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Vote for an atheist president (for religious people)

Would you vote for an atheist president with your views?

  • Yes, I would, his beliefs shouldn't matter

    Votes: 52 89.7%

  • No, he needs to believe in God, even if he agrees with me

    Votes: 6 10.3%
  • Total voters
    58
FreedomFromAll said:
God is not the legal definer of our laws, the Constitution is. In fact the framers were quite clear on that matter. And where the framers got their ideas is not relevant since it is clear that no religious test shall be given to anybody in the government. SO your social contract is only a personal opinion.
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The Constitution pre-supposed that rights exist, and the Decleration of Independance says they come from God. Our founders agreed that there was a God and that this is where our rights come from, so if you don't believe in God then you therefore can't logicaly believe in any rights God has given, because you can't receave anything from anyone who doesn't exist.

***
It's *the* social contract, not *my* social contract; I didn't write it and it doesn't only apply to me.
 
Yes I would under the proper circumstances. If the atheist takes a proper stance on restoring constitutional restrictions and protocols he would get my vote, if he is close enough on liberty and proper governance that could be fine as well. My only concern would be if the atheist took a hard line against other beliefs legally, but then again a proper constitutionalist would not do that so it's a moot point. I would vote for the best candidate regardless of their spiritual beliefs.
 
Jerry said:
The Constitution pre-supposed that rights exist, and the Decleration of Independance says they come from God. Our founders agreed that there was a God and that this is where our rights come from, so if you don't believe in God then you therefore can't logicaly believe in any rights God has given, because you can't receave anything from anyone who doesn't exist.

***
It's *the* social contract, not *my* social contract; I didn't write it and it doesn't only apply to me.
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I am sure that circular reasoning makes complete sense to you. But tell me then why the effort to create a secular state by the framers of the Constitution?

Lol it never gets old to listen to Christians assert that only Christians are moral because an entity that no one can prove exists told them so. The irony is that you are saying that I am immoral because I am an Atheist. WHo died and made you god?
 
MadLib said:
Maybe nobody has to give them to you; just the fact that you are an intelligent and conscious being means that you automatically have your rights instead of it being a gift.
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It's a gift because God made us to be intelligent beings to then inherently posses various rights.
 
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Religion should never be considered in an election so yes I would vote for an athiest as the commander in chief. History has shown that religion causes conflict and violence. People's beliefs influence their actions on a day to day basis. So, when we give someone a large amount of power, the interests they have should be in the welfare of those he represents, and it should not be influenced by anything else... Putting someone in power who uses their religion to influence their decisions which effect the lives of millions is dangerous. And what people don't understand:
"God made so many different kinds of people. Why would he allow only one way to serve him?"
- Martin Buber
If he who is in power must have his actions dictated by his beliefs, let he who is in power be one with no belief.
 
Jerry said:
The Constitution pre-supposed that rights exist, and the Decleration of Independance says they come from God. Our founders agreed that there was a God and that this is where our rights come from, so if you don't believe in God then you therefore can't logicaly believe in any rights God has given, because you can't receave anything from anyone who doesn't exist.

***
It's *the* social contract, not *my* social contract; I didn't write it and it doesn't only apply to me.
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Receiving rights should not be equated with possessing rights.
 
FreedomFromAll said:
I am sure that circular reasoning makes complete sense to you. But tell me then why the effort to create a secular state by the framers of the Constitution?
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Myth: The Founders intended a secular, not Christian, nation.

Fact: Even after ratifying the Constitution, fully half the state governments endorsed specific Chris*tian denominations. And just a day after approving the First Amendment, forbidding the establishment of religion, Congress called for a national “day of public thanksgiving and prayer” to acknowledge “the many signal favors of Almighty God.”

RandomHouse.ca | Books | The 10 Big Lies About America by Michael Medved
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They created a separation of church and state, not a secular state.

FreedomFromAll said:
The irony is that you are saying that I am immoral because I am an Atheist.
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I made no statement about you, Mr. Insecure. We're talking about a hypothetical atheist POTUS candidate who toady is as mythical as you claim God is.
 
Jerry said:
They created a separation of church and state, not a secular state.
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Depends on the definition of secular.
 
See, I was expecting this.

If by "excepting the religious parts of social conservatism", you mean you would also include within that nods to the positive effects of religion in society and so forth, then no, I would not vote for an atheist.

I would, however, vote for an atheist that included enough nods to social conservatism that also included religious conservatism.

