Great America Elected A Black Man - But Will They Elect An Atheist?

People are seeing Obamas election as a great breakthrough, however i think it's a small one. He was very likely to get in due to every single minority voting for him. That isn't to say it's a bad thing, he's an intelligent man and i hope he will do far better than Bush, although that isn't much of a challenge

Anyway the point is that electing an atheist is an even bigger hurdle, even bigger than electing a woman even. If you want to run for office it seems you have to bow your head, pray to god and at least pretend you're a good christian.

What are the thoughts of our American cousins on this one? After all the founding fathers went on about separating church and state quite a lot. Your money says "in god we trust" but your country was not set upon that value.

The only thing that would really scare me out of wanting to vote for an athiest would be the possibility of what I might refer to as "dark agenda". Religion is sometimes looked at by athiests as something that was instituted due to the real need for morals, regardless if there was a god or not. Maybe this is just a fear of mine and not really legit, but let's just pretend that we had an athiest wrestler, formerly from W.W.F. as president. And you probably know by now how easily the american public can be influenced. Now what would society become like under an "athiest " pres.? The way the big guy talks is often dictated into the minds of the peoples. People dont bring things into subjection like they did generations ago. They are a little more coercible. Now imagine if we had a satanist for a president.
American Idle!!!
Fullfillment of the prophesies!

reply to post by defendant


Nope sorry you lost me. I'm an atheist and i'm very moral, i don't steal, cheat, hurt others without direct physical provocation, i am generally friendly and decent to people. All that without having any belief in god or a religion.

An atheist president would not be able to abolish religion as it would be against the constitution. They would i'm sure keep it out of schools, but again that is seperation of church and state and so should be fine. There are always private religious schools for people who want them.

An atheist would be no different from a religious president. The only difference would be science getting more public funding and things like stem cell research not being blocked. Maybe gay marriage also being allowed.

Oh let me add" I am a God beleiving fellow. And I claim that the bible was inspired by God through the holy spirit, and interpreted be man and printed by man in his and her language. In a nation that was founded on freedom of religion in God, I also am fine with accepting sincere jews and muslims and harikrishnaites as well as sincere christians. I am a bit vigilant when it comes to my opposition to racism, from any color ,creed or race, racism brings about infereiorty of character and sub-human functionality, yes that applies to any race in the universe.
As a WHITE CHRISTIAN MALE I am proud to elect our first black president or our nation. This helps to prove the greatness of our country. After decades of oppression to the blacks (even though our generation didnt cause it) IT IS WELL ABOUT TIME THAT WE HAVE A BLACK PRESIDENT!!! AND I AM PROUD TO SEE IT HAPPEN!!!

reply to post by ImaginaryReality1984


I wish more athiests were like you!

What is fronted to the public is just that, a front, a showboat, an act, and if it requires the actor to take on the role of "Good little Christian soldier boy who goes to church every Sunday"..then the actor will play the role to achieve the goal.

Once the goal is achieved...shortly after that is when all the sheeple see exactly the kind of herder they put in to lead them to the slaughter house.



Cheers!!!!

reply to post by defendant


This thread isn't about whether it's great you have a black president, i think it's a great barrier broken but i think an atheist president in modern times is a far greater taboo. Look at the fuss caused about Obamas' religion and you will see what i mean.

Originally posted by defendant
reply to post by ImaginaryReality1984

 

I wish more athiests were like you!

I think you'll find most are decent human beings and i cannot understand why you think they are not.

Barack Obama is not exactly a "black" man, he had a white mother, which would actually make him more white than black if u ask me.

So America has elected it's first "mixed" race man...

[edit on 18-1-2009 by Gears Of War]

reply to post by Gears Of War


*sighs* hey i'm just going on what the press call him, maybe african-american is more apt.

However once again this thread isn't about Obamas election, it is whether after this barrier being broken another one could be. It is about atheists being so completely despised in the USA and so an atheist being president is a far greater barrier.

I suppose it's about one intolerance being shifted to another group. Atheists can be hated by everyone afterall, black, white, asian etc.

See i wish i was an Atheist, but it's all too bleek for me. I preach the gospel of I don't Know. And thats the only answer i can come up with that makes sense. If there is a divine power that controls everything then he's made himself quite hard to get a hold of. No press conferences apparently.

But thats another thread.

On electing an Atheist president, why would it matter? If were suppose to have the seperation of church and state, then religion shouln't be an issue when running for office. It's not a belief in god, or rather a lack of belief that would make that persons judgements any different.

Truly i would rather there be an Atheist, that way atleast i know he's an anylitical, objective thinker. He would have had to put thought into that belief to make it work, alot more than christians usually do. (no offense, but yall do follow orders quite well)

Being Canadian as well i see the problems that plague this great continent and when i look at Obama, i don't see black or white, Christian or Atheist, i see a man, a man that told us he could fix some things. He never said god was gonna help him, he never said God told him he wanted America to be free. The closest thing i've seen to him talking about god was he says God Bless America, which really is the slogan, and i have no quams with it.

And the only people who would put up a fuss over this would be Christians, cause American muslims don't care, Bhudists don't care, peagans don't care. Nobody cares about anybodies religion in the states but Christians.

I don't want to offend anybody with what i have said, it is simply an observation from 30+ years of watching the world slowly turn to crap and our fellow man turn against each other for silly reasons.

Anyway thats MO.

