Poll on religious tolerance

[n yusef]

I'm an atheist. I was an antitheist, but this summer I rented a room from a pastor at a local Baptist church--an intelligent, progressive, out gay man. I would vote for him. I won't vote for a heterosexist atheist.

 

[miketheidiot]

depends on if their religion warps their ability to perceive the world in a rational way. If yes as in the case of conservative christians, then no, i would not be confident voting for them, though its still possible that i would.

 

[LunarRay]

I'd took the poll and none of the listed would affect my vote. But, I've to qualify that a bit. IF some other aspect of that persons legislative or executive history lent credence to the notion that their faith or lack of it in some way affected the judgment applied I'd consider that a motivator to the action and would have to consider how material that might be in other issues. IOW, say they supported a change to Roe v Wade based on their Christian Ideals they'd not get my vote because I'd think they base decisions on what would God have me do and not what is best for America.

'64 I did not vote. Not 21 yet.
but '68, '72 I voted Nixon
'76 Carter
'80, '84 Reagan
'88 Bush
'92 Perot
'96 Clinton
'00 Gore
'04 Kerry
'08 Obama
I think that is how I voted at least.

It seems I had no idea the religion of the folks I voted for. And apparently their politics either.

 

[Fear No Evil]

Originally posted by: JohnOfSheffield

Originally posted by: spidey07
Belief in God and not wanting to destroy our nation = OK with me.

No muslims, no athiests, no gays.

And before it became customary to not be a fucking racist, you'd say no ***** too.

You're exactly the opposite of anything that is right with the USA, the equal rights, the equal opportunity only extends to those you want to give it to, no muslims, no atheists and no gays are allowed.

You are utterly and completely pathetic and i do believe that if America stands for freedom and equality, you are also unamerican.

You know.. racism.. sexism.. religious oppression.. Its all hard for people to get past. Yes, even us Americans have trouble with it.

The topic of this thread has nothing to do with dental hygiene. All references to that have been edited out. You don't have to stay on topic but you do have to refrain from blatant personal attacks that have nothing to do with the other members political beliefs.

Anandtech Senior Moderator
Red Dawn

 

[Schmide]

Originally posted by: magomago
So you won't vote for an individual because of a larger group of people who aren't necessarily consistent with what they identify with?
Riiiight...I would actually give an indivudal a chance. You are kidding me if you think there aren't elitist Jews, Liberal Christians, Atheists or Buddhists.

I think you miss the point. The religions I would vote for generally respect other religions/non-religions/lifestyles and don't go about converting the masses to their faith and ideals as if they are "Chosen ones"

If you choose to belong to one of the other groups I mentioned; you, almost by definition, give up your individualistic stance and thusly lose my vote.

 

[Double Trouble]

Originally posted by: magomago

As for me, I would of course vote for any person irrespective of their religious views. If they think that they need special underwear to get to heaven, or they have to pray to God 5x a day I am fine with it because it has no bearing on the actions that follow through. I don't care if they believe in the rapture and think we are all doomed to hell because we don't acknowledge the divinity of Jesus. Hell we already have senators who espouse that view.

What I look is to see how that religion influences their actions on a practical level where real decisions need to be made. Are they always looking to be just in their actions? Do they believe in helping the poor - regardless of whether help is 'self help' or through actual assistance to the poor? Do they want to bring honest and peaceful resolutions to any problem that exists be it domestic or not? Do they present themselves in a humble fashion and are willing to listen to others that they may disagree with? Are they willing to compromise with others to get things done?

I would much rather have a president with a character strongly defined through religion than a president who acts like a typical sleezebag but talks about being nominally religious. But I will support the former because of his character, not because it derives from religion. I will not support the latter for the same reasons.

The problem with the religious right is that in the political arena they seem to lose a lot of that. Some of the most religious Christians I know are incredibly nice and honest and people I'd want to be around, but when it comes to politics it is as if some people have completely forgotten what the Bible actually writes about.

Excellent post magomago, and good poll Craig.

For me personally, while I completely agree with magomago's position, in all honesty I'd have a hard time voting for someone who wanted to move the country away from it's Judeo-Christian roots. On a rational level, the religion of the candidate makes no difference, but I just don't see how someone with values so different than most of the mainstream could lead the country in a good direction.

 

[Mr. Lennon]

Originally posted by: JohnOfSheffield

Originally posted by: spidey07
Belief in God and not wanting to destroy our nation = OK with me.

No muslims, no athiests, no gays.

And before it became customary to not be a fucking racist, you'd say no ***** too.

