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Blessed Fairy

Sometimes I just don't get theist......Anyway, thought the law isn't enforced (thank god... ninja ), people and special interest groups can and have used this law when opposing an open atheist running for office, as seen in Lucky~9~Lives articular link. However, I think that we as the new society of the United States have broken down many social barriers (thought there are still a few more that need to be taken care of) that where put up by this nation's predecessors and the people that made this along with other discriminating laws. Yet is it important that we take care of this law by declaring it unconstitutional even though it's not enforced? I think so, simply because you never know what the future will bring when it comes to politics. smile

Liberal Dabbler

Signed it. And a few others once I started looking around.
Jazin Kay
we petition the obama administration to: Look into state constitutions banning atheists from holding public office.

They're actually serious. I think the words listed sums up everyone's feelings rather nicely:

smart people
Belief in a higher power should not be a criteria for holding public office anywhere in the United States of America.


How does MandR feel? How hilarious is it that others are denied political positions based on lack of specific faith? I mean, a majority-Atheist state wouldn't ban Theists from taking office, that would be rude and silly.

Why does the double-standard for Theists exist in this way?


As a religious man... This is stupid. I'm signing this petition. I don't care who worships what, so long as people are logical, motivated, and, in the case of holding office, seek to serve those around them rather than serve themselves (which, I'm aware, a vast majority of politicians call themselves Christians, and only serve themselves and their own needs...)

Conservative Victory

I disagree. I am only moderately religious but I will NOT vote for an atheist for public office. An atheist and atheists values are not what I would want representing over me. Atheists are hateful towards those of religious faith of any kind, have an arrogant, elitist attitude, and have lax morals - as in more like to use profanity, more likely to support abortion and LGBT rights, more likely to drink and use drugs, and so forth. I will ONLY vote for a candidate of the Christian or Jewish faith. There is no need to put into the Constitution though banning atheists for serving office, because unless you live in the Northeast or Pacific Coast, the odds of being an atheist and getting elected anywhere else is slim to none. In fact a poll taken last year showed that an atheist and a Muslim would receive the least amount of support from voters of all groups.

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We're not universally like that, you're being biased.

The same bias that labels Thiests that way.

Hallowed Hunter

Prince Ikari
I disagree. I am only moderately religious but I will NOT vote for an atheist for public office. An atheist and atheists values are not what I would want representing over me. Atheists are hateful towards those of religious faith of any kind, have an arrogant, elitist attitude, and have lax morals - as in more like to use profanity, more likely to support abortion and LGBT rights, more likely to drink and use drugs, and so forth. I will ONLY vote for a candidate of the Christian or Jewish faith. There is no need to put into the Constitution though banning atheists for serving office, because unless you live in the Northeast or Pacific Coast, the odds of being an atheist and getting elected anywhere else is slim to none. In fact a poll taken last year showed that an atheist and a Muslim would receive the least amount of support from voters of all groups.


We were going to be prejudiced too but it looks like you have that covered.

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Umm since when does religion have to do with how able a person is at that type of job? That's just stupid.

Malevolent Phantom

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Prince Ikari
I disagree. I am only moderately religious but I will NOT vote for an atheist for public office. An atheist and atheists values are not what I would want representing over me. Atheists are hateful towards those of religious faith of any kind, have an arrogant, elitist attitude, and have lax morals - as in more like to use profanity, more likely to support abortion and LGBT rights, more likely to drink and use drugs, and so forth. I will ONLY vote for a candidate of the Christian or Jewish faith. There is no need to put into the Constitution though banning atheists for serving office, because unless you live in the Northeast or Pacific Coast, the odds of being an atheist and getting elected anywhere else is slim to none. In fact a poll taken last year showed that an atheist and a Muslim would receive the least amount of support from voters of all groups.



Umm only some atheist are like this. I'm a Christian and I don't support abortion and neither do my atheist friends. I do however support LGBT mostly just the LGB part, but still this should not affect who gets to be anything. And why not add Muslim to your list of faith that can be a candidate? None of my friends who are atheist do drugs, excessive cursing, or have an elitist attitude. You cant judge a whole group based on individuals. That's leads to prejudice and racism, which is against Christianity or any religion related to it.(Judaism, Muslim, and others) Remember all humans are equal and should be treated based on actions not beliefs.

Conservative Victory

Interitum
Prince Ikari
I disagree. I am only moderately religious but I will NOT vote for an atheist for public office. An atheist and atheists values are not what I would want representing over me. Atheists are hateful towards those of religious faith of any kind, have an arrogant, elitist attitude, and have lax morals - as in more like to use profanity, more likely to support abortion and LGBT rights, more likely to drink and use drugs, and so forth. I will ONLY vote for a candidate of the Christian or Jewish faith. There is no need to put into the Constitution though banning atheists for serving office, because unless you live in the Northeast or Pacific Coast, the odds of being an atheist and getting elected anywhere else is slim to none. In fact a poll taken last year showed that an atheist and a Muslim would receive the least amount of support from voters of all groups.



