obvious “atheist issue” is defending the separation of church and state, from fighting creationism in public schools to Ten Commandments monuments on courthouse lawns and tax giveaways to churches. Likewise, almost all atheists are strong supporters of marriage equality and LGBT rights, since the opposition to those causes is mainly driven by religion. And while there are a few exceptions, atheists are by far the most pro-choice demographic in America and should be a bulwark against fundamentalist efforts to control everyone’s sex lives.

Especially as the non-religious community broadens and diversifies, there are other promising causes for us to take up. Atheists, who ought to understand better than anyone the vital importance of science and the necessity of a well-educated, scientifically literate population, should support investment in high-quality public education and research funding. The non-religious also tend to be more peaceful and less supportive of violence. Defending the separation of church and state is a fine and necessary goal – but I hope that one day we’ll also see atheist scholarships, atheist peace marches and atheists speaking out on the floor of Congress.