You're exactly the opposite of anything that is right with the USA, the equal rights, the equal opportunity only extends to those you want to give it to, no muslims, no atheists and no gays are allowed.

You are utterly and completely pathetic and i do believe that if America stands for freedom and equality, you are also unamerican.

Yeah, Spidey is about as unamerican as you can get. Absolutely infuriates me that there is even a group of people that shares the same views as Spidey in our country. The fact that they call themselves "true Americans" is just laughable.

Despite this AT poll, I highly doubt that we will ever see an Atheist in the oval office. Republican or Democrat...there is still a large base of people that want the man in charge of them to believe in the same fairy tales and fantasies they believe in.

 

[Robor]

Originally posted by: LunarRay
I'd took the poll and none of the listed would affect my vote. But, I've to qualify that a bit. IF some other aspect of that persons legislative or executive history lent credence to the notion that their faith or lack of it in some way affected the judgment applied I'd consider that a motivator to the action and would have to consider how material that might be in other issues. IOW, say they supported a change to Roe v Wade based on their Christian Ideals they'd not get my vote because I'd think they base decisions on what would God have me do and not what is best for America.

'64 I did not vote. Not 21 yet.
but '68, '72 I voted Nixon
'76 Carter
'80, '84 Reagan
'88 Bush
'92 Perot
'96 Clinton
'00 Gore
'04 Kerry
'08 Obama
I think that is how I voted at least.

It seems I had no idea the religion of the folks I voted for. And apparently their politics either.

LOL... We have the exact same voting record since Bush1. I probably would have voted Regan in 84 but I was 17.

Yes to all but the fundie.

 

[TheSkinsFan]

I voted "yes" to all but the last two because I don't think that race, religion, or gender are as important as character, intellect, and the ability to reason.

The question about voting for a Creationist, I answered that "it would weigh against them," primarily due to their obvious inability to reason.

But, I chose not to answer the last question at all. Why? Because it's a nonsensical partisan question. Who the fuck is pro-poverty?! You essentially implied that "anti-poverty" is a strictly liberal belief, which is just plain ridiculous. And, we cannot have a truly "anti-war" President. One who is hesitant to use military force? I damn well hope so. But completely "anti-war"? No chance in hell. War happens to be part of the their job description if/when it's necessary.

When you create a poll, try to leave your bias at home next time. You were otherwise doing just fine right up until the end there.

 

[Phokus]

Originally posted by: spidey07
Belief in God and not wanting to destroy our nation = OK with me.

No muslims, no athiests, no gays.

Thanks for reminding me why conservatives are dog shit.

 

[cubeless]

Originally posted by: Phokus

Originally posted by: spidey07
Belief in God and not wanting to destroy our nation = OK with me.

No muslims, no athiests, no gays.

Thanks for reminding me why conservatives are dog shit.

thanks for reminding me that people who stereotype based on some caricature are dog shit... seems to me the whole reason for this silly thread...

 

[nageov3t]

Originally posted by: Vic

Originally posted by: spidey07
Belief in God and not wanting to destroy our nation = OK with me.

No muslims, no athiests, no gays.

Because all muslims, atheists, and gays want to destroy our nation...

ssh, don't talk about M.A.G. meetings, it's supposed to be a secret when all us muslims, atheists, and gays get together to plot to overthrow the government.

 

[0marTheZealot]

Originally posted by: TheSkinsFan
I voted "yes" to all but the last two because I don't think that race, religion, or gender are as important as character, intellect, and the ability to reason.

The question about voting for a Creationist, I answered that "it would weigh against them," primarily due to their obvious inability to reason.

But, I chose not to answer the last question at all. Why? Because it's a nonsensical partisan question. Who the fuck is pro-poverty?! You essentially implied that "anti-poverty" is a strictly liberal belief, which is just plain ridiculous. And, we cannot have a truly "anti-war" President. One who is hesitant to use military force? I damn well hope so. But completely "anti-war"? No chance in hell. War happens to be part of the their job description if/when it's necessary.

When you create a poll, try to leave your bias at home next time. You were otherwise doing just fine right up until the end there.

Well, I think the line of reasoning for pro-poverty/anti-poverty is that certain policies can reduce the number of impoverished people while other policies won't. For example, welfare reform was badly needed in the '90s, and that reduced the number of impoverished people. Policies like easy credit and no paperwork loans increased the number of impoverished people once the bubble burst. No one is strictly "pro-poverty".

As for the pro-war/anti-war, the last war the US fought that was actually a defensive war was WW2 and that was only against the Japanese. After WW2, there wasn't really a war we were involved in that actually was for defense. It was more geopolitical grandstanding. We fought proxy wars, overthrew governments and such in the name of anti-communism.

