Why no Athiest Politicians?

[toughbutfair]

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.

I'm not sure whether you are having a go at me for saying I'd fake it if I was a politican or having a go at society for the fact that politicans are better off faking it.

Either way, democracy is a popularity contast. No point in losing any votes if there's no need to. If I lived in England I'd do the same just so I could send my children (if I had any) to a catholic school as they get better grades than the ordinary schools.

[Sean O'Brian]

I would be able to trust an athiest politician a lot more, people who have power and believe in God tend to believe that he speaks to them and that they are overly important or that God is directing them etc.

People who have power and believe in God tend to believe that he speaks to them?! Like who?

[fionnmccool]

People who have power and believe in God tend to believe that he speaks to them?! Like who?

One of my teachers in secondary school regularly interrupted lessons to tell us how God spoke to him and how important religion is. One anecdote about how a spiritual voice he reasoned was ''God looking after one of his own'' told him to slow down in a country lane and saved him from an accident is fresh in my mind. Nobody was in a position to argue with him or with the school ethos. 10 years later it turns out he has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and taken early retirement. I'd speculate theres always been a lot of functional yet borderline psych patients walking around carrying a bible.

[Didimus]

One of my teachers in secondary school regularly interrupted lessons to tell us how God spoke to him and how important religion is. .... 10 years later it turns out he has been diagnosed with schizophrenia

Yes indeed. All people who have a religious faith are schizophrenics.
Amazing what you can learn from observing just one person.

[femmefatale]

If, as it's claimed, Atheism is content-free, I guess there's no need for Atheist politicians to declare themselves Atheist. Do any politicians talk about the fact that they don't collect stamps? However, there is a difference between not being/doing something and actively opposing what others are/do.

[fionnmccool]

Yes indeed. All people who have a religious faith are schizophrenics.
Amazing what you can learn from observing just one person.

I think I've stayed away from generalisations at least recently. You inferred them sarcastically not I The person in question believed God spoke to him directly. If you think thats' normal then fair enough. I'm not so lucky as to be one of the chosen people who has a hotline to God. At least a few schizophrenics develop what my religious yet practical grandmother would call ''religious madness.''

I'd suggest there could be a link between cognitive dysfunction and accepting something as a fact when it hasn't been proven. You can make the connection between religion and this suggestion if you like. I'm not here to offend anyone but to be honest I think it's a perfectly valid viewpoint.

[Sean O'Brian]

But unless your teacher also had politicial power that doesn't count as an example. The claim was that people who have power tend to believe that God talks to them. I can only think of one near example. Shan Reza Pahlavi claimed to have had a real life encounter with the Muslim prophet Ali (who has been dead for over a thousand years).

[Didimus]

I think I've stayed away from generalisations at least recently. You inferred them sarcastically not I The person in question believed God spoke to him directly. If you think thats' normal then fair enough. I'm not so lucky as to be one of the chosen people who has a hotline to God. ....I'd suggest there could be a link between cognitive dysfunction and accepting something as a fact when it hasn't been proven. You can make the connection between religion and this suggestion if you like. I'm not here to offend anyone but to be honest I think it's a perfectly valid viewpoint.

What exactly is your perfectly valid viewpoint ? Is it that you are not generalising or that you have are you are suggestion a generalisation?
Enjoy your cake.

[fionnmccool]

What exactly is your perfectly valid viewpoint ? Is it that you are not generalising or that you have are you are suggestion a generalisation?
Enjoy your cake.

My viewpoint was of your response when I believe you originally interjected into my reply to another post but sure we can try to find something. Many cakes have nuts as an ingredient.

Lets try this. If someone claims God talks to them; viewing them as nuts is quite legitimate. Even the religious might think God had better things to do in the world considering the state its in. Furthermore, in the republic outside of perhaps DUP constituencies a politician promoting religion as the basis of his policies would legitimately be viewed as nuts by a majority of the Irish electorate. Hence we don't experience this phenomenon to such extremes.

[Mercurial]

If, as it's claimed, Atheism is content-free, I guess there's no need for Atheist politicians to declare themselves Atheist. Do any politicians talk about the fact that they don't collect stamps? However, there is a difference between not being/doing something and actively opposing what others are/do.

Personally, I would be more interested in whether a politician is a secularist rather than whether or not she is an atheist.