| Feb 16, 2008 @ 6:46 PM |
Do you think a person that doesn't believe in God could be a USA President
|
|
onoudn
Posts: 6,354
|
Short answer no, not right now. Those of the Christian faith, or those who claim to be, still have too much influence in American politics. Just listen to the candidates and you'll know its true. Every one of them ends practically every speech with " and God bless America"..
And look at how Mitt Romney felt compelled to clarify how his faith believes in Jesus Christ.
True believers will no more allow a non-believer to be President than they can refrain from imposing their beliefs on others. That's just my opinion based on my direct experience. The only way for anyone who doesn't believe to be elected is for there to be a fundamental shift in the way this country looks at minority religions, and/or those who believe in a Christian model of God to no longer have as much influence as they do. One way that might happen is if they are no longer the majority. Imagine that.
We've seen Obama transform the landscape of politics by being an agent of change. I heard him today talking about what hope is. Personally, I hope he does not get the nomination. I listened to him speak today. He spoke of working together along, political, religious, and gender lines. But, like most people who speak about religious inclusiveness, he seems to me those religion that profess a believe in the Bible. Its like every time I speak with people on the subject. When they speak of religious tolerance its with the common belief that 'there is only one God". Some people don't believe that. Some don't believe there is a God at all. That is why I have to wonder if this is truely the land of the free. So long as we live in a country that discriminates based on a persons religious beliefs, none of us are truely free. And until we elect a President without any religious considerations, as far as politics is concerned, were not truely an inclusive country.
|
|
  |
|
| Feb 16, 2008 @ 7:03 PM |
Do you think a person that doesn't believe in God could be a USA President |
|
Paralegal_at_Law
Posts: 5,869
|
Yes, I think an Athiest could be an American President. I would vote for a moderate Athiest over any leftist any day of the week.
If he or she were a liberal leftist though, I would oppose him or her, on the basis that their political beliefs was dangerous to the nation.
|
| |
|
| Feb 16, 2008 @ 7:10 PM |
Do you think a person that doesn't believe in God could be a USA President
|
|
onoudn
Posts: 6,354
|
Uh are there a lot of moderate or leftist atheist out there? It just seems like an oxymoron. And the repbulican party doesn't exactly seem to embrace them.
|
|
| |
|
| Feb 17, 2008 @ 12:31 AM |
Do you think a person that doesn't believe in God could be a USA President |
|
DoorWatcher
Posts: 6,259
|
Of course. Being an atheist in no way denotes someone with little or no morals. Often, quite the contrary.
|
| |
|
| Feb 17, 2008 @ 2:34 AM |
Do you think a person that doesn't believe in God could be a USA President
|
|
MusicMonster
Posts: 2,954
|
Could they be?? Most definitely! Religion does not a president make..
Government and religion should be very separate things. Not to fanatical levels, but generally kept separate. Someone's faith has little to do with their ability to make rational decisions in crisis.
Could they be elected as president?? No.. Probably not.. The evangelical influence enters into such things to much too strong a degree at this point in our history..
-MM 
|
|
| |
|
| Feb 17, 2008 @ 2:56 AM |
Do you think a person that doesn't believe in God could be a USA President |
|
kjac
Posts: 8,163
|
Jerry Falwell seemed to think so. During Bush's presidency, he stated it would be better to have an atheist that knew what he was doing than an unqualified man of faith.
|
| |
|
| Feb 17, 2008 @ 4:01 AM |
Do you think a person that doesn't believe in God could be a USA President
|
|
Say_Yes
Posts: 2,225
|
Of course we can. In fact, I would imagine that several presidents have been atheist. They simply had the sense to pay lip service to being religious to avoid the PR hit. Just because someone speaks certain words, it does not follow that they believe them, particularly when the person speaking is a politician.
|
|
| |
|
| Feb 17, 2008 @ 9:38 AM |
Do you think a person that doesn't believe in God could be a USA President |
|
eastham
Posts: 7,913
|
When Thomas Jefferson was elected president, many thought he was an atheist. Indeed the Federalists campaign war cry was that Jefferson was "an atheist", a "Jacobin", and an "enemy of good order." In Connecticut, where an established (Congregationalist) religion existed, the Baptists in CT voted heavily for Jefferson as a means of getting out from underneath the thumb of the Congregationalists. It is Jefferson's letter to the Connecticut Baptist Convention that gives us the first use of the phrase "make no law respecting an establishment of religion."