I am not a religious person myself, but I seem to be on the opposite side of the fence with the more agnostic and atheistic voters, simply because I am a religious utilitarian.
 
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JustinS said:
Who says that these rights must be given by a spiritual deity of some sort?
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I don't know that they have to be, only that according to the founders of this country, they were.
 
Fiddytree said:
See, I was expecting this.

If by "excepting the religious parts of social conservatism", you mean you would also include within that nods to the positive effects of religion in society and so forth, then no, I would not vote for an atheist.

I would, however, vote for an atheist that included enough nods to social conservatism that also included religious conservatism.

I am not a religious person myself, but I seem to be on the opposite side of the fence with the more agnostic and atheistic voters, simply because I am a religious utilitarian.
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Religious utiliterian...interesting, quite functionalist.
 
Keep Your Dogma Out of Politics. That should be the damn motto! I don't care if you are a Christain, Atheist, Pagan or are bowing down to a Noodle!:) Leave the religion where it belongs: in private and fix this Country.
 
Yes, I would vote for them but it would probably never happen that an atheist would want to shrink the size of the federal government giving back control to the states. For example if a state or local schools wanted the 10 commandments posted on the wall, then so be it because the fed doesn't have the right to interfere with what a state chooses to do so long as they don't harm others. Abortion and healthcare the list goes on and on...just don't see me and an atheist seeing eye to eye on much, maybe just the legalization of weed and that is about it....
 
lizzie said:
I've never met an atheist whom I found to be intolerant of the religious. He may have thought they were silly and superstitious, but always the tolerant gentleman. In addition, the atheists I know, and have known, had good sound moral principles (well, except for one, and he was just a plain old hedonist :mrgreen:).
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LOL! That is so true. I tend to be drawn to atheist and they tend to immerse to where they have taught me a thing or a lot about Paganism:)

I find atheist are more intelligent than most and have a very strong concept on most faiths, religions and alt. religions.
 
Jerry said:
I don't know that they have to be, only that according to the founders of this country, they were.
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The founders of the country lived hundreds of years ago, and since then the political landscape has significantly shifted. I don't think that a clause in the Declaration of Independence should be the determinant of where our rights come from.
 
JustinS said:
The founders of the country lived hundreds of years ago, and since then the political landscape has significantly shifted.
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Ahh so an atheist president would try to rewrite our contry's history? Just another reasn not to vote for him.
 
JustinS said:
The founders of the country lived hundreds of years ago, and since then the political landscape has significantly shifted. I don't think that a clause in the Declaration of Independence should be the determinant of where our rights come from.
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Do you believe that the same argument applies to the Constitution?
 
I voted "no."

I can't think of anything that more defines a person's core values than his religious beliefs. It speaks to a person's character like nothing else can. Intelligent people, like you guys, sometimes forget that people, rather than policies, run our government.

Policies are important. The human element is equally important.
 
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Peter Grimm said:
I voted "no."

I can't think of anything that more defines a person's core values than his religious beliefs. It speaks to a person's character like nothing else can. Intelligent people, like you guys, sometimes forget that people, rather than policies, run our government.

Policies are important. The human element is equally important.
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Religion itself doesn't tell anything about that person, honestly - getting to know them would. Learning their values and views - not just what they claim they believe in.

I think the basics of religious beliefs are built on the most ridiculous and silly ideas - ever . . . the stuff that comes out of my Mom's mouth is just absolutely unbelievable to me that her, as an educated modern woman in this era, still believes what she believes. It is illogical.

Now - in order to still see religious people for being capable of grounded intelligence: I have to overlook their religious views and pretend that they're still capable of being rational and showing a glimmer of common sense and reason.

For me: religious beliefs are a problem . . . and yet I can manage to overlook it and I see that it has little impact on the conduct of many - we can take our running mates in the last year as an example.
 
It would depend on how he lived his life and his views on religion. Many atheist are militantly and obnoxiously anti-religious. If he was one of those who mock a belittle religion and religious people he has no chance. If he lived a good and reliavely moral life and his view was simply he didn't believe in God but respected others who do, I would consider it.
 
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Peter Grimm said:
I voted "no."

I can't think of anything that more defines a person's core values than his religious beliefs. It speaks to a person's character like nothing else can. Intelligent people, like you guys, sometimes forget that people, rather than policies, run our government.

Policies are important. The human element is equally important.
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Sadly religous belief does not always translate to moral values. There are a lot of judgemental Christians. I also know an atheist who couldn't have better moral values.
 
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