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As things stand now, it's impossible. Hidell is right about the one elected atheist, I believe his
name is Pete Stark and he represents Fremont, CA. But nobody knew he was an atheist when he was
elected... Nobody bothered to ask about his religion until after he was elected! Statistically, a
large number of Congress should be nonbelievers. So either the religious seek power more, or members
of Congress lie. Wonder which it is? |
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Personally, I don't think God is a politician, more a dictator, so His relationship with democracy
and the American political system reeks of the apparent brainwashed madness of the nation. I can
understand why a president can need "God" to carry the weight of his decisions, but to me for
politics and religion to interweave is madness, brainwashing, look at Northern Ireland, the majority
were prods or tims and had no idea or inclination to the pros and cons of remaining part of the
British Isles or joining with the south. Religion touching politics is an affront on democracy, and
I agree with Mr.flagg that it will be a long time before we see an American president that is non
religious because there are too many mindless religious zealots whos vote could be won just by
believing their President was following Gods word. |
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This is probably true, but how many countries are there in the world where a fundamentalist
Christian could ever become president or prime minister? The number of evangelical Christians is
growing in the UK, while attendance at traditional churches is dropping, yet there is virtually no
chance that Britons would ever vote for a fundamentalist Christian, no matter how charismatic he/she
was, or however compelling his/her policy proposals were. Prejudices exist on all sides.
Atheists probably find it more difficult to win public office in the US than in most other western
states, but it's really not very easy for an atheist to occupy the highest position in the land in
any Anglo-Saxon country. If we take a look at the UK's prime ministers, almost all have claimed to
be Christians. We know of Tony Blair's strong Anglo-Catholic faith, while Gordon Brown frequently
refers to his upbringing in the Church of Scotland. John Major is an Anglican, Margaret Thatcher a
Methodist, James Callaghan was a Baptist, while Harold Wilson was a Congregationalist. As far as I
know, Clement Attlee was Britain's only atheist prime minister.
The situation is very similar in Canada as well, where all prime ministers except one have been
practicing Christians. Stephen Harper, the current prime minister, is a member of the Missionary
Alliance, while his predecessor, Paul Martin, is a devout Catholic. Jean Chrétien, Brian Mulroney,
John Turner, Joe Clark and Pierre Trudeau were all practicing Catholics as well. The only openly
agnostic prime minister was the Progressive Conservative Kim Campbell, who referred to herself as a
lapsed Anglican. |
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It may happen but they would have to lie about it to win. For a potential president to admit to
being an athiest would be political suicide. Hidell correctly points out that only one man in
office is a confirmed Athiest. How sad is that. |
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Until the religious grow up, probably not, which is sad, but we do have a majority of Americans who
are fundamentally irrational.
Kind of explains why the U.S. Is in such a mess right now, doesn't it? |
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It's sad, but true. |
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Not only could an atheist not become president, it would be virtually impossible for an atheist, at
least someone who was openly atheist, to win any elective office. I believe there is only one overt
atheist among America's many senators and congressmen, and he represents a district in San Francisco
or somewhere like that.
The Washington Post featured the results of a poll not long ago in which a huge number of Americans
said they would not vote for an atheist. It seems to be the last publicly acceptable prejudice. |
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You are so right man, an atheist would no way be elected because of the strength of Christianity in
USA. |
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Neither could anybody of any kind of minority group. |
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02 Jul 2008 00:18
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