It seems to me that atheists don't support democracy. If a country was 80% Christian and voted that Christian laws should be passed, would atheists accept the laws as democratic? If the majority of a society is Christian and wants Christian laws shouldn't those laws be respected?
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Current time: November 18, 2024, 12:25 am
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Atheism and democracy
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That would be a theocracy. The constitution provides protection against such a disaster.
  (May 13, 2012 at 8:09 am)StatCrux Wrote: It seems to me that atheists don't support democracy. If a country was 80% Christian and voted that Christian laws should be passed, would atheists accept the laws as democratic? If the majority of a society is Christian and wants Christian laws shouldn't those laws be respected? We have allready had that. It was called the dark ages.
"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful" - Edward Gibbon (Offen misattributed to Lucius Annaeus Seneca or Seneca the Younger) (Thanks to apophenia for the correction)
'I am driven by two main philosophies: Know more about the world than I knew yesterday and lessen the suffering of others. You'd be surprised how far that gets you' - Neil deGrasse Tyson "Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it." - Mark Twain 
The OP seems to be confusing church and state, which christians do very well and which atheists generally seek to keep separate.
Trying to update my sig ...
(May 13, 2012 at 8:58 am)StatCrux Wrote:(May 13, 2012 at 8:50 am)Paul the Human Wrote: That would be a theocracy. The constitution provides protection against such a disaster.I'm not talking about any specific country, just in principle. What if 80% of the society wanted a theocracy? Thankfully, the hypothetical country of which you speak does not exist. If it did, it might be a different interpretation of religion than you were hoping. Separation of church and state protects you as well as me. 
Lets be honest though, democracy is a bit shit.
Cunt
Democracy in America is only a part of the system. We are not "a Democracy", as people seem to think. We are a Democratic Republic. And that's debatable at this point. Corporations run this country... Not "The People".
(May 13, 2012 at 8:58 am)StatCrux Wrote: I'm not talking about any specific country, just in principle. What if 80% of the society wanted a theocracy? Ahhhhhh . . . the tyranny of the majority question. You can't remove this question from a specific political structure. If you have a country in which the citizens have decided that all rights are open to a vote, then this would be acceptable. However, most modern democracies are founded on the idea that the individual has rights that cannot be taken away by a general vote. So, the idea that someone could be forced by a vote to support a particular religious view would violate the individual's right to religious freedom in some countries (such as the United States). I do feel the need to point out an obvious issue with your original post - atheism is simply a statement about a particular knowledge claim. There is no atheist political view. I am an atheist and I believe that the secular constitutional republic the most brilliant form of government ever created, and that it has provided far more individual religious freedom than any theocracy could ever hope for. I'm sure that there are atheists who would disagree with me -- such is the nature of atheism! 
I am thinking that this theoretical country where 80% are christian does not exist...along with this god thingy that xtians keep banging on about.
"The Universe is run by the complex interweaving of three elements: energy, matter, and enlightened self-interest." G'Kar-B5
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