So the answer to your question is perhaps one already has, but I hardly think so today.
Today is a different ball of wax altogether, one that would make Jefferson and those Baptists' heads swim. It took nearly two hundred years for a Catholic to be elected to the White House, but a whispering campaign of mere months by the Huckabee campaign and its surrogates to derail the presidential aspirations of Sam Brownback (a Catholic) and Mitt Romney (a Mormon). Despite the fact that Barak Obama is a member of a Christian sect and has described his own born-again in the spirit experiences in one of his books, a magazine owned by the conservative Washington Times published a story, since debunked, that Obama is a Muslim and he attended a reglious madrassa.
In Congress, we have for the first time a Muslim, several Buddhists, and an open atheist. But Congress is not the presidency and I would concur that at this juncture, although I see change afoot, religious tolerance is on the upswing.
|
| |
|
| Feb 17, 2008 @ 9:53 AM |
Do you think a person that doesn't believe in God could be a USA President
|
|
iam7545
Posts: 4,151
|
O - how do you know what anyone really believes in?
Any just how do YOU define "believes in GOD?"
Is there one definition for this?
Furthermore, how can we believe anything that any politician says or does?
Once Billary made her decision to run for President she started showing up in Church. How do we measure her commitment to God or religion.
If a President were an Atheist they would never admit it. He or she would likely suffer through Church one or two Sundays a year and when speaking to voters in the bible belt would conveniently pull out Bible quotes and speak with a souther drawl. 
|
|
| |
|
| Feb 17, 2008 @ 10:26 AM |
Do you think a person that doesn't believe in God could be a USA President |
|
kjac
Posts: 8,163
|
I think the real question O is asking, is could an atheist win the election. No, of course not. There are still a lot of people in America who will flat out tell you they believe atheists have no morals because they don't believe in someone's version of magic.
In fact, some of them have posted on this thread.
|
| |
|
| Feb 17, 2008 @ 10:34 AM |
Do you think a person that doesn't believe in God could be a USA President
|
|
Gallows_Humor
Posts: 13,662
|
you are right kjac.... O is asking, is could an atheist win the election. .
but from there on ( in your post...) you became defensive...
No, of course not...
..as long as a person who doesn't believe in God keeps to the "points" of running this country.. based on the constitution.. imho..there is no problem.. but as soon as "anyone" brings a personal belief into their politics.. that becomes a liablity and "a point of difference"...
|
|
| |
|
| Feb 17, 2008 @ 10:38 AM |
Do you think a person that doesn't believe in God could be a USA President |
|
LipGlossQueen9
Posts: 10,955
|
If the evangelical block (the ones who care the most about a President having religious beliefs) had any sway anymore, Mike Huckabee would be in John McCain's position. So you can't say that an Atheist would not be elected with the state the Republican Party is in right now.
|
| |
|
| Feb 17, 2008 @ 10:41 AM |
Do you think a person that doesn't believe in God could be a USA President
|
|
kjac
Posts: 8,163
|
Every president has brought their personal beliefs into politics. That's how you get things like the National day of prayer, the tax free evangelical industry, abortion laws, and vegetables living on machines. But I'm sure none of those things have anything to do with someone's personal beliefs. 
|
|
| |
|
| Feb 17, 2008 @ 10:45 AM |
Do you think a person that doesn't believe in God could be a USA President |
|
LipGlossQueen9
Posts: 10,955
|
McCain is not very religious, and in the past has said some really nasty things about Falwell and Robertson. He's also against the "traditional marriage amendment", or whatever that garbage is.