A pro-war President is someone like GWB, who pre-emptively attacked Iraq. Of course, it's extremely tough to find an anti-war President. Just about every modern President became involved in a conflict in which we did not belong in.

 

[sapiens74]

There is no such thing as an atheist


Everyone has a higher power, whether its their god, money, themselves, their Xbox or whatever....

 

[Phokus]

Originally posted by: cubeless

Originally posted by: Phokus

Originally posted by: spidey07
Belief in God and not wanting to destroy our nation = OK with me.

No muslims, no athiests, no gays.

Thanks for reminding me why conservatives are dog shit.

thanks for reminding me that people who stereotype based on some caricature are dog shit... seems to me the whole reason for this silly thread...

Stereotype? Spidey is just articulating what most conservatives believe (but few actually have the balls to admit publicly). In a way, Spidey's position is actually admirable because he's very honest about being a bigoted piece of shit, usually either you guys are vague or toe the line as close as you can. Funny how some of you hang on to his jock strap 99% of the time, but now you guys are strangely silent. If you wanted to prove that stereotype wrong, there should be a firestorm in this thread and you guys should be on his ass right now.

And lets get the whole cat out of the bag, another 'requirement' for POTUS that you guys don't publicly say is that they need to be white.

 

[surfsatwerk]

Originally posted by: orakle

Originally posted by: Jaskalas
I would never vote for a Muslim President. The specific reason being September 11th, 2001.

Yes, because the muslims did that to you. Right.

Also no Asian Presidents, remember Pearl Harbor.

And no Hispanic Presidents, remember the Alamo.

 

[Kadarin]

Originally posted by: sapiens74
There is no such thing as an atheist


Everyone has a higher power, whether its their god, money, themselves, their Xbox or whatever....

Uh, ok...

 

[magomago]

Originally posted by: Schmide

Originally posted by: magomago
So you won't vote for an individual because of a larger group of people who aren't necessarily consistent with what they identify with?
Riiiight...I would actually give an indivudal a chance. You are kidding me if you think there aren't elitist Jews, Liberal Christians, Atheists or Buddhists.

I think you miss the point. The religions I would vote for generally respect other religions/non-religions/lifestyles and don't go about converting the masses to their faith and ideals as if they are "Chosen ones"

If you choose to belong to one of the other groups I mentioned; you, almost by definition, give up your individualistic stance and thusly lose my vote.

Hahaha you think I missed your point? I don't think you understand my point!

 

[TheSkinsFan]

Originally posted by: spidey07
Belief in God and not wanting to destroy our nation = OK with me.

No muslims, no athiests, no gays.

You get an "A" for being an honest "A"sshole.

You get an "F" for being a "F"ucking bigot.

 

[BoberFett]

I wouldn't vote for anybody of any religious persuasion if I interpret their political goals as an effort make society line up with their religion.

 

[BoberFett]

Originally posted by: Phokus

Originally posted by: cubeless

Originally posted by: Phokus

Originally posted by: spidey07
Belief in God and not wanting to destroy our nation = OK with me.

No muslims, no athiests, no gays.

Thanks for reminding me why conservatives are dog shit.

thanks for reminding me that people who stereotype based on some caricature are dog shit... seems to me the whole reason for this silly thread...

Stereotype? Spidey is just articulating what most conservatives believe (but few actually have the balls to admit publicly). In a way, Spidey's position is actually admirable because he's very honest about being a bigoted piece of shit, usually either you guys are vague or toe the line as close as you can. Funny how some of you hang on to his jock strap 99% of the time, but now you guys are strangely silent. If you wanted to prove that stereotype wrong, there should be a firestorm in this thread and you guys should be on his ass right now.

And lets get the whole cat out of the bag, another 'requirement' for POTUS that you guys don't publicly say is that they need to be white.

I see the Phokusbot is still in working order.

 

[JS80]

I thought we have a Muslim president right now!

 

[JS80]

No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No


Your last two questions are flawed. A "fundamentalist" Christian would sell all his shit and go live with the bottom barrel of society to help them. A "liberal" Christian would liberally interpret "love your neighbor" as "kill the gays."

 

[Schmide]

nm

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: surfsatwerk

Originally posted by: orakle

Originally posted by: Jaskalas
I would never vote for a Muslim President. The specific reason being September 11th, 2001.

Yes, because the muslims did that to you. Right.

Also no Asian Presidents, remember Pearl Harbor.

And no Hispanic Presidents, remember the Alamo.

FAIL. Those were the Japs and Mexicans.