Iowa primaries.

[Khandro]

Does anyone give a toss?

[The Builder]

Reasons to be cheerful .............. Part 1 (from The Grauniad)

"The US is increasingly portrayed as a hotbed of religious fervour. Yet in the homeland of ostentatiously religious politicians such as Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry, agnostics and atheists are actually part of one of the fastest-growing demographics in the US: the godless. Far from being in thrall to its religious leaders, the US is in fact becoming a more secular country, some experts say. "It has never been better to be a free-thinker or an agnostic in America," says Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the FFRF.

The exact number of faithless is unclear. One study by the Pew Research Centre puts them at about 12% of the population, but another by the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture at Trinity College in Hartford puts that figure at around 20%.

Most experts agree that the number of secular Americans has probably doubled in the past three decades – growing especially fast among the young. It is thought to be the fastest-growing major "religious" demographic in the country."

I just love the "Pew Research Centre" ;o)

[Davethedog]

Quizmonster No prob and you did highlight the religious aspect as well, which I didn't and there are also a number of other human rights issues, abortion, stem cell etc

They appear to be going for the bible belt and hope they can get the rest, if one them win the US could be right up there with Iran for religious intolerance, not joking.

[Davethedog]

The Builder very interesting what they need now is someone with courage to say I am secular.

Thats the problem with Atheists you just can't organise free thinkers. :-)

[The Builder]

Dave ..............

"Where knowledge ends, religion begins." ............. Disraeli

[Khandro]

But Builder, I thought Disraeli was a jew? Anyway, I like that guy from Texas, when asked 'Do you believe in gay marriage?' he said, ' Sure, why not? - they have as much right to be miserable as everyone else'.

[jno]

Disraeli was born into a Jewish family but his father had quarrelled with it somehow and had him baptised as an Anglican

[Khandro]

jno, I can't verify the following (though I guess if accurate it must be in Hansard somewhere) I simply paste it in from a jewish website;
//So Disraeli was baptized, so what? When a member of Parliament attacked him by calling him a Jew, Disraeli replied: "Yes, sir, I am a Jew, and when the right honorable gentlemen's ancestors were savages on an unknown Island, mine were priests in the Temple of Solomon."//