I'm not sure why atheists would want to go to CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, but now, like the gays, they're not welcome.
The American Conservative Union, which organizes CPAC, announced on Tuesday that they would no longer allow American Atheists to sponsor a convention booth after previously granting them permission.
David Silverman, head of the atheist group, had told CNN Monday that he hoped to court “many closeted atheists in the ranks of conservatives” at the event. CPAC spokeswoman Meghan Snyder defended Silverman’s inclusion in the same article, on the basis that “conservatives have always stood for freedom of religion and freedom of expression.”
In case you weren't following the list of CPAC attendees - or rather those who are not welcome - they recently decided not to let GoProud be there either.
Allowing atheists but not gays was deemed hypocritical by both edges of the conservatives:
On the right, activists denounced the inclusion of atheists as an affront to the movement’s traditional emphasis on faith... Among more tolerant conservatives, a number of commentators complained that CPAC had allowed the American Atheists to open a booth while still banning GOProud, a gay Republican group, from doing the same.
It seems that the conservative tent continues to shrink. They're keeping it open however for Chris Christie (a Christian sounding name, at least), a presidential candidate wannabe whose hopes have already imploded.
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Tired of politics? Need to escape? Try one of my Greek-mythology based novels, either the story of Jocasta: The Mother-Wife of Oedipus or a trilogy about Niobe, or one of the first examples of civil disobedience, Antigone and Creon. Or, if you like mysteries and/or Jane Austen, treat yourself to The Highbury Murders: A Mystery Set in the Village of Jane Austen’s Emma very positively reviewed at the Daily Kos Monday Murder Mystery blog, or Academic Assassination.