I still haven't yet figured out how to write my religion/atheism/etc post, but I do have a number of examples as to why I am very pro-atheist when it comes to politics. This probably won't surprise you, but these examples come from republicans.
Newt Gingrich:
"I have two grandchildren: Maggie is 11; Robert is 9. I am convinced that if we do not decisively win the struggle over the nature of America, by the time they're my age they will be in a secular atheist country, potentially one dominated by radical Islamists and with no understanding of what it once meant to be an American."
Me:
This horrifying secular atheist country will be dominated by radical Islamists? What?
Mitt Romney:
"Freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom. Freedom opens the windows of the soul so that man can discover his most profound beliefs and commune with God. Freedom and religion endure together, or perish alone....[I]n recent years, the notion of the separation of church and state has been taken by some well beyond its original meaning....It is as if they are intent on establishing a new religion in America – the religion of secularism. They are wrong."
Me:
Separation of church and state is pretty clear just from the name itself. Stating that religion is a prerequisite for freedom is mind-bogglingly stupid, only beaten by calling secularism a religion.
Sarah Palin:
"...hearing any leader declare that America isn't a Christian nation and poking an ally like Israel in the eye, it's mind-boggling...."
Me:
America isn't a Christian nation. Fish in a barrel. Moving on.
Mike Huckabee:
"If integrity and character are divorced from God, they don't make sense."
"I almost wish that there would be, like, a simultaneous telecast, and all Americans would be forced — forced at gunpoint no less — to listen to every David Barton message, and I think our country would be better for it. I wish it’d happen."
Me:
I know people of integrity and character who don't need a God to tell them that rape, slavery, and murder are wrong. I bet you do too.
Forcing people at gunpoint to listen to David Barton is in what possible way acceptable in your mind?
Tim Pawlenty:
"We need to be a country that turns toward God. Not a country that turns away from God."
"We have, as a country, a founding perspective that we’re founded under God; our founding documents reference and acknowledge God, and acknowledge that our rights and privileges come from our Creator."
Me:
We do? Why?
No, actually, that's a bold faced lie, as God isn't mentioned in the Constitution. It's like the founders, men I might add, were deliberately separating church and state. Shocking.
This is the kind of shit that gets me so angry I can't think straight. How are these people supposed to lead a country when they're busy denying and vilifying an estimated 10% of the population based on a bigoted belief that is expressly forbidden by our founding documents? If we did have a leader who was saying things about atheists, I wish it would be something more like this:
"For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and nonbelievers."
Oh, wait, that one was President Obama. Looks like someone might get it! And he's not a republican. Shocking.
5 comments:
I swear... I have no problems with atheism. I don't. To me, it's just another religious choice, but, in this case, it's the choice to be anti-religion (a viable choice in any multiple-choice exam). What bothers me is that there are just as many radical atheists as there are radical religious. It's the radicals on BOTH sides of the fence that cause the other side to look and say "I hate those [atheists / religious people]!!"
You, my friend, are a logical human being who (believe it or not) is quite respectful of other people's opinions... until they become disrespectful of yours. I know others who are self-described atheists that must believe that ANYONE who believes in God is of the same ilk as those assholes who protest soldiers' funerals. Not everyone who believes in God is all for pushing a religious agenda across America. What the religious right fails to recognize is that our first non-native settlers came here looking for religious FREEDOM - the choice of what to practice without anyone forcing them to choose one, "true" religion. Where did THAT go?
What bothers me is that the religious are shoving their horribly-perverted "faith" down everyone's throats while, predictably, the atheists are fighting back, but they failing to recognize that not everyone is as stubbornly idiotic as the vocal portions of the religious right. It's the "backs against the wall" problem that is causing most of the issues.
Honestly, as a life-long Catholic, I'm just fucking tired of all of it. I have my faith, but I think my religion is just as flawed as anything manmade. I do believe in something greater than me, and I do believe that my loved ones and (hopefully) myself will end up in a better place once we die. Does that mean that those who don't believe that are evil or, worse-yet, damned? No. It just means we have a difference of opinion.
That don't befront me none ;-)
The only problem I have with saying that atheism is a religious choice is that atheism isn't a religion. It's kind of like saying a person who's lived his whole life on a tropical island and has never skied is making a skiing decision or is an anti-skiist. It just doesn't quite make sense to me.
I agree that there are radicals on both sides, but when you consider that faithful vs not is like 9 to 1 odds, I think the atheist radicals are vastly outnumbered. That doesn't make them less prickish, but they're still having to scream louder to be heard.
Regardless, voices of reason on either side are always nice to hear.
"I am a deeply religious nonbeliever - This is a somewhat new kind of religion." Albert Einstein
"...atheism is a religion like not collecting stamps is a hobby..." PZ Meyers
More from mister Einstein:
"The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this."
"For me the Jewish religion like all others is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions."
"I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own -- a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty."
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