Would you vote for an atheist?

[Kacey]

Would you vote for an atheist?

As readily as anyone else.

Why or why not?

I vote for a complete person - better an atheist with a strong sense of morality and integrity, than a strongly religious person with a track record of subverting political office for religious ends.

Would it even matter to you?

No - see above.

See this thread. The only things that are really important are the candidate's ability and commitment to uphold the Oath of Office. His or her cult of choice is irrelevant except insofar as it impacts the willingness to faithfully perform those duties. Besides, as the Constitution itself says "no religious test will be used for any position of public trust".

That's what it says, certainly - but that is not how it's played out over the years. It is definitely time for a change - but as long as the majority believes that an atheist cannot attain such an office, they won't vote for one, thinking that it is a losing battle, and better their second choice should win, than whomever they are voting against.

One of the reasons I bring this up is that according to national polls, "Atheists" the least trusted group in America. In fact, it was Bush the Elder who said something like, there is no way an athiest can be a patriot or even truly American.

My opinion of Bush (either one) is unprintable, for this and other reasons.

That shouldn't matter at all.

It's like saying, would you vote for someone who believes in aliens?

That, in particular, has no impact on how they would run the government...

maybe their religous beliefs impact how they would vote on some things, say, abortion, and their stand on abortion might affect how I vote for them, but in itself, it is completely irrelevant and has no place in deciding who I vote for.

Well stated.

I think you make a very strong point. The only connection between church and state should be the state saying everybody should be allowed to believe what they want.

It should be... but all too frequently is not. I teach in a middle school, and used to offer to teach about various Jewish holidays as they occurred - but too many of my coworkers said no, out of concern for how it might look to have a Jewish teacher teaching about Judaism, even from a purely informational standpoint.

 

[Yari]

Yes, I would look at a person belief as a part of dicission(sp?) for a vote.
The belief would nesecary be a part of what the perosn would advocate.

But if they are buddihst or Jews or Atheist isn't the questoin, but how they are praticing it.

/Yari

 

[kaizasosei]

i can understand the last post. to judge the person on a whole.

however, in my experience atheism is not that positive nor is it very logical. i mean, everyone will end up believing something. we function because we believe or don't believe in things. is there a lion behind you at this time? are the stars there in the day time.
what else is there to fight about but the finer points of the truth. what would any two sane people want to fight about the truth.

it doesn't matter if i say that it is an orange and someone else says it is an apple, if you couldn't see for yourself, you would end up believing the one whos conviction is the greater or believe neither??. it's not only about which belief is correct, it is which belief is stronger or more true especially in the longrun and with connections to feedback from all sorts of social networks or societies.

the way i see it, atheism is just another senseless belief... and what is the nature of the average transient passerby of an atheist,,,i have yet to see someone lay down their life for atheism..maybe then i'd give it a bit more credit, not that i truly value such loss of blood for a concept..
many belief systems or the people thereof think they are superior to everyone else...ok fine by me! i'd be happy for them...but are they really?
in this world of sick belief i really can imagine many responsible or wise atheist. but i also think that the atheist are limiting themselves because they are in part denying themselves a couple of things also i don't think it is good to be to quick to define anything in an exclusive way...
atheism might be the strongest way for many people to deal with beliefsystems that are outofcontrol.. but stronger also does not always mean true. sad really, no matter whatever people do they end up their own enemy.

perhaps the concepts live on their own like chaotic waves in a stormy sea, but we still must ride those waves and not perish in the bottom ot the waters.
do atheists believe in the universe and nature? do atheists believe in the sun? do atheists believe in themselves?
if truly aware of such things, then we could start to exchange ideas about how we see the world around us.


j

 

[Yari]

Maybe you could clarify for me, what you mean by Athiest, and what you mean by belief?

For me an atheist is someone you believes that it isn't a god(s) that have created the world/univers. And they belive that there is an explinaiton for everthing, and that you don't have to guess why something is as it is.

For me belief is two things: 1) The religion word 2) Just to believe (understand/ agree/ to acknogle(sp?)).

So an atheiest can blieve in anything but doesn't justify by saying "BEcause god said so" ... But would say... "The movement of the planet do such and such, we are not sure why, but they are. But tomorrow we'll find out why, because we are using a new method of measuring".

/Yari

 

[kaizasosei]

yes..
i think that is very good.

i guess in this particular case,sorry to take it to that level..

atheist i mean when someone starts to present themselves as or start to preach or impose their beliefs on others either responsibly or irresponsibly

not only do we owe it to ourselves but also to the other people


j

 

[kaizasosei]

what do you mean 'god?

 

[Yari]

yes..
i think that is very good.

i guess in this particular case,sorry to take it to that level..

atheist i mean when someone starts to present themselves as or start to preach or impose their beliefs on others either responsibly or irresponsibly

not only do we owe it to ourselves but also to the other people


j

After I could se that our views on what an Athiest was, I looked at wikipedia for a definition: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athiest. Which says: Atheism, defined as a philosophical view, is the position that either affirms the nonexistence of gods[1] or rejects theism.[


I do agree on that it could feel like somebody would imposed there view if one disagrees. But that works both ways in an argument/disagrement.

/Yari

 

[kaizasosei]

ok

anyways i voted maybe...peoples beliefs are constantly changing.sometimes more sometimes less.

 

[CoryKS]

Depends. Atheists can be every bit as religious about it as non-atheists. Somebody who gets all pissy about, for example, the dollar bill having "In God We Trust" printed on it is too flaky to consider, IMO.

 

[Blotan Hunka]

Depends. Atheists can be every bit as religious about it as non-atheists. Somebody who gets all pissy about, for example, the dollar bill having "In God We Trust" printed on it is too flaky to consider, IMO.

Yes. Thats my thought too. I could vote for an Atheist, but not for a person who would be on a crusade to make everything American non-religious.

 

[Blotan Hunka]

And.

I believe that a candidate that made a big issue of his Atheism would be shooting himself in the foot. If it was a fact that was revealed by a political rival, perhaps his stand on the issues could overcome it, but if the candidate was all over the media slamming religion and exclaiming that "God is dead". Well that wouldnt go to well for him IMO.