# An atheist head of state? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 22, 2011, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-atheist-head-of-state/586416 "2011-06-22T12:42:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![IMfez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f07891/32.png) [@IMfez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IMfez)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-atheist-head-of-state/586416/1 "2011-06-22T12:42:37Z")
Not sure if I’m behind the times but I don’t believe there has ever been a _publicly declared_ atheist head of state in a G20 country. (if I’m wrong someone please correct me) - At what point do you think we’ll see one? - Will the US ever get one? ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-atheist-head-of-state/586416/2 "2011-06-22T12:52:31Z")
> [@](#): > > … Mexican general and politician. He was president of Mexico from 1924 to 1928, but he continued to be the de facto ruler from 1928–1935, a period known as the maximato. Calles is most noted for his fierce oppression of Catholics which led to the Cristero War, a civil war between Catholic rebels and government forces that erupted as a reaction against his anticlerical policies, and for founding the Partido Nacional Revolucionario (National Revolutionary Party, or PNR), which eventually became the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) – which governed Mexico for more than 70 years. There had been a long tradition of anti-clericalism in Mexican politicians, but he was more vocal & put his beliefs into law. More from [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutarco_El%C3%ADas_Calles): > [@](#): > > On June 14, 1926, President Calles enacted an anticlerical legislation known formally as The Law Reforming the Penal Code and unofficially as the Calles Law. His anti-Catholic actions included outlawing religious orders, depriving the Church of property rights and depriving the clergy of civil liberties, including their right to trial by jury (in cases involving anti-clerical laws) and the right to vote. Catholic antipathy towards Calles was enhanced because of his vocal atheism. He was also a Freemason. Regarding this period, recent President Vicente Fox stated, “After 1917, Mexico was led by anti-Catholic Freemasons who tried to evoke the anticlerical spirit of popular indigenous President Benito Juárez of the 1800s. But the military dictators of the 1920s were a lot more savage than Juárez.” > > Due to the strict enforcement of anti-clerical laws, people in strongly Catholic areas, especially the states of Jalisco, Zacatecas, Guanajuato, Colima and Michoacán, began to oppose him, and this opposition led to the Cristero War from 1926 to 1929, which was characterized by brutal atrocities by both sides. Some Cristeros applied terrorist tactics, while the Mexican government persecuted the clergy, killing suspected Cristeros and supporters and often retaliating against innocent individuals. On May 28, 1926, Calles was awarded a medal of merit from the head of Mexico’s Scottish rite of Freemasonry for his actions against the Catholics. This was & is a controversial era & I welcome any comments more in-depth than the summary I supplied… ---
**Author:** ![willthekittensurvive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@willthekittensurvive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/willthekittensurvive)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-atheist-head-of-state/586416/3 "2011-06-22T12:56:21Z")
what about the sovjet leaders? ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-atheist-head-of-state/586416/4 "2011-06-22T13:03:41Z")
> [@willthekittensurvive](#): > > what about the sovjet leaders? I don’t think the Soviet Union existed when the G20 was formed. However, Russia belongs to it – though its presidents have been Russian Orthodox for the last 20 years. Nevertheless, China also belongs, and its leaders have all been atheist at least since 1949. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-atheist-head-of-state/586416/5 "2011-06-22T14:09:59Z")
> [@IMfez](#): > > - Will the US ever get one? Maybe, but not in the foreseeable future. I recall a poll where they were literally the least likely group to get elected, after Muslims, gays, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-atheist-head-of-state/586416/6 "2011-06-22T14:20:01Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > China also belongs, and its leaders have all been atheist at least since 1949. I talked to some of the locals when I went to China in 09, and they seemed to think that being an atheist was almost a prerequisite for any elected office there, kind of the opposite of how it is in the US. Hu Jintao, the current president of China, is supposedly an atheist. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-atheist-head-of-state/586416/7 "2011-06-22T14:45:35Z")
Don’t know what the religion of previous UK PM’s have been but that in itself should tell you something. It isn’t really discussed. I do think that the deputy PM in the coalition is an atheist, as is the leader of the opposition but it is by far the least interesting and important thing about them. It’ll certainly never be a bar to assuming the position of PM. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-atheist-head-of-state/586416/8 "2011-06-22T14:58:47Z")
Helen Clark, the former PM of New Zealand? I seem to remember reading she was either an atheist or agnostic. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-atheist-head-of-state/586416/9 "2011-06-22T15:06:00Z")
