Would You Vote for an Atheist President?

[Washburne]

I'm not really sure how to explain what I'm thinking. With a Christian President (at least in an ideal world) I can trust that he/she would stand the same place I stand on abortion, gay marriage, etc.

In an ideal world yes and that's understandable but as we know it isn't an ideal world.
I'll narrow it down to two questions and lets see if you can answer them. This is just about me being curious so it's not like you need to answer or if you rather discuss it in pm's it's fine by me.

1. Do every christian according to you have the same values when it comes to abortion, gay marriage, etc?

2. If you answer on question 1 is no, would you rather vote for a christian president that don't share your values on abortion, gay marriage, etc or an atheist that do share your values on those subjects?

If an athiest candidate and a Christian candidate both had the same stand on issues that I have, I would still vote for the Christian because I'm Christian and would want them to advance. Does that make sense? On the same coin, if two candidates we running and they were both atheist, I wouldn't not vote for them because of their belief (or lack-there-of). It would come down to who I think is best for the position.

That I totally understand and would expect nothing less.

 

[MandaMeena]

I see what you're saying, but this country was also founded on Christian beliefs. That's why our pledge says "One nation under God...". This being said, if someone was Atheist (or any other religion) and wanted to run for President, as long as they could respect the Constitution and other documents from the founding of our country, I might still vote for them.

I'd just like to comment on the right to not say the pledge in schools. If a student doesn't want to say the pledge, they don't have to. They don't even have to stand up if the don't want to. Usually the students' reason for doing this was because they were opposed to saying that very line "One nation under God." Of course, sometimes they wouldn't stand because it was 7:55 in the morning, and they were just lazy. But most of the students I talked to about it had the same reason. They knew they had the right to not say the pledge if they didn't want to, and they exercised that right.

This country was founded on Christian beliefs, which made sense back in those days. To me the most important thing is that all men are created equal. Some would argue that this is a very Christian idea, but with all of the anti-gay and anti-immigration sentiments going on in this country, especially in the overtly Christian politicians, I'm wondering at their being Christians at all.

 

[VisionGirl]

Not all of the "founding fathers" were Christians, not by a long shot. The nation was built on democratic values, not necessarily Christian values.

and for places like America who for claiming to be the land of the free to repeal stupid laws that prevent Atheists from even acheiving political stations above a certain level.

I'm not sure what you're saying here. There are no laws in the U.S. prohibiting atheists from running for public office. In fact, there is absolutely no religious requirement in the Constitution for a presidential candidate or any candidate for US Congress.

 

[Harley]

1. Do every christian according to you have the same values when it comes to abortion, gay marriage, etc?

Um, well, I have a different definition of Christian than a lot of people do, so if they fit into what I consider a Christian, then yes, they generally have the same values.

2. If you answer on question 1 is no, would you rather vote for a christian president that don't share your values on abortion, gay marriage, etc or an atheist that do share your values on those subjects?

If someone calls themselves a Christian (e.g Obama) but they don't share my values (he is pro-choice, I am pro-life) I would first and foremost question whether I believed they were Christian (in his case, I dont) and would at that point decide who shared my values better. If a person who said they were Christian didnt share my values and the person who said they don't believe in God did share my beliefs, I would vote the athiest simply because I dont belive that person was a Christian and it would be basically choosing between athiests to me.






Also, I read someone say that America was founded on democratic beliefs and I do want to point out that when America was founded, democrats were what are, today, considered conservatives. I dont remember what the other party was called though.

 

[MandaMeena]

Also, I read someone say that America was founded on democratic beliefs and I do want to point out that when America was founded, democrats were what are, today, considered conservatives. I dont remember what the other party was called though.

I think that what they were referring to was a democracy, not a party name. Funny thing is, this country isn't a democracy, it's a republic. And yes, the party ideals did switch back in the day, so one could say that democrats were republicans, and republicans were democrats. And at that time, (at least around Lincoln's day), the two major parties were still called republican and democrat

 

[VisionGirl]

I was not referring to the democratic party, I was referring to the concept and ideology of democracy.

 

[Washburne]

Um, well, I have a different definition of Christian than a lot of people do, so if they fit into what I consider a Christian, then yes, they generally have the same values.

This is getting interesting. So if you don't mind, how would you describe a christian and what values do they have in the subjects you think are important?

