Will Atheist ever rule America?

Question

"Whynotaskdon" stay away from my questions!

looking good! many good answers are coming,,,

Answer 1

I'll move out to Antarctica if they will

Answer 2

what if a alien species were to come down and talk to us and say there are others out there. would everyone scream the end of the world? I think there are too many things in the universe that is unexplained but weve done a pretty good job of answering but also we have made up alot of things too. Do you think were alone. the universe is so big that it takes light past a trillion years to reach the end of it. Around the time we dicover a faster way to travel we probably be alone on this planet making up things to keep ourselves entertained like little children. And the true artists will keep doing different things to show our own humanity are a human race. Energy cannot be created nor destroyed. So all the f*ck ups weve done hopefully when we get some sense and stop being so money hungry and selfish we could fix this place we call a home and catch up with the rest of the universe and enjoy it for how beautiful it is. Utopia doesnt exist but we can sure come close to doing it. If we can make planes fly from scratch we can sure do anything else.

Answer 3

They already do for the most part. Ever since the Supreme Court did away with prayer and the Bible in school, we have reaped what we have sown. Since 1962, we can see how crime, teen pregnancy, nasty social diseases, etc., have all increased exponentially since that happened. Those stats were relatively low and flat for the half century prior.

Plus, we have officially atheistic public schools, which are often the only political entity in rural areas. Public colleges and universities are bastions for atheistic and humanistic thought. They take young Christian minds, and mold them into a radically different worldview, creating liberals the only way they can, since liberal parents have declining birthrates, and conservative Christians keep popping 'em out.

It isn't so much the halls of government that actually rule America, although it is the intent of the humanist-secularist to do that as well. And in the People's Republik of Kalifornia, where I live, I get to see the results.

Answer 4

"Rule America"? Let's hope that no-one "rules" here.

Unfortunately today in America atheists have essentially no political power, and we are in serious danger of losing our country to fundamentalist Christianity. We could certainly benefit from having more political power in the hands of atheists, or at least in the hands of people who understand their religious beliefs as a personal matter.

I doubt that we'll see atheists get any significant power anytime soon, though, and right now modern western civilization seems to be losing the struggle against religious fundamentalism, both in the U.S. and in the middle east.

Answer 5

Separation of Church and State is one of the founding principles of the the United States - it shouldn't matter whether the dominant members of politics are Jewish, Christian, Buddist, or Atheist, according to the founding fathers they're not supposed to let their own religion influence the laws of the land (or at least are supposed to avoid it as much as possible). It's one of the safeguards intended to keep private interests (in this case, the church) from taking the power in America out of the hands of the populace.
Atheism is not a cult, just like most Christians are not fundamentalists. They're not meeting secretly and trying to figure out how to undermine Christianity, it's just their own personal beliefs. Neither does Atheism equal a complete lack of morals - quite the opposite, but since I've yet to encounter someone willing to listen to the explanation I'm not going to waste my time going into it here.
If you want to use prayer in schools as an example, let's do that. Prayer in Public schools wasn't rejected b/c Atheists want to raise a nation of godless heathens, it was rejected b/c it imposes religion on the non-religious. But, I hear you cry, schools force religious children to listen to the scientific explanation of things, thus imposing Atheism on them. Atheism does not equal Science, folks. Scientific theory -- and lets remember it is all theory -- and evolution do not negate religious explanations. The fact of the matter is that a child raised in a religous home can go home at the end of the day and pray, or be taught the beliefs of their religion. A non-religous child, on the other hand, would be ostricised or made to feel singled out by a class of children around him/her praying, The Free Will god provided us to choose our path would be undermined b/c what kind of choice is it if you're forced to practice? And what about children who are religous but believe prayer to be a non-humble and selfish act?
sure, you say, they can just sit in silence while everyone else prays. Yes, but that doesn't negate the social pressure forced on the child to just do as everyone else is doing.
And now I'm ranting, which I didn't want to do, so I'll stop.
My point is that Atheists ruling america isn't going to bring about the apocolypse so many seem to think, b/c most atheists respect the separation of church and state built into our nation's foundation. Yep, that same separation of church and state that so many religions despise b/c it's anti-god is exactly what will keep the 'anti-god' (which, btw, atheism is NOT) from having the disastrous effect predicted.

Answer 6

Until recently, I would have said "never in a million years." But some people have begun to notice that the godidiots -- right, left and in between -- simply can't be trusted with power at the federal, state or local level. Religion is inherently authoritarian and Americans don't care for that.

So who knows? -- maybe in another generation or six, they may be willing to try someone else.

Therefore, my answer now is a qualified: Maybe.

Answer 7

Well when John F. Kennedy was elected president no one ever thought a Roman Catholic could be president. It goes to show that if the politician is a good one and knows their stuff then what their personal beliefs are doesn't matter so long as the people feel they are getting good representation in government. I can see it happening one day.

Answer 8

Yes, Atheists will rule the States soon. W Bush keeps the good work...

Answer 9

I would prefer that they simply manage it rather than rule it, but I guess I'm just an old sentimental fool.

Considering that the first several Presidents were nonreligious Deists and Unitarians, I'd say there is some hope, assuming the nutters don't get us all killed in the meantime.

Answer 10

If you think President Bush cares about religion, you are naive. He just used it to get the religious right behind him at election time.

So an atheist already rules America.

Answer 11

We already have most of the money. I think it sort of depends on your definition of "rule". A good leader will always allow his outward appearance to be guided by those he wishes to control.

Atheism & agnosticism are the only intellectually honest reactions to the question "why are we here?". Anyone professing great faith is only doing so to either please/fit in with the neighbors or to screw their customers more efficiently, otherwise why not keep it to oneself?

May the Flying Spaghetti Monster bless you...