The current PM of Australia is “not religious”, but prime ministers (in the U.K., N.Z. or Australia) are not heads of state, as asked in the OP. The current head of state of those countries is a practising member of the Church of England, as have all her predecessors, going back at least as far as Elizabeth I. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-atheist-head-of-state/586416/10 "2011-06-22T23:53:45Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > The current PM of Australia is “not religious”, but prime ministers (in the U.K., N.Z. or Australia) are not heads of state, as asked in the OP. The current head of state of those countries is a practising member of the Church of England, as have all her predecessors, going back at least as far as Elizabeth I. Really? I had the distinct impression that James II, the brother of Charles II, was Catholic. Apparently, wiki agrees with me: [James II of England - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_II_of_England). ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-atheist-head-of-state/586416/11 "2011-06-23T01:03:34Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Helen Clark, the former PM of New Zealand? I seem to remember reading she was either an atheist or agnostic. Also not a G20 country. (Per the OP). 🙂 But yes… atheist or agnostic (since people mean so different things by these terms I wouldn’t quibble over which). The current PM John Key attends church, but is agnostic, and has stated that he doesn’t beleive in any life after death. Being an atheist or agnostic is not an impediment in NZ to a political career – loudly proclaiming ones religion would be. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-atheist-head-of-state/586416/12 "2011-06-23T01:38:42Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > Hu Jintao, the current president of China, is supposedly an atheist. Yeah, all the major communist leaders are in China, though they may all be agnostic in private. Heck, you could probably believe in God if you just keep it quiet. There is no “atheist test” or anything. I assume Jiang Zemin also is, along with Deng Xiaoping and Mao. ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-atheist-head-of-state/586416/13 "2011-06-23T02:28:34Z")
Also not G20 (not sure why that matters, lol), but the former president of Poland was atheist in a country more Catholic than the Pope, who, as it were, was also Polish. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-atheist-head-of-state/586416/14 "2011-06-23T05:58:24Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > The current PM of Australia is “not religious”, but prime ministers (in the U.K., N.Z. or Australia) are not heads of state, as asked in the OP. The current head of state of those countries is a practising member of the Church of England, as have all her predecessors, going back at least as far as Elizabeth I. Right, but I’m rather suspecting the OP is not strictly differentiating between Head of State and Head of Government, since they are the same person in the USA. Julia Gillard is certainly an atheist, and Australia is in the G20 (indeed was instrumental in it supplanting the G7/G8 as an economic forum). ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-atheist-head-of-state/586416/15 "2011-06-23T08:16:55Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > Right, but I’m rather suspecting the OP is not strictly differentiating between Head of State and Head of Government, since they are the same person in the USA. Julia Gillard is certainly an atheist, and Australia is in the G20 (indeed was instrumental in it supplanting the G7/G8 as an economic forum). …and the position of Australian head-of-state for most functional purposes - the Governor-General - has been held by at least one avowed atheist - [Bill Hayden](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Hayden). Interestingly, we’ve also had two Jewish Governor-Generals; the wonderfully named [Isaac Isaacs](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Isaacs) in the mid 1930s and [Zelman Cowen](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zelman_Cowen) in the late 70s/early 80s. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-atheist-head-of-state/586416/16 "2011-06-23T09:03:37Z")
Yes, we have a red-headed, childless, living in sin, female, atheist head of government. If you were any less hip than us, your asses would fall off. We rock. Of course she didn’t actually win an election as such… ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-atheist-head-of-state/586416/17 "2011-06-23T10:11:55Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > There had been a long tradition of anti-clericalism in Mexican politicians, but he was more vocal & put his beliefs into law. Let’s not confuse Mexican anti-clericalism with atheism in general. (Even if Calles himself was an atheist.) Mexican anti-clericalism was really aimed at the Catholic church. For example, President Obregón supported Protestant missionaries in general and used state funds to support the Associación Cristiana de Jóvenes (YMCA) with state funds which infuriated the Catholic church. Interestingly enough, many felt that Obregón actually turned his back on the anti-clerical sentiments of Mexico’s constitution. Calles, of course, went all out and pretty much instigated a war with the Roman Catholic Church in Mexico. Source: _The Course of Mexican History_ 8th Edition by Meyer, Michael and others. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-atheist-head-of-state/586416/18 "2011-06-23T11:53:26Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Yes, we have a red-headed, childless, living in sin, female, atheist head of government. If you were any less hip than us, your asses would fall off. We rock. > > Of course she didn’t actually win an election as such… Well she sure didn’t _lose_ the election like Tony Abbott did. For which I would give great thanks to God if I wasn’t, like our glorious ranga leader, an atheist. Anyway, she’s PM, she won. And more importantly, Abbott lost! ---
**Author:** ![elninost0rm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ed655f/32.png) [@elninost0rm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elninost0rm)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-atheist-head-of-state/586416/19 "2011-06-23T11:55:17Z")
You’ll see a black muslim homosexual woman before you see an atheist HoS in the States. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2011, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-atheist-head-of-state/586416/20 "2011-06-23T12:27:17Z")
> [@antonio107](#): > > Also not G20 (not sure why that matters, lol), but the former president of Poland was atheist in a country more Catholic than the Pope, who, as it were, was also Polish. 😛 Which one? As far as I know the last few Presidents of Poland have been Catholic. Wikipedia claims that the current [head of state of Italy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgio_Napolitano) is Roman Catholic, but as he’s an elder Communist politician it’s kind of doubtful. Somebody on the talk page does claim he’s an atheist. Of course, head of state of Italy is largely a figurehead role. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-atheist-head-of-state/586416.md?page=2)