To date, only one “out” atheist serves in Congress, Rep. Pete Stark, a California Democrat. “Relative to other religious minority groups, atheists tend to anchor the low end of the favorability scale,” said Robert P. Jones, CEO of Public Religion Research Institute, who ties it to the Cold War image of “godless communism.”

How viable is a political party with the word “atheist” in its name?

Troy Boyle, a corporate legal representative for a finance company, thinks very viable. Last March, he and a friend founded the National Atheist Party, which they believe to be the first American political party organized on the belief that God does not exist.

Boyle, 45, got the idea to start the party while watching an interview with Richard Dawkins, the British evolutionary biologist and author of several “New Atheist” manifestos, including the best-selling “The God Delusion.” In the interview, Dawkins wondered why atheists did not organize to influence politics.

“It struck me like a bolt of lightning when he said it,” Boyle recalled. From his home in Elsmere, Ky., he started researching atheists in politics. “And I found nothing. So I picked up the gauntlet. I decided to start a political party.”

First called the Freethought Party, its original Facebook page attracted only a couple hundred members. But when the name was changed to the National Atheist Party, supporters started streaming in, currently more than 8,200.

“It immediately began growing much quicker and with less argument and controversy among members,” Boyle said. “Everyone seemed to understand implicitly what the National Atheist Party would stand for.”

What it stands for, Boyle said, is no governmental favoring of religion—including no religion.

“We are convened with the idea that the Founding Fathers had it right,” Boyle said in an interview. “The separation of church and state, the establishment of the U.S. as a secular nation—those two concepts are our watchwords. We don’t want government to impose a religion, and we don’t want government to impose no religion. We want government to be silent with regards to religion.”

Boyle says the NAP has 7,500 members and a chapter in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The largest chapter is Florida, with 200 members, and the smallest is Alaska, with two.

Bridget Gaudette, a 33-year-old medical case manager, joined the Florida chapter after visiting NAP’s Facebook page. She now volunteers as NAP’s deputy vice president and focuses on outreach.

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