 

[Tome]

I am obviously not from the USA, but it seems peoples from around the world have answered about this particular topic. I would without a doubt vote for an Atheist President. Their beliefs don't hinder mine. Obviously if a President FORCED the population to abandon their own religions, I wouldn't agree with it. Everyone is free to believe what they want to believe.

I still think though that even if a President was Atheist, he/she probably wouldn't mention it at every occasion 🙂 At least not on purpose.

 

[xfivebyfive]

If someone calls themselves a Christian (e.g Obama) but they don't share my values (he is pro-choice, I am pro-life) I would first and foremost question whether I believed they were Christian (in his case, I dont) and would at that point decide who shared my values better. If a person who said they were Christian didnt share my values and the person who said they don't believe in God did share my beliefs, I would vote the athiest simply because I dont belive that person was a Christian and it would be basically choosing between athiests to me.

I'm a Christian, Catholic, but I am very much Pro-Choice and pro-Gay Marriage. But I am most definitely a Christian. But from what you said, it sounds like you wouldn't consider me a Christian. I consider a Christian someone who believes in Christ, and his teachings. However I do not believe in mixing my religious views with my political views, and I wouldn't want the person running my country to have their religious views impacting their political decisions.

Our country is a Democratic Republic, btw.

 

[Harley]

This is getting interesting. So if you don't mind, how would you describe a christian and what values do they have in the subjects you think are important?

I'm a Christian, Catholic, but I am very much Pro-Choice and pro-Gay Marriage. But I am most definitely a Christian. But from what you said, it sounds like you wouldn't consider me a Christian. I consider a Christian someone who believes in Christ, and his teachings. However I do not believe in mixing my religious views with my political views, and I wouldn't want the person running my country to have their religious views impacting their political decisions.

I'll try to answer both of your replies but I don't want to get too far off topic. I also believe a Christian believes in Christ and his teachings ("There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit", Romans 8:1) Meaning that someone who is a Christian will walk after the Spirit, will center their lives around the Holy Spirit. This means, to me that a person cannont separate their religious views from their political views, they would contradict.

The only issue I will not waiver on is abortion. I would vote for a President who pushes a pro-gay marriage agenda that was pro-life before I supported an anti-gay marriage President who was pro-choice. I'm pro-life because I believe the Bible teaches that abortion is wrong under the commandment "Thou shalt not kill" - Exodus 20:13 (which I acknowledge can be debated but that would be too off topic here and now.)


As far as gay marriage, I do not support it. For a non-biblical stance, it's more based on the fact that I believe a child, in order to develop successfully, needs a strong mother and father figure in their life. I know that there are billions and jillions and so on number of kids who don't get that and still are successfull, but I believe in giving every child the best chance they can get. I also believe (and I know this will probably ignite fire in people but hey, you asked) that God ordained homosexuality as a sin.

(Lev. 18:22, "You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination."1

Lev. 20:13, "If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltness is upon them"

1 Cor. 6:9-10, "Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God."

Rom. 1:26-28, "For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. 28And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper.")

So as a follower of the Bible, I believe it's wrong and would not want a pro-gay marriage agenda pushed.

My intention is/was not to offend anyone so please take this as my opinion and upbringing and not a judgment on anyone. I love everyone 🙂

 

[NY State of Mind]

I just wanna thank everyone who posted in this thread...some people went a little off topic lol..but nonetheless interesting perspectives...everyone is pretty much like minded which means our Boards Rule!!! lol...there are good reads in here so thanks again

 

[kristin1105]

I wouldn't mind if they believed something that was different from my beliefs but I can't imagine how someone can claim they believe absolutely nothing. I'm not saying everyone has to be a part of some religion. At least for me its scary to think that once you die theres nothing.

 

[Bungle Jerry]

It's pretty important to me to vote for someone secular - by which I mean not necessarily non-religious (my personal political hero was an ordained minister) but not basing their political decisions on their religious beliefs. That's pretty important for me.

It's a peculiarly American thing to want your 'leader' to 'represent' you or to be a model of the kind of person you think ideally people should be. The idea that American presidents need to be, for example, 'family men' is bizarre to me. How we could think that affects their ability to do the job they were elected to do, I don't know.

