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Any room for atheists in the Republican Party??..
December 28, 2010 at 2:52 pm
(This post was last modified: December 28, 2010 at 2:52 pm by dave4shmups.)
Please don't take offense at the question, but it seems to me that there are more religious conservatives in the Republican party then in any other political party in this country. I could be wrong, but here's the thing-I like Republican ideas, I just DON'T like people like Glenn Beck, and Gingrich in the party who think that secular Americans are destroying the country. And these ARE people who are very active in the party. I am with the Republican party on health care, the environment, and foreign policy, but it just seems to me like there's not a lot of room for secular Americans within the party. Perhaps that's just the image I'm getting from the media.
Here in Denver, we have conservative columnist David Harsanyi who is an Atheist. I'd like to learn about more Republicans who are, or at least who don't cling to any religious beliefs.
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RE: Any room for atheists in the Republican Party??..
December 28, 2010 at 2:55 pm
I'm sure they'd welcome your vote, even if they felt dirty afterwards.
You can fix ignorance, you can't fix stupid.
Tinkety Tonk and down with the Nazis.
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RE: Any room for atheists in the Republican Party??..
December 28, 2010 at 3:07 pm
(This post was last modified: December 28, 2010 at 3:09 pm by TheDarkestOfAngels.)
(December 28, 2010 at 2:52 pm)dave4shmups Wrote: Please don't take offense at the question, but it seems to me that there are more religious conservatives in the Republican party then in any other political party in this country. I could be wrong, but here's the thing-I like Republican ideas, I just DON'T like people like Glenn Beck, and Gingrich in the party who think that secular Americans are destroying the country. And these ARE people who are very active in the party. I am with the Republican party on health care, the environment, and foreign policy, but it just seems to me like there's not a lot of room for secular Americans within the party. Perhaps that's just the image I'm getting from the media.
Here in Denver, we have conservative columnist David Harsanyi who is an Atheist. I'd like to learn about more Republicans who are, or at least who don't cling to any religious beliefs.
I'm sure there is as much room for atheists in the republican party as there is room for gays in the republican party. They'll take your vote, but they still hate you and will vote to take away as many rights from you as they can. The party at large still seems to cow to the religious right, so don't expect much.
Given your views on healthcare, the environment, and foreign policy, you might feel more at home with the libertarian party, who typically have the same stances on domestic policy - which is to say that they prefer a 'hands off' approach to most domestic issues.
Personally, I disagree with both (republicans and libertarians) parties on many issues, but I find the libertarians several orders of magnitude more sane these days - what with the whole astro-terf tea party movement going about.
If today you can take a thing like evolution and make it a crime to teach in the public schools, tomorrow you can make it a crime to teach it in the private schools and next year you can make it a crime to teach it to the hustings or in the church. At the next session you may ban books and the newspapers...
Ignorance and fanaticism are ever busy and need feeding. Always feeding and gloating for more. Today it is the public school teachers; tomorrow the private. The next day the preachers and the lecturers, the magazines, the books, the newspapers. After a while, Your Honor, it is the setting of man against man and creed against creed until with flying banners and beating drums we are marching backward to the glorious ages of the sixteenth centry when bigots lighted fagots to burn the men who dared to bring any intelligence and enlightenment and culture to the human mind. ~Clarence Darrow, at the Scopes Monkey Trial, 1925
Politics is supposed to be the second-oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first. ~Ronald Reagan
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RE: Any room for atheists in the Republican Party??..
December 28, 2010 at 3:16 pm
(This post was last modified: December 28, 2010 at 3:18 pm by dave4shmups.)
(December 28, 2010 at 3:07 pm)TheDarkestOfAngels Wrote: (December 28, 2010 at 2:52 pm)dave4shmups Wrote: Please don't take offense at the question, but it seems to me that there are more religious conservatives in the Republican party then in any other political party in this country. I could be wrong, but here's the thing-I like Republican ideas, I just DON'T like people like Glenn Beck, and Gingrich in the party who think that secular Americans are destroying the country. And these ARE people who are very active in the party. I am with the Republican party on health care, the environment, and foreign policy, but it just seems to me like there's not a lot of room for secular Americans within the party. Perhaps that's just the image I'm getting from the media.
Here in Denver, we have conservative columnist David Harsanyi who is an Atheist. I'd like to learn about more Republicans who are, or at least who don't cling to any religious beliefs.
I'm sure there is as much room for atheists in the republican party as there is room for gays in the republican party. They'll take your vote, but they still hate you and will vote to take away as many rights from you as they can. The party at large still seems to cow to the religious right, so don't expect much.
Given your views on healthcare, the environment, and foreign policy, you might feel more at home with the libertarian party, who typically have the same stances on domestic policy - which is to say that they prefer a 'hands off' approach to most domestic issues.
