Category: 
Greetings Otherwhirlders! Here I am, the “new kid” on the “otherblock” and a religious one at that.
Some of you know me, some of you don’t. You can learn more about me by picking your way through the rants over at my blog should you be so inclined. Feel free not to.
So, despite my Catholicity I somehow got to blog over here with the Commander. Smell me for a week! Whoo hoo. Finally - I can roll with the cool kids.
Oh… you mean Commander Other is not a cool kid? Maybe I have been duped!
In all seriousness, I can barely keep up with my blog. Plus other bloggers have extended invites to me to blog at their place. I have always come up dry with the guest blogging in general.
Somehow I have an idea for this place. Yes indeed I do! It will be explored in the next two – three posts I write.
That is presuming the Commander lets me stick around and that you all do not pelt me with virtual rocks and garbage.
Disclaimer – I am a practicing Catholic with a very open mind. I would self-define as a very liberal Catholic who would not be welcomed with open arms by that German man with the red shoes.
For the record, I do not find him grandfatherly and I don’t think his visit was a success, not that I paid much attention to it. Beyond that, many of you and I probably disagree beyond that, so let’s not get into right here, ok? In fact I am here to write about pretty much the opposite of Catholicism.
But we are not here to discuss that today.
One last disclaimer. I could care less what you believe in readers. Worship God, a rock, a tree, a pencil sharpener or nothing at all. Flying Spaghetti Monster? No problem Whatever makes you happy. I do want to say, please don’t go hatin’ on me, as I am not hatin’ on you. OK? OK.
More about that at another time.
What I would like to discuss today is based on my reading the words from this study recently:
The survey shows that a significant number of Americans would be reluctant to vote for a well-qualified candidate if he or she were a member of a particular religious group, especially a Muslim (38%). But many more express reservations about voting for a candidate without religion than one with a specific faith (52%). In all, 64% of Americans admit that a candidate’s religion, or lack thereof, could lead them to vote against a well-qualified candidate from their own party.
What kind of f*ckery is that? Holy crap. Let me repeat - direct from the study - what really got me going:
In all, 64% of Americans admit that a candidate’s religion, or lack thereof, could lead them to vote against a well-qualified candidate from their own party.
Excuse me? Oh, I forgot - Atheists just don’t love America. What crap! Frankly, I think the current administration just does not love America. It infuriates me!
The fact that people will not vote for an agnostic or atheist is 100% prejudicial! If someone were qualified but not practicing a faith, 64% of Americans would not vote for them? It shocks and upsets me.
That is so wrong. This just shows the utter superficial inanity that in a majority of Americans. So much for land of the free and all that horseshit.
As for me, me - believer in Jesus and attender of daily mass, I want a qualified candidate. Please. Please. Their gender, race, nationality, faith - it matters not. An intelligent person is just that. Can we have one please?
In addition, I heard this interview with Greg Epstein and the same study comes up. Greg Epstein, in case you did not click into the link, is the Humanist chaplain at Harvard. He is an atheist who works tirelessly to promote the idea that you do not have to worship a diety to be a good human being. More about him in a future post.
Imagine that? I can.
So let’s talk about that for a minute as I think many of you are indeed atheists.
Why do people hate atheists?
Well let us turn back the hands of time to that ancient epoch called the 1950’s. The evil convergence of the Cold War era and Joseph McCarthy were major contributors.
Oh yeah – and the Kennedy family and the Catholic Church. It is true- it must be said. The forces of communism (which if you really read and study Scripture from the early church, was kinda sorta socialista i’m just sayin’…) were of such a paramount evil that they had to be vilified.
You will hear me say a lot about the whole notion of vilification in the next few days, and in all directions.
The idea then was to create non-separating distinctions. This is pretty common in power structures like churches and governments. It is also the use of fear to control thoughts. It sucks.
Then fast forward to Ronald Reagan’s Evil Empire Speech in 1983 and you find some evidence of the same thing. Communism bad! Evil! Godless! As if evil is not alive and well in every single religious practice and denomination.
Does it surprise anyone at all that May 1 is Worker Day - equated with Communism and in our fine (ick i taste the throw up in my mouth) nation today we celebrate this day.
As a praying person it makes me ill and deeply uncomfortable.