 

[sisterofmercy]

It's pretty important to me to vote for someone secular - by which I mean not necessarily non-religious (my personal political hero was an ordained minister) but not basing their political decisions on their religious beliefs. That's pretty important for me.

It's a peculiarly American thing to want your 'leader' to 'represent' you or to be a model of the kind of person you think ideally people should be. The idea that American presidents need to be, for example, 'family men' is bizarre to me. How we could think that affects their ability to do the job they were elected to do, I don't know.

I agree with this, pretty much. It's a different system over here but I wouldn't care if the prime minister believed in invisible pink unicorns, as long as he kept it separate from anything political and it didn't affect his rational judgement. I would prefer somebody who is secular, but I don't think it's a necessary requirement.

I think the major difference between the idea of a president and a prime minister is that the former is almost like a representative of the ideal American almost, whilst in the UK it's more about the politics and less about the person (though one could argue that's starting to change).

 

[fabcruz]

I'm with you here all the way. But then no big shock since I'm Swedish too 🙂

The sad thing is, in Brazil someone can pull the God card in an election and people will vote for them... Religion's such a damn big deal in this country, it pisses me off to no end...

stupid jungle people...

But yeah. I'd totally vote for an atheist president...

 

[Harley]

It's interesting to me when people say they want their leader to separate their religious views from their political views. How does that work? For example, if their religious views say they're opposed to using nuclear weapons, does that mean in order to "separate" their views, they would be pro-nukes at work?

 

[Bungle Jerry]

I agree with this, pretty much. It's a different system over here but I wouldn't care if the prime minister believed in invisible pink unicorns, as long as he kept it separate from anything political and it didn't affect his rational judgement. I would prefer somebody who is secular, but I don't think it's a necessary requirement.

I think the major difference between the idea of a president and a prime minister is that the former is almost like a representative of the ideal American almost, whilst in the UK it's more about the politics and less about the person (though one could argue that's starting to change).

Yeah I think it's also important that Americans vote for the individual, whereas in the UK, or Canada where I'm from, you vote for a local member of parliament and that indirectly determines who becomes PM. You often hear, say, "Vote Obama!" in the States and rarely "Vote Democrat!", where in Canada the answer to the question "Who are you voting for?" would likely be the name of a party.

 

[Mumrik]

It's interesting to me when people say they want their leader to separate their religious views from their political views. How does that work? For example, if their religious views say they're opposed to using nuclear weapons, does that mean in order to "separate" their views, they would be pro-nukes at work?

To me, to separate their religious views from work means they don't use their religion as an excuse/reason for whatever they're for/opposed to. In an ideal world, politicans wouldn't even bring up their religion at all, period. Of course, this is my point of view and probably wouldn't work for others at all.

 

[Tueuse de Vampires]

I wouldn't mind if they believed something that was different from my beliefs but I can't imagine how someone can claim they believe absolutely nothing. I'm not saying everyone has to be a part of some religion. At least for me its scary to think that once you die theres nothing.

I can't imagine how so many people can just believe. It just doesn't work for me. How can people blindly follow some religion whose claims they'll never get hard evidence for? I guess that is what true faith is all about, still following although you will never get ultimate proof (not in this life anyway), but for me it just feels like deceiving myself.

I come from an atheist family, so maybe that's why I don't feel the necessity to have any spiritual beliefs. Why does everybody need to know what happens (or if anything does happen) after we die? Or our purpose in life? Whatever question, you name it. Sure it's nice to speculate about those, but it's not like the true answer (which I still think is impossible to obtain for us at this point...maybe in a few centuries) really helps you out in any way...

And as far as "Christian Values" (replace by any other religion) go...there's such a thing as moral and common sense...I don't see why you need spiritual guides for appropriate conduct.

 

[Harley]

I can't imagine how so many people can just believe. It just doesn't work for me. How can people blindly follow some religion whose claims they'll never get hard evidence for?

I don't know that this will necessarily explain it, but to me, it's another part of who I am. Like, for example, you eat food because you're taught that it sustains your life, and you get confirmation by being full/satisfied and you keep on living. Therefore, it is now part of your life to eat, in order to sustain yourself. As far as my beliefs go, I've been taught that it maintains my life and I get confirmation by being (what I feel is) a better person. Therefore, it is now part of my life to have faith, in order to sustain myself.