Personally, I disagree with both (republicans and libertarians) parties on many issues, but I find the libertarians several orders of magnitude more sane these days - what with the whole astro-terf tea party movement going about.
Yeah, the libertarian party doesn't have anything against Gay marriage, or abortion. A party that has a more hands off approach to domestic policy would fit me well.
BTW, I love your signature, it's true!
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RE: Any room for atheists in the Republican Party??..
December 28, 2010 at 3:28 pm
(December 28, 2010 at 2:52 pm)dave4shmups Wrote: I just DON'T like people like Glenn Beck, and Gingrich in the party who think that secular Americans are destroying the country. And these ARE people who are very active in the party.
You summed up what caused me to officially leave the Republican Party. I did it back under the W. Bush administration when it was blindingly obvious that the party was dominated by the religious right. Truth be told, the shift began during the 80s but I was in denial for so long.
Also, my own politics had shifted from libertarian to moderate libertarian/liberal anyway (moderate economic, liberal social). However, even if I still was libertarian, I couldn't vote with a party that hates me so much.
Sad to say, with our two-party system, we don't have a lot of options.
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RE: Any room for atheists in the Republican Party??..
December 29, 2010 at 1:31 pm
I think that the religious right is drawn to the Republican party because in reality, they share a great deal of the same values. The Republicans basically came into their own with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; that's when most of the Southern Democrats abandoned the party and joined the Republicans, who were against the Act. IMO, that's the genesis of the Repub's racist roots. The rest of the mindset follows Southern Baptist ideals and those are rooted in Calvinism. In any case, the mix of religion and politics is toxic waste and like a toxin, is slowly killing this country.
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RE: Any room for atheists in the Republican Party??..
December 31, 2010 at 6:43 pm
(This post was last modified: December 31, 2010 at 6:45 pm by dave4shmups.)
(December 29, 2010 at 1:31 pm)technophobe Wrote: I think that the religious right is drawn to the Republican party because in reality, they share a great deal of the same values. The Republicans basically came into their own with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; that's when most of the Southern Democrats abandoned the party and joined the Republicans, who were against the Act. IMO, that's the genesis of the Repub's racist roots. The rest of the mindset follows Southern Baptist ideals and those are rooted in Calvinism. In any case, the mix of religion and politics is toxic waste and like a toxin, is slowly killing this country.
I agree! I'm not if sure this is the right place to ask on these forums, but I am not sure where to stand on the issue of global warming-I know the science behind it, but it's become so damned politicized it seems really hard to get to the truth about whether or not human-caused global warming is in fact happening. And I want to know. I have seen "An Inconvenient Truth", but then read from some who say that it's junk science.
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RE: Any room for atheists in the Republican Party??..
December 31, 2010 at 7:52 pm
(December 31, 2010 at 6:43 pm)dave4shmups Wrote: (December 29, 2010 at 1:31 pm)technophobe Wrote: I think that the religious right is drawn to the Republican party because in reality, they share a great deal of the same values. The Republicans basically came into their own with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; that's when most of the Southern Democrats abandoned the party and joined the Republicans, who were against the Act. IMO, that's the genesis of the Repub's racist roots. The rest of the mindset follows Southern Baptist ideals and those are rooted in Calvinism. In any case, the mix of religion and politics is toxic waste and like a toxin, is slowly killing this country.
I agree! I'm not if sure this is the right place to ask on these forums, but I am not sure where to stand on the issue of global warming-I know the science behind it, but it's become so damned politicized it seems really hard to get to the truth about whether or not human-caused global warming is in fact happening. And I want to know. I have seen "An Inconvenient Truth", but then read from some who say that it's junk science. Ask yourself this, do you want to take the risk that it will destroy the world? if it's fake you will end with 2 things, a lot less polluted world, and cleaner tech, of course it will cost money.
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RE: Any room for atheists in the Republican Party??..
December 31, 2010 at 9:26 pm
Global warming isn't going to destroy the planet...it'll destroy humans on the planet. Whether that is a good thing or not is debatable. Anyway, I am against any government spending where all the facts are not known. In the case of global warming, I remain skeptical about whether humans are actually causing it or not.
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RE: Any room for atheists in the Republican Party??..
December 31, 2010 at 9:36 pm
(December 31, 2010 at 9:26 pm)Tiberius Wrote: Global warming isn't going to destroy the planet...it'll destroy humans on the planet. Whether that is a good thing or not is debatable. Anyway, I am against any government spending where all the facts are not known. In the case of global warming, I remain skeptical about whether humans are actually causing it or not.
Do you want to risk dooming humanity then? also even if it's fake in the end result it's a better and cleaner world to live in
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