Would you vote for an Atheist?

[bankside]

I would never vote for an athiest because of this bit of nickel and dime logic. If a person believes there is no higher power and no afterlife, I think he would be crazy not to rob cheat and steal as much as he could as long as he knew he could get away with it. If we are simply biological robots, there is no meaning to ethics, morality, altruism, or especially conscience.
I don't care if a guy belongs to an organized religion, but I think he has to believe in something beyond this material universe.

LOL I hope you aren't working at my bank when you suffer a lapse in faith.

 

[Dolmance]

I would never vote for an athiest because of this bit of nickel and dime logic. If a person believes there is no higher power and no afterlife, I think he would be crazy not to rob cheat and steal as much as he could as long as he knew he could get away with it. If we are simply biological robots, there is no meaning to ethics, morality, altruism, or especially conscience.
I don't care if a guy belongs to an organized religion, but I think he has to believe in something beyond this material universe.

Nonsense. As the behaviours of those who DO proclaim belief in a "higher power" frequently demonstrate, said belief and morality are NOT contingent upon one another. Ethics, morality, altruism and conscience are concepts that can be arrived at and adhered to independently as a matter of consideration and contemplation without recourse to any kind of metaphysic belief whatsoever. It's also interesting to note that so many who proclaim belief in a "higher power" tend to regard the maintennance of that "higher power" and its appropriate belief systems far and beyond the well being of individual human beings.

I've never had any good reason to believe in any metaphysic or divine entities, yet I have never in my life been in a violent altercation, and my principles are based in humanitarianism. The job I currently have was originally a voluntary position in which i was required to give up my own time to work in rather shitty conditions with people who, owing to accidents of their biology, could become petulant, mean, petty and even violent at the drop of a hat. Why? Because basic humanity does not require any kind of abstruse belief in order to function; all it requires is the considered acknowledgement that we are all human beings in the same basic condition, working under the same restrictions, needs and desires etc. Once considered and acknowledged, humanitarian and unselfosh behaviour necessarily follows, as it is about making the best of our lot collectively, rather than individually.

Ironically, most of the manifestations of "belief in higher powers" that i come across are patently selfish; they consist almost exclusively of a desire for individual continuation beyond biological death, of a hope to attain some hideously simplistic state of "paradise." Moral behaviour on the basis of such desire is not moral behaviour; it is pure selfishness that happens to have positive consequences for others.

 

[Slaveboy]

If you mean voting for someone who isn't being steared by myths, ofcourse. We've (not me ofcourse) have voted for a theist and look at what happened. I feel that atheism is not a belief system, it's just a title of not believing in a God(s). That being said, most people aren't swayed by their own beliefs and just say they're a Christian, Catholic, Jew ect.

 

[discreetlatin76]

I have more respect for someone who is good for goodness' sake over someone who is good because they are afraid of an angry cloud grandpa in the sky. Of course.

 

[bulge]

I have never known the degree of laity or lack of laity the guys I voted for.

 

[bankside]

I have never known the degree of laity or lack of laity the guys I voted for.

Bulge, this thread is about religion, not how much someone gets laid.



Though you do raise an interesting question.

Giggity.

 

[bulge]

Laity in the French sense "laïcité"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laity

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laïcité

 

[AsianDream]

Sadly we get the rulers we deserve - whether Atheist or otherwise

 

[Looking4Fun2009]

Even though such a question is common in the United States, it is actually an absurd thought. Men and women are elected (or should be elected) to run their jurisdiction based upon the law -- NOT set moral standards.

And for that reason, I would vote for an atheist, a Baptist, a Jew, or a Muslim. But to tell you the truth, I don't wanna know what they are, because I don't think it's important when it comes to being a successful leader.

Depends on the atheist. A good candidate otherwise? Yes.

A bad candidate otherwise? No.

Would I vote for a Catholic, a Protestant, a Jew? Same answers.

Would I vote for a Mormon, a Baha'i, a Hindu? Same answers.

Would I vote for a Moslem, a Jain, a Buddhist? Same answers.

Would I vote for a Scientologist? Probably not. Those people are crazy!

I agree with both of you, I'm not American (and, IMO, there seem to be more issues between Atheists and Religious people in the U.S. than anywhere else in the world, barring perhaps certain Islamic countries).

Someone's beliefs, or lack of beliefs, shouldn't come into it. That said, if people were offered a choice between a Hindu, Jew, Muslim, or even gay candidate, and a white heterosexual male Atheist, they'd most likely choose the Atheist.

 

[jeraldjamescapao]

Religion is a very sensitive topic to discuss, but for me, since I am a Seventh-Day Adventist, I don't vote Atheism. Everyone has a Supreme Being above them, no matter what religion/sector you belong. Atheism believes there is no God... Oh Oh.. a Big "Disagree" from me. Look at yourself, you are one of the Masterpieces that God hath made!

 

[TickTockMan]

This thread is being played out in my city right now in it's own way.