Call to atheists

As the media begin increasingly to focus on analyses of the US presidential candidate hopefuls, many people are now beginning to think about the consequences of the end of the Bush era. For researchers many potential changes loom — the new head of Britain's Medical Research Council, Leszek Borysiewicz, has already warned that the country's pre-eminent position in stem cell research is likely to be challenged by the lifting of the federal ban on research by the next US president. And the dominance of the Christian right under Bush has now been challenged by a new campaign to raise the voices of the US's estimated 25 million atheists. Britain's champion atheist, Richard Dawkins, is spearheading a campaign to challenge the dominance of religion in everyday life and in politics, insisting that the atheists deserve to be heard too. Atheists in the US " have been downtrodden for a very long time. So I think some sort of political organisation is what they need, " he says. Religion is noticeable in US schools, places of work and public institutions in a way that would seem inappropriate in countries like the UK. In Congress, where godlessness can equate with being unelectable, only one representative, Pete Stark, is prepared to admit to being a non-believer. According to a study published last year by the University of Minnesota, Americans distrust News focus Britain's most plangent critic of religion has set up a new campaign to support atheists, particularly in the US. Nigel Williams reports. atheists more than any other minority group, including homosexuals, recent immigrants or Muslims. Now Dawkins, the author of The God Delusion and chair of public understanding of science at Oxford University, has set up an organisation to help atheists round the world, particularly in the US. His organisation, established this summer, complete with T-shirts bearing a large red A, is the Out Campaign. His estimates, which square broadly with official data, show that atheists in the US account for about 10 per cent of the population. Dawkins appeared as one of the stars of the Atheist Alliance convention in Crystal City, Virginia, last month. He admitted that he was a little bit hesitant about being an Englishman talking to Americans and he showed " a certain amount of deference " Campaign trail: The Democrats and Republicans may be preparing for battle in next year's presidential election but Richard Dawkins is …