I think the difference between countries can be boiled down to one speech-finishing line: "God Bless -----"
In the United States, this is absolutely, positively, one million percent compulsory for politicians to say.
In Canada, it is in no way compulsory; it makes the news for rubbing people the wrong way.
For the record, I don't think a "shout from the rooftops" atheist could be elected here. Then again, I don't think a "shout from the rooftops" Christian could either (to high office, anyway).
Your run of the mill average non-believer though? Of course they could be elected. Nobody asks questions or cares about a politician's religion in this country unless it's shoved in their faces.
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"For thousands of years humans were oppressed - as some of us still are - by the notion that the universe is a marionette whose strings are pulled by a god or gods, unseen and inscrutable." - Carl Sagan
Freedom consonant with responsibility.
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