Essay: Bernie Sanders is a closet atheist

Bernie Sanders is reluctant to publicly call himself an atheist.

In many religious countries and even irreligious countries there is a stigma related to atheism and as a result many atheists are reluctant to: call themselves atheists and/or be outspoken atheists (see: Stigma of atheism and Views on atheists and Closet atheist).

Jon Green wrote about Bernie Sanders:

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Bernie Sanders is, as he’s suggested before, Jewish with an emphasis on the ish. His Jewish heritage has informed his morality and his politics, but he doesn’t claim to be observant in any officially religious sense. In an interview with the Washington Post published this morning, Sanders went a step further, making that point as clearly as he ever: “I am not actively involved with organized religion,” Sanders said in a recent interview. Sanders said he believes in God, though not necessarily in a traditional manner. “I think everyone believes in God in their own ways, “ he said. “To me, it means that all of us are connected, all of life is connected, and that we are all tied together.” As atheist blogger Hemant Mehta pointed out, that’s basically a really PC way of saying you’re an atheist. Sanders may have used the word “God” to describe his belief system, but it’s pretty clear that his version of God isn’t an old man in the sky. There’s no actual deity involved — no theism — just a generalized interconnectedness.

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The Religion News Service states: "Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders dashed the hopes of some atheists when he declared he had 'very strong religious and spiritual feelings' at a Democratic town hall."