Birds of a feather . . . I'm astonished that you are surprised by this. With your ourspoken derision of anybody that is religious, I'm not surprised that they avoid you. My friends are agnostics and secular humanists as well as devoutly religious and atheist. I don't require my friends to believe what I believe, nor do I ridicule those who disagree with me. I know many atheists, most are not as callous, tactless, and intolerant as you. I would vote for an atheist or a muslim if that is an incidental part of his resume. I would vote for NO atheist or muslim if that is the essence of his candidacy.
I thought Christians were forgiven of their sins by the sacrifice of Jesus. Why would they fear eternal damnation? Must be a Catholic thing. :hihi:
nobody avoids me, i do everything in my power to reduce the number of friends i have, i cant handle but a few. everyone adores me and is sad when i never contact them to engage in friendly activity. you are implying that i do. i dont, i am the last person to ever do that. i am incredibly polite and accommodating. i am in eternal fear of upsetting people around me, and i am very sensitive about it, overly so. this is free speech alley, a place for arguing. the real world isnt the same. plesase don't make outside world personality assumptions about me. i dont require my friends to believe what i do. many already did, and a few realized that atheism is the only real stance. i am smart enough to realize who wants to argue and who doesnt. one of my best friends, who i have known since i was 10, was catholic. i talked about religion with him once. i made fun of him for giving up something for lent, and he got really mad. because his friendship was one of few that actually has value to me, i never talked it about it again. 10 years later he had become atheist. my experience smart people just eventually become atheist. not all of them, but lots of them. i have christian friends, and i never argue with them. it boggles my mind they they are christian, but i do not mind and i am never disrespectful. of course, like the survey said, only half of people even know an atheist. so being an atheist isnt an option that most people really have when they are young. we have to break the cycle. my sister, who is raising her kids without religion, deserves a nobel prize for breaking the chain. for my neice, lack of faith is all that makes sense to her. she doesnt even believe in luck, and she is 6 years old. she believes in reality, her surroundings, the natural (not supernatural) world. it is fantastic. this is how we need to be.
i would say that an atheist politician would be so unconcerned with jeebus that he would have to time to study economics and know that low taxes is better for the greater good, but the truth is that most atheists are a bit more liberal and probably would be tax and spenders. dumbass atheists.
well holy christ, it would be dangerous to vote for a muslim who it made a central theme of their candidacy. but an atheist has no belief so he cant really make that the essence of his candidacy. perhaps he would be over the top about separation of church and state, but who can argue with that? an atheist would have no special ties with israel, and as such would not anger terrorists as much as you regular joe christian candidate. i have read that the top admitted atheist politician in america is in the california state senate, from san francisco. that is as high as an atheist can get in politics. that is pretty bad. i guess only gays will vote atheist. of course i believe that lots of high level fellas are secretly atheist. barack obama and bill bradley come to mind, plus scores of others.
free speech alley is by nature an argument place. real world isnt. unless they ask, i dont challenge's people's baseless opinions in the real world, for it would upset them to know they are idiots. (kidding) (?)
What I said has nothing to do with the military. I was referring to my being conservative. We may not be as outspoken as some, but we are still very influential. I feel sorry for your sister's kids.
In the eyes of the conservative, being atheist is about the same as being gay. Its taboo, and unfortunate. If a political candidate represents me well on the most important policy issues (for me, its economics and taxes), I could care less where he spends his Sunday mornings (church, synagogue, facing Mecca, or facing the TV). I am looking for a hard-working representative with staunch ethics. Whether he's been divorced 3 times, routinely goes to confession, or farts in church has no bearing on whether he is capable of representing me well in government. My problem is that my fiscally conservative nature and my moderate social views are not well represented. The fiscally conservative tend to also be socially conservative, and that frustrates me. Meanwhile, the socially moderate, tend to be more fiscally liberal, and I abhor paying others' share of taxes. I typically end up siding with the conservative candidates, because the economics are much more critical to me than any social issue, and I can live with some perceived social injustices more so than unfair, higher taxes. With that said, a candidate's religious preference (or lack thereof) has absolutely no bearing on my vote. I wish more people voted this way. With this type of paradigm shift, the potential for a better functioning government could actually exist.
