Why no Athiest Politicians?

[FutureTaoiseach]

I think Ruairi Quinn is an atheist.

He rejected the Catholicism of his youth and became an existential atheist

[Ecoguy]

Notbeing able to attend funerals and losing the vote of everyone over 50. And that's as far as our political class are capable of thinking about the matter.

The Irish inbred political system won't change until there is a generational shift...but - by amazing coincidence - every single time a generation shift is possible, along comes a wave of emigration to remove the best and brightest of that generation, leaving behind only the already-connected gombeens. As so the system perpetuates itself.

+ 1

[cry freedom]

For the same reason that there is a much higher rate of divorce among
Atheists.
They have to always tell the truth or be drummed out of the Atheists union.

"No! You are not entitled to that medical card"

And.

"Yes! Your arse does look big in that dress"

[biffo50]

To come back to the original question, to my knowledge, Ruairí Quinn, Proinsias De Rossa and Ivana Bacik are atheists.
Regarding deceased politicians, that is true of Justin Keating, but if my memory of reading interviews with them is correct, Tomás Mac Giolla and Jim Kemmy were agnostics rather than atheists.
Likewise, I understand that Eamon Gilmore is agnostic. The late Conor Cruise-O'Brien was also, but his beliefs seem to become slightly more religious as he got older.
Joe Higgins, yes, he's an atheist. I can't think of any others, but there may be. Let's not forget that an opinion poll a few years ago, I don't have the link to hand, found 87% of Irish people are believers, so one would expect the proportion to be as high, possibly higher, among politicians.
Ireland is not like Britain in this regard, despite the fall off in church attendance.
From my own knowledge in Offaly, I would reckon the great majority of county councillors are practising Catholics, apart from Percy Clendennen, who is an active member of the Church of Ireland.
I would say the pattern is similar in most predominantly rural counties, I don't know about the position in the cities.
Obviously, younger politicians are more likely to be lapsed Catholics, but that does not mean they will be atheists.
Someone asked about Obama. On the contrary, despite a secular upbringing, he is a devout Christian, converted after meeting his wife, and his faith is of great importance to him (remember all the controversy about his pastor).

[toughbutfair]

I'm an atheist but if I was running for a seat, I'd be at mass 3 times on Sunday, up front and praying and all that stuff. Many Old folk (who are the most likely voters) love that stuff and they wouldn't feel comfortable with an atheist.

You won't lose many votes for going to mass but you might lose a lot by not going so it would be stupid not to go.

[toughbutfair]

To come back to the original question, to my knowledge, Ruairí Quinn, Proinsias De Rossa and Ivana Bacik are atheists.
.

While I despise the socialist guff, Labour are probably the only party that never bent over for the church.

[cry freedom]

I'm an atheist but if I was running for a seat, I'd be at mass 3 times on Sunday, up front and praying and all that stuff. Many Old folk (who are the most likely voters) love that stuff and they wouldn't feel comfortable with an atheist.

You won't lose many votes for going to mass but you might lose a lot by not going so it would be stupid not to go.

Is this the Irish equivalent of Pascal's option?

[Lazarus]

Proinsias De Rossa MEP is an atheist. Always up front about it. Actually said it on the radio when Gay Byrne had his show going. Everyone knows he is an atheist. I had many an argument with him about it. His constituents didn't give a monkeys, as long as he helped them.

But as we are always going on about separating Church and State, it should not matter a whit what beliefs a politician has or hasn't.

Religious beliefs I mean now! We all know what they really, really believe in, don't we?

[onlyasking]

I'm an atheist but if I was running for a seat, I'd be at mass 3 times on Sunday, up front and praying and all that stuff. Many Old folk (who are the most likely voters) love that stuff and they wouldn't feel comfortable with an atheist.

You won't lose many votes for going to mass but you might lose a lot by not going so it would be stupid not to go.

While you're at it, don't forget to get your kids baptised into a religion you've no truck with, or else the grannies will be outraged. Make sure the kids inherit all the hypocrisy that entails. Make sure they spend hundreds of hours in primary school preparing for confession, communion (with its massive earnings) and confirmation. The fact that you'd never darken the door of a church on a Sunday is neither here nor there.

We truly get the society we deserve.

[onlyasking]

For the same reason that there is a much higher rate of divorce among Atheists.

Is that a fact? Does it obtain internationally or just in this country? Data in support of the bald assertion please.