{"id":205373,"date":"2018-03-09T09:15:14","date_gmt":"2018-03-09T14:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?p=205373"},"modified":"2018-03-09T09:15:14","modified_gmt":"2018-03-09T14:15:14","slug":"can-atheist-win-election-tennessee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2018\/03\/can-atheist-win-election-tennessee\/","title":{"rendered":"Can an atheist win an election in Tennessee?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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Via PXHere.com \/ Public Domain<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

It\u2019s an interesting question<\/a><\/strong>, and we\u2019ll know the answer soon:<\/p>\n

\n

Gayle Jordan, a Democrat running for state senate\u00a0in Trump country, will soon find out if an openly atheist candidate\u00a0can win public office in Tennessee.<\/p>\n

Jordan\u00a0does not believe in God.\u00a0It is a fact she\u00a0shares, but not a\u00a0focus of her campaign for the vacant District 14 seat that will be decided Tuesday in a\u00a0special election.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s incidental to who I am,\u201d Jordan said.<\/p>\n

But Shane Reeves, her Republican opponent, and state GOP leaders have made her lack of religious belief an issue in the Middle Tennessee race, which could have greater implications for how the November\u00a0midterm\u00a0elections unfold.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just feel like her views are radical,\u201d said Reeves, a Murfreesboro businessman and Christian. \u201cThey\u2019re out of touch with the district.\u201d<\/p>\n

The senate seat\u00a0opened in\u00a0November after\u00a0the\u00a0President Donald Trump\u00a0tapped formerRepublican Sen. Jim Tracy<\/a>\u00a0for a federal position.\u00a0Tracy resigned his seat, triggering the\u00a0special election for the district, which covers\u00a0Bedford, Lincoln, Marshall, Moore and eastern Rutherford counties.<\/p>\n

Campaign mailers, online ads and social media posts have targeted Jordan for her atheism and pointed out that she is the executive director of Recovering from Religion<\/a>, a nonprofit that supports those doubting their religious beliefs.<\/p>\n

Scott Golden, chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party, issued a statement calling her views \u201cextreme<\/a>\u201d and said Jordan\u00a0works to \u201clead people away from their faith.\u201d Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, posted on\u00a0Facebook and Twitter\u00a0that he has \u201cseen few candidates as dangerous\u201d as her.<\/p>\n

Jordan, an attorney who lives on a Rutherford County farm, said she is not on a mission to end religion, but does think people should be able to have healthy discussions about it when they have questions.<\/p>\n

Jordan said the residents in the district seem far more interested in hearing her stance on issues and sharing their concerns than talking\u00a0about her lack of belief.<\/p>\n

Her opponent\u00a0has found the opposite. Reeves said many of the people he has spoken with find it \u201cunbelievable\u201d that the Democratic candidate is an atheist.<\/p>\n

Reeves thinks people\u2019s\u00a0core values shape their worldview and impact the decisions they make as lawmakers.\u00a0He supports anti-abortion issues and the Second Amendment. Reeves also compares himself to Trump on his campaign website, saying he knows how to create jobs and defend state values.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a Christian and that is\u00a0going to serve as a filter,\u00a0serve as a moral compass and how I look at things, if I\u2019m fortunate to get elected,\u201d Reeves said.<\/p>\n

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Read more.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s an interesting question, and we\u2019ll know the answer soon: Gayle Jordan, a Democrat running for state senate\u00a0in Trump country, will soon find out if an openly atheist candidate\u00a0can win public office in Tennessee. Jordan\u00a0does not believe in God.\u00a0It is a fact she\u00a0shares, but not a\u00a0focus of her campaign for the vacant District 14 seat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":205376,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-205373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-atheists","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nCan an atheist win an election in Tennessee?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It's an interesting question, and we'll know the answer soon: Gayle Jordan, a Democrat running for state senate\u00a0in Trump country, will soon find out if an\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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