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Is it time for us to be a political force?
Be you Republican or Democrat, the one thing that unites all parts of the political spectrum on here (and its become less of a spectrum and more of a battleground) is the desire to keep church and state separate. (I am speaking mostly to our American members who make up the vast majority of the site). As midterms loom and polling begins. Maybe it is time to ditch party allegiances in favor of theological and governmental ones. When you are asked how you will vote in either the primaries or the booth. Try saying this. "I believe in the separation of church and state and will vote for whom I deem to be the most secular candidate". Only when a significant number of non-theists choose to voice their preference though the democratic system and make that vocal. Will the number of representatives come close to our true percentage of the population.
Discuss

273kelvin 8 Sep 6
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0

Agreed!Is there a petition or something we can do additionally to force candidates to keep religious beliefs out of politics? I would think Separation of Church and State would have already covered that but it has not.

I don't know. Its your country, start one

@273kelvin You said discuss. I thought I might get some advice on where to start. I'll just Google it. Thanks anyway.

@Martie1965 It might be an idea to start one here but I cannot in good conscience be the instigator, as I am a UK not US citizen

@Seeker3CO I can suggest a movement but as for starting a petition?

0

An atheist would never get on the ballot in the states.

They said that about a black president

@273kelvin true. But atheists are the lest trusted group of people in the usa.

@273kelvin i disagree. I'm black and know from personal experience we are the least trusted. Besides you can hide your atheism. You can't hide the fact that you are black.

@mrveggieman187 , true. BUT we did have Obama. I wish we still had him. We haven't even had an atheist on a ticket that I know of.

0

That would be great but that may be bad has well. We are too scattered over here. If we lived in a firmly blue district yes vote for someone like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Vote has far left has possible. But for the rest of us in swing districts or red districts vote basic democrat like Nancy Pelosi or has some I have heard call them moderate republicans.

I understand that this is not a great idea but I don't see swing or red areas going deep blue right now.

That being said I think the issue is just getting kids (18+) to vote they have shown time and time again that they are lazy. But whine when a bad candidate gets in. Studies have shown them to be mostly liberal. The question is how?

Of the 545 representatives in your federal govt. None of them have come out as non-believers,
Your call.

@273kelvin Ok so what is your idea then? Vote for some candidate that no one has ever heard of? Because looking around the U.S. I can count on one hand the number of atheists or skeptics on ballot this year. We have at least six states off the top of my head that outlaw atheists running. I understand wanting to vote atheist or whatever. But my point is that at this moment is too dangerous to do. Vote third party and divide the vote up even more? The republicans won't they will vote for the worst of the worst has an unfiled group. It is best if we vote basic democrat and slowly work toward electing athesits.

@273kelvin
[huffman.house.gov]

2

I was thinking about something like this earlier today. One problem with focusing a political party on an issue as narrow as keeping church and state separate, is that there is more to life than just that issue. Also, being an atheist just means someone doesn't believe in a god and doesn't necessarily exclude other irrational beliefs.

As someone who values freedom and individual rights, my ideal political party would stand for a separation of church and state, protection of private property, the right to an abortion, the right for gay marriage, the legalization of all drugs, and other protections for individual rights. It would work for an elimination of all welfare, entitlement programs, and wealth redistribution schemes. It would work towards a complete separation of the economy and the state, as it should be separating church and state. It would support a strong military, to protect our rights from foreign invaders, a police force, to protect our rights from local criminals, and a judicial system, to protect us from fraud and contract violation. There wouldn't be much else for the government to do.

Who's with me? I would be surprised if anyone agreed with me on this...

The point is about making it an issue. Whilst church groups lobby and wield considerable political clout. Non-theists are not represented by any of your 545 people in federal govt. If you were to make your views known? You might get a candidate that supports more of your aims, rather than the top or bottom half.

@273kelvin So, you mean to stop voting (semi-jokingly).

1

I think it is the time to be a political force and I don't care if you are on my side or not... but SO MANY LIBERALS (which is me) JUST DON'T VOTE and it pisses me off. You feel you are fighting a losing battle... OK... fight it. Maybe we can surprise them!

Caveat...this is me, meant liberal. Not not voter. I never skipped an election since legal to vote

I must admit to being guilty of that myself. I did not vote for nearly a decade. In mitigation, I was off the grid for a long time and I lived in the safest Labor seat in the country then moved to the 2nd safest. (Our electoral system is 1st past the post and any other votes don't count). I changed my mind when my daughter turned 18 and could not be bothered to vote either.
Interestingly voting numbers have shot up since we had a radical candidate. Jeremy Corbyn is an unrepentant leftie and the turnout at the last election was nearly 70%, the highest for 25 years. Although he did not win, he did come close and made it hard for the Conservatives govern with a free hand. Trump for all his faults may galvanize people into the voting booths. Love him or hate him (I am of the latter) its hard not to have an opinion.

1

I don't care what party it is they hit me with religious b*** I don't need it and I won't vote for them

1

Replace the discussion of religion with corporatism.

0

it is time, yes, but it is the republicans who have cornered the evangelical market, while even religious democrats recognize that their religion is personal and absolutely must not be legislated. maybe the first thing we need to do... haha is everything, since we're being attacked on many fronts, but okay, ONE of the first things we need to do is get those laws changed in i forget how many states that forbid atheists to run for office. we need to keep the pressure up to get legal action against every attempt to shift public funds from, say, public schools to parochial ones. there is much more but most of it will just be a matter of maintaining a stalemate until we can flip everything blue, and that IS what it will take, because even republicans who are not themselves religious rely on the evangelicals to keep them in power, so they're never going to pass the legislation we need. it's against their self-interest.

g

2

Im not convinced that separation of church and state is that big a factor for conservative atheists. If it is they've sure got a funny way of showing it. Nice idea but good luck breaking through the spell of white male oppression they're under. The emperor has fully convinced the pitchfork mob that the torch mob wants to take their pitchforks, and the castle is safe from accountability. Welfare is obviously wrong for women children and minorities but its just what the doctor ordered for corporate fat cats taking bonuses out of their taxpayer bailouts. Who needs education when we can raise another generation of coal miners? Im just sitting here with my umbrella waiting for all that trickle down to start up. Any day now, I can feel it.

1

Covered by The First Amendment Freedom of Religion, as well as Freedom from Religion... and our fore Fathers thought is most signifgant that is why it is with the Freedom of Speech...also it is the reason why the word Creator was used instead of God...

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