Umm only some atheist are like this. I'm a Christian and I don't support abortion and neither do my atheist friends. I do however support LGBT mostly just the LGB part, but still this should not affect who gets to be anything. And why not add Muslim to your list of faith that can be a candidate? None of my friends who are atheist do drugs, excessive cursing, or have an elitist attitude. You cant judge a whole group based on individuals. That's leads to prejudice and racism, which is against Christianity or any religion related to it.(Judaism, Muslim, and others) Remember all humans are equal and should be treated based on actions not beliefs.


Well for me nearly all of the atheists I have encountered are that way. Have that elitist attitude that they know best and are superior because they believe in all that logic/free thought nonsense. And all of the ones I have met have been militantly opposed to religion and do all they can to denigrate those who are religious. I will not add Muslim to my list of candidates because I disapprove of that faith. People can group it with Christianity and Judaism all they want but I see no similarities besides being monotheistic. Islam is a faith that deplores Christians and Jews, not respects them. I terms of what I will NOT cast my ballot for is anyone who prescribes to atheism, satanism, paganism, or Islam, and I will NOT cast my ballot for anyone who considers themselves LGBT (though I may give consideration if they consider themselves conservative like me). I will however vote for anyone who prescribes to Christianity, Judaism, is White, Asian, Hispanic, African-American, young, old, male, or female. And I have no opinion on Buddhists, Hindus, and agnostics. To me the beliefs of other individuals is important and reflects upon their character. They may all be equal in human terms when reflecting upon society, but not equal in terms of who I will cast my ballot for. I only vote for those who share similar religious and political beliefs as myself.
Prince Ikari
Interitum
Prince Ikari
I disagree. I am only moderately religious but I will NOT vote for an atheist for public office. An atheist and atheists values are not what I would want representing over me. Atheists are hateful towards those of religious faith of any kind, have an arrogant, elitist attitude, and have lax morals - as in more like to use profanity, more likely to support abortion and LGBT rights, more likely to drink and use drugs, and so forth. I will ONLY vote for a candidate of the Christian or Jewish faith. There is no need to put into the Constitution though banning atheists for serving office, because unless you live in the Northeast or Pacific Coast, the odds of being an atheist and getting elected anywhere else is slim to none. In fact a poll taken last year showed that an atheist and a Muslim would receive the least amount of support from voters of all groups.



Umm only some atheist are like this. I'm a Christian and I don't support abortion and neither do my atheist friends. I do however support LGBT mostly just the LGB part, but still this should not affect who gets to be anything. And why not add Muslim to your list of faith that can be a candidate? None of my friends who are atheist do drugs, excessive cursing, or have an elitist attitude. You cant judge a whole group based on individuals. That's leads to prejudice and racism, which is against Christianity or any religion related to it.(Judaism, Muslim, and others) Remember all humans are equal and should be treated based on actions not beliefs.


Well for me nearly all of the atheists I have encountered are that way. Have that elitist attitude that they know best and are superior because they believe in all that logic/free thought nonsense. And all of the ones I have met have been militantly opposed to religion and do all they can to denigrate those who are religious. I will not add Muslim to my list of candidates because I disapprove of that faith. People can group it with Christianity and Judaism all they want but I see no similarities besides being monotheistic. Islam is a faith that deplores Christians and Jews, not respects them. I terms of what I will NOT cast my ballot for is anyone who prescribes to atheism, satanism, paganism, or Islam, and I will NOT cast my ballot for anyone who considers themselves LGBT (though I may give consideration if they consider themselves conservative like me). I will however vote for anyone who prescribes to Christianity, Judaism, is White, Asian, Hispanic, African-American, young, old, male, or female. And I have no opinion on Buddhists, Hindus, and agnostics. To me the beliefs of other individuals is important and reflects upon their character. They may all be equal in human terms when reflecting upon society, but not equal in terms of who I will cast my ballot for. I only vote for those who share similar religious and political beliefs as myself.
I sense a strange connection of what you describe of others in yourself and a very ocal section of those you group yourself with.

Ain't that just a coinkidink?
Not like it isn't the most widely known "issue" in the religious wars.







If you didn't catch my sarcastic drift, I'm saying that you are just as guilty of what you are saying atheists are guilty of. As are others of your faith and other faiths. EVERY faith with a "only I am correct" idea in the teachings is guilty of EVERYTHING they claim other faiths (or lack thereof) are guilty of.

I would like to see proof of your assertions. Considering that Athiesm would be a "minority" belief and that various sects of Christianity are the majority in America, I would think that those who would claim to be of the Christian faith or believe in the Abrahamic God would also be involved in the majority of crimes in almost the same ratio. Seeing as there really has been little in the way of study to connect one's personal beliefs in relation to religion to the tendency of a given group of people to commit crimes or be generally morally "ugly", I can only rely on actual current studies that have linked monetary disparity and educational disparity rather than a religious affiliation.
I'm Athiest. I like to believe that I am a generally nice person with a strong sense of moral right and wrong. Why? Because I was raised that way, which holds a lot more power over me than what some religion says. My parent was Christian (Baptist) and my grandfather was also Christian (unknown denomination)(parents were divorced, grandfather fit into the father role during my upbringing) and they chose to not force me into their beliefs. That, to me, is better than blindly profiling an entire belief or ALL OTHER BELIEFS THAN YOUR OWN. I'm grateful that I had my upbringing so I could discover who I am, not what someone told me to be. I am Athiest. I follow the philosophical teachings of Taoism.
And I say you are wrong.