A Gallup poll was done a year or so ago in which respondents were asked if they would vote for a individual bearing any number of controversial descriptions. These included homosexual, black, Mormon, Catholic, etc. Atheism was voted the least desirable quality, and the majority of respondents said that it would be a definite deal-breaker for them. Such is American culture.



[edit on 18/1/09 by paperplanes]

Originally posted by paperplanes
A Gallup poll was done a year or so ago in which respondents were asked if they would vote for a individual bearing any number of controversial descriptions. These included homosexual, black, Mormon, Catholic, etc. Atheism was voted the least desirable quality, and the majority of respondents said that it would be a definite deal-breaker for them. Such is American culture.
[edit on 18/1/09 by paperplanes]

I would be very grateful if you can find that poll because it illustrates my point very nicely and i was completely unaware of it.

The important point here is that if the USA is based upon the seperation of church and state then have the people themselves betrayed theis principle?

Originally posted by tothetenthpower
i see a man, a man that told us he could fix some things. He never said god was gonna help him, he never said God told him he wanted America to be free. The closest thing i've seen to him talking about god was he says God Bless America, which really is the slogan, and i have no quams with it.

Yeah, I've noticed that, Obama does not bring up god that much, which is why I wonder if he is agnostic, atheist or just doesn't take religion seriously.
At least he isn't blinded by religion it seems, and it is very refreshing to see that in an American president.

Of course he has to go through the motions, like swearing on the bible, making appearances in church, fake prayers at certain events, but at least this time I am not seeing all those crazy evangelical services spreading political BS, the cringe factor there is really diminished, almost like Americans actually learned something about the power of religion to influence politics, how many christians voted for Bush, because he was one of them?

Did they feel fished in, played for suckers? Is that why the religious retoric stayed on a low burn this time?

PS,
'But Will They Elect An Atheist? '

It's that line in the title that caught my interest, because I wondered if Obama is a secret atheist.
Is he a closet atheist?
Will he come out?

[edit on 18-1-2009 by Toadmund]

reply to post by tothetenthpower

Nope, you havent offended me a single bit. This is probably many posts away by now. It is quite true, a lot of christians are overly obsessed about whether the president is exactly of the same denomination or religion as theirs. Narrowed faith, watered down faith? I too, hope I dont offend anybody. Decondoning a good presidential candidate over one small iota (for example stem cell research or gay marrage) when the main agenda of that candidate would be so very benaficial to our nation and us people, is not too smart. I dont consider a gay relationship a "holy matrimony" and I dont want to change the military's "Dont ask dont tell" policy but I will not just throw Obama out over those few small items that many christians consider such an evil thing. I am a christian. If Barack Obama is a muslim, I aint losin any sleep over it!! For crying out loud, muslims beleive in God just like christians and jews do. Yes, I hate to have to say it, but just as many athiests do, I find a lot of christians to be real stiff necked and superficial and even arrogant and Godless at times. It aint the religion, it's what's in the person's heart and how he or she goes about things and God and the world.

reply to post by Toadmund

All this religious stageplay from the presidential candidates is EXACTLY THAT, stage play. They look like freakin goody two shoes goin to church every Sunday morning taking up pew space that an actual God following indavidual could have otherwise occupied. The role is to butter up the american christian community toward them. Anybody heard of the ivy league organization "Skull and bone"? Sounds quite satanic to me. Just becuase a guy CLAIMS to be a christian or some other God follower doesn't mean that that guy is not full of s***. Some christians in the U.S. and abroad have even stated the beleif of possibility that George W. Bush was the FALSE PROPHET as written in the bible. A lot of this so-called religious christian based stuff you hear over the national media in Washington really is Godless and a bunch of binarky. Good day.

Originally posted by ImaginaryReality1984
I would be very grateful if you can find that poll because it illustrates my point very nicely and i was completely unaware of it.

I'd be happy to! It was a USA Today/Gallup Poll. For those outside of the United States who don't know, USA Today is a leading national newspaper. Gallup is a statistical researching organization that often releases national polls. Here is the link: www.gallup.com...

The article's title refers to the qualities of presidential candidates of 2008.

Atheists in that pole are behind people who.

Are married for the third time.

Now we all know how the religious view the sacred marriage bond and yet atheists are behind divorced people! Atheists may be married and far more faithful and yet still behind this kind of person.

A homosexual


I have nothing against gay people but lots of the religious christians do and so i'm dumbfounded that an atheist is behind a homosexual (excuse that phrase) in the poll.

72 Years old

So a young, fresh faced atheist is behind a very old man who may well die in office and who will be suffering the mental decline that comes with age.

Thanks for the pole, it pretty much sums it up for me, atheists are viewed as some of the lowest people in america.

It's because atheists represent the fear that Americans dread most, that there may be no god, they don't want that security blanket taken away.

So, seeing this poll I think a candidates religious background should not even be a topic for discussion in politics.
To judge a candidates electibility on religious grounds severely limits choice and the quality of person who becomes the president.

GWB played the church well.

Keep belief's OUT of politics, completely! No business being there.

More likely than not there have already been several US presidents who were Atheists or at the very least agnostic in their true beliefs.

If you are POTUS, especially a "conservative" one... then it seems that one must attest a faith in some form of God in order to appease the superstitious types and the holy rollers of who's vote you are counting on to win.

Just one more thing that politicians have lied about to garner votes. In reality there is no place in this country more Godless than Washington D.C.