In the toxic mixing of Communism and Atheism, you all got a very bad rap indeed.
At age 50 and having grown up in the heart of the rhetoric about the evils of communism (we feared it like today’s germs or terrorism is feared) this was the very bottom pit of hell.
Which is just stupid.
So that is it for today. More will follow as we explore the theme of how atheism in this country has become vilified.This will be my theme for the next couple of posts as we explore how atheists have been decried and that apparently many “thinking” Americans still would not want one as president.
To be continued…
FranIAm,
I’m glad Commander Other has encouraged you to post. I suspect that your brand of liberal Catholicism (sounds like the tradition I grew up in) is on the wane. Elevation of the dogmatic Benny the Hex to the papacy is a symptom of the increasing conservatism/traditionalism of the Catholic church.
Back when I was a Catholic, I might have said something similar. For myself, I’ve decided that the value of the Golden Rule and other bits of harmony-producing wisdom of the Bible are completely justified without resorting to the myths of religion. But I will gladly acknowledge that liberal Catholicism has influenced many good-hearted people to good-hearted action, especially in my own family. By their actions shall ye know them…
Hi Karen- Thanks for the comments! I can’t speak for other places, but where I am we are anything but on the wane. The papacy is not always the people - in fact it is far from it.
Anyway, I am glad to be here. I see everything as a big table where everyone should have a seat for some good food and conversation. I respect many thoughts, ideas and traditions. The ones I don’t like, I am not going to tangle with.
Sadly, the story I am telling in this post is based on the dark side of government and of church- of human nature. And that sadly knows no denomination or creed!
Hello Fran…..
It will be interesting to see whether poll figures on the acceptability of atheist candidates shift over time as atheism becomes more mainstream. Remember that we’ve only started to “find our voice” in just the last few years, with the emergence of figures like Dawkins, Hitchens, Harris, and so on. Each generation is less religious and more open-minded than the generation before it.
I also suspect the operation of a sort of reverse “Bradley effect”. I have known plenty of Christians who are not hostile to us (like yourself), but in many parts of the country they might be reluctant to say so openly, even to pollsters.
As for Communism, it actually has nothing intrinsically to do with atheism; it just so happens that the Marxist-Leninist variant which rose to power in the USSR was officially atheist, but other forms of Communism have not been. I maintain that Communism actually has many points in common with religion despite its lack of a deity.
Fran, this is awesome. Thank you for posting this today.
I am sure I will have more to say later. Major “fires” at work today, and we’re under a tornado warning right now. fun.
By the way you are welcome to upload images here instead of hosting them off your blogger site. I own the server, and as a photographer, it is…er…phat. and fat. there’s plenty of space m’dear!
Fran. I agree with you wholeheartedly. This is appalling, and kind of scary. This is not a theocracy. When Muslims are the majority, we’ll see how the Christian Theocrats feel about a faith-based-majority rule government, won’t we?
Besides, some of the people I love best are atheists. I’d trust them with my life, and that of 300 million Americans more than I trust the Jesus-lover who’s there now.
Hey Mags! It is very scary and yes- the whole thing kind of changes when it is someone else’s theocracy.
Off to work on part two. Thanks for coming by!
Fran - They’re right. I am an atheist and I’m not loving America all that much right now. But when atheists are caricatured as free-loving, unprincipled pariahs by the rest of the American public, how are we supposed to feel about living in this country?
Thankfully, atheists like myself don’t care what other people think of our stance on belief in God. If the rest of the country does not want to chose one to be President, that’s okay, too. But as the Revolutionary War slogan goes “Don’t Tread On Me”; don’t tell me that I am a lesser American because of my atheism; don’t tell me that I am not allowed to run for the highest office of the land; don’t tell me I can’t participate in the democratic process so that I can make this country one I can love.
Spartacus - the good news is that no one is telling you that you cannot run for president.
The bad news is that a lot of people won’t vote for you, even if you are qualified.
This is indeed disconcerting, but certainly not surprising. The emergent paradigm in modern American society is one of othering, as the subsequent fracturing of interest groups assures that the Big Players maintain control of the purse and the power.
I forsee a not-too-distant Administration championing a Constitutional Amendment to declare this a “Christian Nation,” and getting it by the popular vote.
That’s how far down this path I see us having gone.
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