‘Godless’ ad drove support to Elizabeth Dole’s opponent

It’s no surprise to Steve Lowe that being an atheist is considered taboo.

But when Lowe saw Sen. Elizabeth Dole’s “godless” campaign ad, he did something he’d done only once before – he sent money to a political candidate.

Turns out, Dole’s opponent Kay Hagan got 3,600 contributions within 48 hours of Dole airing of the controversial ad, which centered on Hagan’s attendance at a fundraiser at the Boston home of someone active in the atheist community…

“I told Hagan’s campaign, ’This is the reason you’re getting money from me. I want you to know this is not hurting you, this has helped you,’” said Lowe, a board member of the Washington Area Secular Humanists who gave $50 to Hagan and phoned Dole, R-N.C., several times to complain.

The 3,600 donations came from a cross-section of society.

“We got responses from people who identify themselves as atheists and every religion under the sun who found that ad offensive,” said Hagan spokeswoman Colleen Flanagan, who said the campaign hadn’t yet calculated the dollar figure raised as a result and couldn’t provide an estimate…

I’m a Libertarian myself.

Apparently 3% of voters did. Many European countries have serious Green parties. Canada’s green party got 6.8% of the vote last election (but didn’t win any federal seats due to Canada’s particular election system), and the Green leader was allowed in the Federal leader’s debate.

My point is, that some people do care, and maybe it would be good to care. Not that I actually voted for the Greens this last Canadian election, but can we at least try not to encourage ignorance? People seem to do well enough in that area all on their own.