Atheist Left
The atheist left is a term that is not used much (see Christian right) except by U.S. conservatives as a response to the usage of terms such as Christian Right by what they perceive as being the Liberal media.
The basis for the usage of such a term is that Communists, who are usually seen as far-left, are as a matter of doctrine atheists, and American leftist politicians, while perhaps neither atheistic nor communist, are stridently for separation of church and state and are thus believed to be promoting an atheistic society.
U.S. leftists, for example, do not mention God as much in their speeches, are less likely to oppose gay marriage or abortion, and are more likely to oppose prayer or posting the Ten Commandments in school or other public places (like a federal courthouse) than their counterparts on the right.
It should be noted that all atheists are not leftist (nor are all leftists atheists) and there is even an "atheist right"; for example, Ayn Rand, the founder of Objectivism and a progenitor of the neo-Classical Liberalism undergirding much of the economic philosophy of the American right today, was an atheist.
It should be noted that orthodox Communists are atheist as a matter of doctrine.
Notable members of the so-called atheist left
