Nonbeliever Nation by David Niose

Nonbeliever Nation: The Rise of Secular Americans, David Niose.  New York: Palgrave Macmillan®, St. Martin's Press L.L.C., 2012.   e-book, 256 pps., incl extensive footnotes and an index.

Things have certainly changed politically in the United States since 1912 and even since the sixties, and not necessarily for the better.  I am astonished at the things that people believe and appalled at how often ignorance masquarades as divine deification.  Nonbeliever Nation opens with a piece of information that I did not know.  All of the candidates in that presidential race ascribed to darwinian evolution theory. 

In the present day, we have the takeover of the Republican Party by fundamentalist Christians and friends.  [I might have been a Republican by now if it weren't for that.  My good friend Jeremy Crow is a Republican (and yes, a Christian) and I've learned an awful lot from him].  Now we also have Democratic politicians who also have to do their part to campaign for Jesus, lest they be accused of being lawless unpatriotic atheists.  So all these politicians are talking about Jesus, faith, and something erroneously refered to as our common "Judeo-Christian heritage."  Meanwhile, a bunch of men want to make laws that basically put the life of a fetus ahead of the life of a woman-- regardless of whether or not that fetus was a result of incest or rape.  Institutions have "feelings."  And the atheists, agnostics, secularists, and the non-religious humanists have been discarded from American political discourse.

Nonbeliever Nation addresses these issues head-on.  David Niose provides numerous examples-- backed up by extensive footnotes and identification of sources-- illustrating a side of the culture wars that is frequently unheard from.  His writing is to the point.  His ideas are developed and follow a logical flow.  I liked this book.  A lot.

sapphoq reviews says: As David Niose maintains, the American "nones" can certainly take a page from the G.L.B.T.I.Q. movement in terms of the effectiveness of identity politics.  The personal is political.  It's about time we "nones," atheists, agnostics, non-theists, non-religious humanists, secularists resist the enforced march into the back rooms of libraries and bookstores.  We are growing.  If we want a more humane United States, then we need to take action. 
In case anyone who knows me or reads my blog doesn't know this:  I am patriotic. I love my country.  I am proud to be an American.  I am an atheist.  I am a non-theist.  I am a secular humanist.    I participate in the Atheist Rollcall on Twitter on Sundays from time to time.  And I am pissed off.
Nonbeliever Nation is highly recommended to all voting Americans, regardless of political party or religious viewpoints.