What Would Happen If A President Said He* Didn't Believe In God?

There have been many, many things written about how people will use the fact that America has a non-white president to "prove" that racism is "over" in America, or no longer an issue, and how that's wrong as hell. When I heard these arguments almost every day, and shaking my head, I was later thinking about what other things we need represented at the forefront of politics. We still need:

1.A female president. (See, this is what the * is for.)
2.A transgendered president.
3.An openly  non-heterosexual president.
4.A president of all the other races we still have not had yet.
5.An atheist, agnostic, or nonreligious president. (Or even an openly non-Christian president.)

Most people I've mentioned this to agree with me on only one and four. Unfortunately, most people say either "No" or "Maybe...I'm not so sure" to two and three. But the one that gets outright opposition everywhere? Five.

When our history teacher was having a discussion about the "Obama is president - racism is GONE!" argument in class, I mentioned my little list to her. She asked the rest of the class "Ooh, yeah - could you imagine what would happen if our president said he didn't believe in God?"

The reaction from the class astounded me. I heard at least five people mutter "I would never vote for him", or some variation thereof. There was a general "*Hiss* Ooh, no..." reaction, but it was hard for me to tell if that was from people thinking they would react badly if the statement was made, or from their acknowledgement that most of the population would react badly.

The conflation of religion and goodness - the "good Christian" law, as I like to call it. We have a positive reaction to our black president, so long as he's Christian. (I don't have to mention the stupidity of the idiots insisting he was Muslim, right? Good.) The thing is? I think everyone knows exactly what would happen if a presidential candidate said "I don't believe in God" - they would have no chance whatsoever. Because, for too long, religion has been good, and nonreligion bad. I imagine the smear campaigns against the nonbelieving candidates would use the word "heathen" or "godless" like it's goin' outta style. Don't believe it? I have an upcoming post about a political campaign against a (religious) woman who *GASP* had the support of the majority of the atheists in the area that actually used the phrase "godless Americans".

Because being godless is such a bad thing...