IF we are going to paint with a broad brush based on individuals...
EVERY Christian I've met, with exception to a select few, have been militantly against everything except the "true faith" and have attempted to force their beliefs on me and others. They have been highly discriminatory against others, or even those of their own congregations of they didn't toe the line! They have been generally unlikeable people who didn't practice what they preached.
On the other hand, while I worked in a general contracting company, I was on a crew that did a remodel for an Islamic K-12 private academy, followed by a contract for continued janitorial work. They were all very pleasant people to work for, who treated me kindly, respected that I was my own person without judging me, respected me as a person for working hard for their sake, never had a disparaging comment for me, my coworkers, or each other, and even actually followed their own tenets. During the course of my work I "sat in" on their daily prayers and teachings, which were broadcast on loudspeaker throughout the whole school. What I heard sounded almost exactly like Christianity, with many similar (to the point it seemed like a simple nameswap)moral tales as in the bible. Allah is not a separate god; Allah is simply the Islamic word for God. The major difference is only instead of Jesus being the Messiah, it was Muhammad.
Today, I work with many Athiests who are generally enjoyable, likeable people who really just don't give a damn whether someone believes in Satan, Loki, God, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster, just as long as they are not bad people. The Chaplain for our deployment to Afghanistan was a Catholic, ordained if it means anything, who was wholly accepting of other faiths, or lack thereof, and never had a bad thing to say to anyone. I think that everyone should be more like that, rather than instantly judging others based on their beliefs.

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Because ever since the marriage of politics to religion (back in ancient Rome, right?), religion has always been a strong way to influence a large group of people. I mean, what's a better way to legitimize a tetrarchy than claiming that you're Jupiter and your colleague is Hercules? I mean, if people will believe it, right? Thus followed a thousand years of divinely-appointed kings and queens from which our country stems.

Why is it that religion feels it has this control over politics? Because it does. When you gather a large enough group of people with a strong enough belief system(group think), their group think tends to dominate or at least feel it should. The main issue is that no one's really controlling the religion as was typical in the days of old when rulers were both divinely appointed and had political power. America has been trying to divorce itself from this idea since its inception, but it is fundamentally, culturally, religiously, mentally ingrained. It's a hard idea to just weed out.

Sucks for the rest of us, though.

Also, I have to say 80% of the reason I posted was because i realized you were an olbie... and I remember your avatar arena victories as though they were yesterday and wanted to- i don't know- olbie fist bump or something?


EDIT:
Quote:

I disagree. I am only moderately religious but I will NOT vote for an atheist for public office. An atheist and atheists values are not what I would want representing over me. Atheists are hateful towards those of religious faith of any kind, have an arrogant, elitist attitude, and have lax morals - as in more like to use profanity, more likely to support abortion and LGBT rights, more likely to drink and use drugs, and so forth. I will ONLY vote for a candidate of the Christian or Jewish faith. There is no need to put into the Constitution though banning atheists for serving office, because unless you live in the Northeast or Pacific Coast, the odds of being an atheist and getting elected anywhere else is slim to none. In fact a poll taken last year showed that an atheist and a Muslim would receive the least amount of support from voters of all groups.


I have to say as a non-hateful atheist sympathizer, i feel you are projecting onto atheists. At least I read that in your post. You claim that atheists are hateful towards people of religious faith of all kinds. I'm 100% sure that is a negative stereotype or that you are projecting how YOU feel about atheists as a mutual arrangement... I find in these types of situations, empathy wins over projection... I would suggest trying it some time... and I'm sure the bible would fully support empathy, so no need for christian guilt!

Oh, and morality is not tied to religion (although this subforum does seem to imply)

Also, profanity is definitely not a requirement to join the "atheist club" nor is supporting abortion, believing in lgbt rights(some atheists can be hateful people, too, believe it or not), and drinking/smoking are only benefits, not terms of agreement.

I agree with that last statement, though... no legislation required! Let's grab a drink to celebrate this agreement... errr or perhaps a tea? Or if that's too spiritual for you, maybe a coffee... or just water would be good, too.

Unforgiving Warlord

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have you looked at the other petitions?
this is not one of the silly ones.

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Can you give an example of a sillier one?

Celebrating Roisterer

s**t, my hands smell like bread
To be fair, no openly atheistic politician would get very far in any of the states listed anyways. I mean, generally speaking, it's not exactly a popular political strategy to be open about your atheism. Who knows, though? Religion and politics tend to do one another plenty of disservices, so I'm suspect of any politician who's too gung-ho about religion or any religious leader who's too gung-ho about politics. I think the laws themselves are indeed violations of the constitution, though.

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