The first clause of the 1st amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;” shows the importance to the Founders that religion, with all of it's irrationality, must be kept out of the functions of government. Yet, in reality, all governments in the U.S., at all levels, there is a de-facto Judeo/Christian test for all elected positions. Every candidate must profess their devotion to the Judeo/Christian God's early on in their campaign. If they do not they will be attacked by their political rivals. If a candidate professes to follow a religion other than Christianity, (with the exception of Judaism) that candidate will be attacked on it and ultimately lose. Thus there is only one Muslim elected to Congress and no atheist. On average, polling in America shows that a solid 14% are atheists or "non-religious" yet we have zero representation in government or in the courts. Since there is no way that an open atheist can get elected to any office, at any level, the President must nominate a professed atheist in order to force a national discussion through the Senate Confirmation process. There is little doubt that such a nomination would be rejected by the Senate on religious grounds either expressed or implied. The result will hopefully be one of exposing the de-facto Judeo/Christian test for government office and begin to usher in a new Age of Reason in American politics, an age that relies on fact and reason instead of mysticism and manipulation.
