In 2006, the Secular Coalition of America offered a $1,000 prize to anyone who identified the highest-ranking non-theist public official in the country. Almost 60 members of Congress were nominated, out of which 22 confided that they didn’ t believe in a Supreme Being, but they wanted their disbelief kept secret. Only Pete Stark admitted that he was a nonbeliever, and in 2007, he became the first member of Congress ever to identify himself publicly as a nonbeliever. In the week following that announcement, he received over 5,000 emails from around the globe, almost all congratulating him for his courage. “Like our nation’ s founders,” he stated, “I strongly support the separation of church and state. | look forward to working with the Secular Coalition to stop the promotion of narrow religious beliefs in science, marriage contracts, the military and the provision of social services.” In 2008, he was elected to his 19th term with 76.5% of the votes. In the 2008 primaries, three presidential wannabes raised their hands during a Republican “debate” to signify that they didn’ t believe in evolution, although one of them, Mike Huckabee, admitted, “I don’ t know if the world was created in six days. | wasn’ t there.” He has also said that, “If there was ever an occasion for someone to have argued HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_015076