|
| |
|
| Feb 17, 2008 @ 11:12 AM |
Do you think a person that doesn't believe in God could be a USA President
|
|
Gallows_Humor
Posts: 13,662
|
Every president has brought their personal beliefs into politics. That's how you get things like the National day of prayer, the tax free evangelical industry, abortion laws, and vegetables living on machines.
we the people of the united states..have to choose a person to represent us..and yes..__ is just a person
I personally don't believe that abortion is an easy choice..but that every woman has the ultimate say in it.. so..if you ask me if I think it is right..no.. do I think it should be outlawed ..no...
but more to the point...what is the SCOTUS going to actually say about it... 
(etc..etc...etc......)
|
|
| |
|
| Feb 17, 2008 @ 11:19 AM |
Do you think a person that doesn't believe in God could be a USA President |
|
eastham
Posts: 7,913
|
If the evangelical block (the ones who care the most about a President having religious beliefs) had any sway anymore, Mike Huckabee would be in John McCain's position. So you can't say that an Atheist would not be elected with the state the Republican Party is in right now.
Ah, but LGQ you forget the prostituting of John McCain that began with his retraction of his former comments against Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell; his "come to Jesus" meeting with the powers that be at Bob Jones University; and that he officially changed his religious affiliation from Episcopal (suspect in evangelicals' eyes) to Baptist. McCain has worked hard for the votes of evangelicals in this election.
|
| |
|
| Feb 17, 2008 @ 11:26 AM |
Do you think a person that doesn't believe in God could be a USA President
|
|
LipGlossQueen9
Posts: 10,955
|
They're not coming out for him, though, are they? That's not what I'm hearing.
And Bob Jones University, LOL...what a joke. It's not even an accredited institution.
|
|
| |
|
| Feb 17, 2008 @ 11:27 AM |
Do you think a person that doesn't believe in God could be a USA President |
|
Gallows_Humor
Posts: 13,662
|
that is what politics are all about...how to get elected..If McCain did not appease the beast.. the beast would mount a smear campaign of lies and 1/2 truths to discredit him... ( this goes for any PAC in existence today)..so.. who is more to blame? the politician or the beast?
|
| |
|
| Feb 17, 2008 @ 11:29 AM |
Do you think a person that doesn't believe in God could be a USA President
|
|
iam7545
Posts: 4,151
|
Clearly the Democrats learned their lesson about the value of pandering to the religious folks well. Billary and Barak went to class and learned how to sound like a Southern Baptist Preacher!
Yet we hear no objections from the Atheists in the Democratic Party - WHY? Probably because they know that they are being disingenuous and it is only an act?
From Time Magazine -
>>>>>>>>>>>> Let the Dems Pray! <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
The Dems FINALLY get Religion -
Backstage at the Target Center in Minneapolis before a rally earlier this month, Barack Obama engaged in one of his pregame rituals: the presidential candidate joined a circle of young campaign supporters and staff, clasped hands with those on either side of him and prayed.
Hillary Clinton, his rival for the Democratic nomination, has talked on the campaign trail about the "prayer warriors" who support her, and her campaign has made sure that primary voters know that Clinton used to host church picnics at the governor's mansion in Arkansas.
If the Democratic ticket in November is able to capture a greater share of religious voters than in previous elections, it will be because both Obama and Clinton have rejected their party's traditional fight- or-flight reaction to religion. For decades, the men and women who ran the Democratic Party and its campaigns bought into the conservative spin that the faithful were pro-life, right-wing and most certainly not Democratic voters. Armed with this mind-set, political professionals gave themselves permission to ignore religion and the religious. And in 2004, John Kerry paid the price for that decision.
|
|
| |
|
| Feb 17, 2008 @ 11:31 AM |
Do you think a person that doesn't believe in God could be a USA President |
|
kjac
Posts: 8,163
|
I wonder if someone will claim Ted Strickland being an ordained minister is an act when he one day runs for president. (An eventuality, not a probabliity)
|
| |
|
|