Congressmen announces he is an Atheist...should this even be an issue?

Question

A Congressmen announced yesterday that he is in fact an Atheist.( I am a Christian BTW) I was listening to talk radio this morning and they are outraged over the fact he is not a Christian and openly omitting he's Atheist. Shouldn't a person's belief or in this case "disbelief" be a PRIVATE matter. What do they think he's going to do advocate the boiling in oil of children? We have a man running for President who is LDS, as a Christian I could care less if a politician is Jewish, Catholic, Muslim or worships the moon & a sun God. Not everyone will agree with my particular religious view. Everyday I work with, eat with, talk to, etc with people who are not carbon copies of myself & beliefs.

Am I the only one who see's it this way...or am I missing something here?

Answer 1

Your assumption is that a person's personal beliefs or belief systems will not influence how they vote or will have any affect on your life. You are greatly mistaken.

Already we are all forced to support programs like abortion and the teaching of evolution in schools regardless of what your personal beliefs are because those who believe in such things have had these things written into the law.

So what laws could be enacted that would further an atheist's agenda? How about marriage and civil rights for homosexuals; revoking the tax-free status of churches (they are a business; aren't they?); continued practice of partial birth abortion, allowing illegal aliens access to Federal and state benefits designed for American citizens; and other issues which may, or may not be important to you now but could affect you in the future.

Make no mistake; a congressman's personal beliefs do influence what they think and what they do. And eventually will affect your life also.

Answer 2

I agree with you completely. But you have to consider who the loudest people are that represent the Christian community. The loudest are usually either the most conservative or the most liberal. It is the extremes that get the news coverage the and talk shows because they cause controversy and get a reaction out of people.

Many people in the Christian conservative community view the government as losing God. To see someone that has no belief in god is a direct violation of their goal to "bring God back" into everything (schools, government, and so on). I, however, am one that doesn't think like that. It shouldn't be an issue, but sadly, it is. In a perfect world, it wouldn't matter at all. I do see it as a private manner. In fact, I don't think you should be able to go online and see every politician's religious beliefs. I think that's an invasion of privacy. Sadly, there is too much misunderstanding of different religions. However, you aren't alone in your thoughts on this.

Answer 3

Apparently it came about because some group wanted to find out how high an atheist might have gotten in the government.

He didn't so much announce it as admit to it. Not ashamedly, you understand, but he answered a direct question with the truth.

According to the article I read, 45% of people would rather have a black, woman or gay president than an atheist!

I don't know if that's heartening or not...

Answer 4

I think it should be a private matter. Unfortunately, I bet alot of Christians will think otherwise. I've actually seen Christians on here say they wouldn't vote for an Atheist President, even if the Atheist will be more likely to run the country well.

Answer 5

I think the most important thing that everyone has overlooked recently in America is that this country was started so that people could leave religious persecution behind. It is okay that peoples' various religions tell them not to do certain things, but it is constitutionally wrong for these same people to tell others that they cannot do what it is they don't believe in i.e. being gay, abortion, etc. You have to change the constitution to get rid of religious freedom to do that. So a congressman ruling from his religious belief is not constitutional, and people should realize that.

Answer 6

You are probably a rarity.

Atheism continues to be specifically legislated against in a few states; my state, Arkansas, is one of them.

This announcement is a welcomed departure to the norm where atheists have remained in the closet in order to achieve their successful campaign bids in government. An atheist boldly announcing publicly that his beliefs are grounded in reality is a step in the right direction for the advancement of other Atheist and non-religious candidates and their issues. (I also see this as a giant step forward for our nation.) I for one feel that it's high time for this change to take place in the United States. We are a people who have shown that we respect the important nature of separation of church and state, at least by paying it lip service... It's time to test the depth of our faith in this democratic pillar of our society and to see how well this candidate fares. I suspect that his chances for making a successful bid for office are less than fifty-fifty now that he has spoken out with candor and honesty. I'm not quite sure how we arrived here, but it seems somewhat clear that we like our elected representation to be dishonest.... Go figure that out.

Should his Atheism be an issue? No... but it's certain that it already stands as an unavoidable one since there is little doubt that the religious right will be strongly against him.

[][][] r u randy? [][][]
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Answer 7

It's only an issue if their views are obviously at odds with their responsibility. We have a health minister who is an "out" Christian, and he does things like giving government funding to abortion advice clinics run by church groups. This is not right.

But your point stands, any person's beliefs are not automatically a problem.

Answer 8

We degree issues by comparing them. What are you comparing this to with the intention to make the determination that an unusual style of Democrat congress each and every person isn't attending this convention? Democrats in states the place the president isn't commonplace ought to do nicely to bypass the convention.

Answer 9

What does one's religious beliefs have to do with holding a political office.

There is supposed to be a seperation of church and state. Anyone who would hesitate to vote for someone just because they are an athiest shouldn't be allowed to vote in the first place because of their biased judgement.

Answer 10

with every other politician proclaiming to be holier than thou, this is a real big thing. It's probably political suicide but you've got to admit, the man has balls.Finally someone who dares to admit his judgments and decisions are based on real life experience and not some bronze age dogma!