Religion, race and gender are still front and center in this election, albeit the latter two have trumped most media coverage lately. But let's not forget that every single one of our presidential candidates have unabashedly pandered to Christian voters this election.

Amidst the uproar over the now infamous cherry-picked video clips of sermons given by Barack Obama's pastor, I'm not going to go after the easy target. This is because I don't hear the mainstream media outraged about the thousands of other pastors making hateful, racist, homophobic, or misogynistic remarks -- or illegal endorsements -- in churches across America every single week.

Some people (via the hysterical media) have found Rev. Jeremiah Wright's remarks offensive, others not so much. Either way what I find most offensive is that in one of the most diverse nations on earth, our leaders make it clear that protestantism is still the only option for our presidential candidates. Take for example Obama's denunciation of his beloved pastor's remarks on The Huffington Post. After saying he rejected Rev. Wright's inflammatory comments, he wrote:

"Reverend Wright preached the gospel of Jesus, a gospel on which I base my life," ... "And the sermons I heard him preach always related to our obligation to love God and one another, to work on behalf of the poor and to seek justice at every turn."

But Obama's not the only one who feels this is an appropriate public statement for the potential leader of the free world (an obligation to love God?!). In fact all of our candidates have done their best to cajole religious voters during this campaign.

John McCain unequivocally said the United States is a "Christian nation."

Hillary kissed up to a Catholic priest saying she'd try to "inject more faith into policy."

Barack told a church that he would let his Christian faith guide him while governing and build a "kingdom here on earth."

Sorry all you Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, Pagans, Mormons, atheists, agnostics and others: you're in the wrong place. Maybe you all can find a nice spot and establish your own nation. A place where one is free to practice any religion whatsoever -- or no religion at all -- without being discriminated against by lawmakers. A country governed without any particular religious ideology, a government for the people, by the people. Oh, wait, there is a place like that. What was it called again? Call me crazy, but when the founders penned "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…", I thought they meant it.

The candidates may want to take note that the number atheists and agnostics are on a steep rise in the US. CNN notes that "one in four adults ages 18 to 29 claim no affiliation with a religious institution." But while some are wondering why are we just beginning to notice this phenomenon, it has been a long time coming. A recent story in Minnesota's Star Tribune has some insight from an atheist organization leader planning a conference next week on why the godless have remained quiet for so long:

"Our movement is where the gay movement was 30 years ago," said Ellen Johnson, president of the national association, from her office in New Jersey. "We still have a lot of members who are in the closet in terms of making their stance public. People have been disowned for being atheists. And there are places where you can be fired for it; you can't prove it [was discrimination], but you know the cause.

"A lot of our members have discovered that to get along with their religious friends, it's best for them to just keep it to themselves."

Atheists face widespread misunderstanding and misconceptions, she said. And people tend to be nasty, saying things that would be considered slurs if they were directed toward other minority groups.

People like me and millions of others are indeed becoming brave enough to say we don't believe in certain things. I for one don't believe that ethics and morals come only from ancient writings or worshiping any number of available gods. That puts me in this absolute least popular group of Americans. This is even though I care just as much about my children as other Americans do, I pay my taxes, I work hard, I care about the poor and the disenfranchised, and I care about the direction of our country.

cross-posted on religiarchy.com