Will America ever elect an atheist POTUS?

[thegreatkazoo]

You guys are in some desperate need of new discussion. So, here it is.

Pretty simple here:
Will America--within 25 years--elect a president who is an atheist?

I'm pretty sure that you all have seen the numbers on atheists being the least trusted minority in the US, so would such an event be possible?

Happy debating.

 

[Omnicron's Baklava Enterprises]

I must say, if they finally managed to elect a great African-American president, I'd say that a female president or maybe even an Atheist president would not be far away.

...However, after reading that I find it to be much more unlikely than a female president or even a president of other origins.
Probably another reason is because Atheists are the ones attempting to take people from their beliefs, which I suspect they don't like the Atheists doing so.

If America's base is on some form of Religion, as the article stated, then actually I see it being very unlikely.
Although I do think that this

Even though atheists are few in number, not formally organized and relatively hard to publicly identify, they are seen as a threat to the American way of life by a large portion of the American public.

is a little harsh, a threat to the American way of life? How exactly?

I'd post more on this subject, but I need to think this over a little bit.

 

[TigerWoods]

You guys are in some desperate need of new discussion. So, here it is.

Pretty simple here:
Will America ever elect a president who is an atheist?

I'm pretty sure that you all have seen the numbers on atheists being the least trusted minority in the US, so would such an event be possible?

Happy debating.

I don't mean to sound like I'm cracking jokes, but honestly I believe any good political candidate would realize that stating that he/she is an atheist would have a profound negative effect on his/her campaign. Your article backs up that atheists are viewed mostly as people without morals, which would hamper any progress. Pretty much what I mean is that I don't think any atheist candidate would actually say he/she is an atheist.

Having said that, I do believe America WILL elect a president who is an atheist eventually. I believe the rules of society will conform to its dominant generation, just like in the civil rights movement and in the women's rights movement. I don't think this will happen in the near future though, as acceptance takes awhile to happen.

Also, it is possible that we've already had a "closeted" atheist president. Who is to stop them from lying? Heck, we could've had multiple atheist presidents. This is speculation of course, since we really can't prove the thoughts of dead presidents.

I must say, if they finally managed to elect a great African-American president, I'd say that a female president or maybe even an Atheist president would not be far away.

...However, after reading that I find it to be much more unlikely than a female president or even a president of other origins.
Probably another reason is because Atheists are the ones attempting to take people from their beliefs, which I suspect they don't like the Atheists doing so.

If America's base is on some form of Religion, as the article stated, then actually I see it being very unlikely.
Although I do think that this

is a little harsh, a threat to the American way of life? How exactly?

I'd post more on this subject, but I need to think this over a little bit.

Omnicron, I know that some Atheists attempt to take people from their beliefs, but not all of them do. I for one am an atheist, and I am perfectly content with other people's beliefs. Also, I think ALL religions attempt to take people from their current beliefs. An atheist "preacher" is no different from a mormon preacher, who is attempting to convert people to their own faith. This isn't necessarily bad in my view, as long as people are respectful about sharing their ideals.

As for America's base, although it says "under god", our nation is founded on the seperation of Church and State.

 

[Omnicron's Baklava Enterprises]

Omnicron, I know that some Atheists attempt to take people from their beliefs, but not all of them do. I for one am an atheist, and I am perfectly content with other people's beliefs. Also, I think ALL religions attempt to take people from their current beliefs. An atheist "preacher" is no different from a mormon preacher, who is attempting to convert people to their own faith. This isn't necessarily bad in my view, as long as people are respectful about sharing their ideals.

As for America's base, although it says "under god", our nation is founded on the seperation of Church and State.

I apologize for generalizing, but when I said that I was thinking of 3mmanuel, another temporary debater who hasn't posted in a while now.
He attempted preaching Atheism at a bible camp, although he said that he only preached it to 2 or 3 children. Technically, doing so is trying to stop Christianity.

 

[Fuelbi]

Maybe someday but not soon. This country does allow freedom of religion but it was founded with strong christian overtones. Ten Amendmants sounds alot like Ten Comandments. It was founded by a bunch of catholics. Pledge of Allegiance has UNDER GOD in it. Face it this country was founded on catholicism but its never been stated before because of seperation between church and state. With that being said who knows they may be elected someday. Women got their rights. Black people got their rights. So whos not to say Athiests... well they have rights but whos not to say that the next athiest candidate may be our next president. So yes its not gonna be in our lifetimes that they get more rights thats for sure, but I know that they will be accepted even more someday

 

[Eor]

I'm not really sure what we can debate about, since the topic is "ever" and not in any set amount of time. It's possible we'll elect an Atheist president, probably within about a hundred or so years, but that's just based on modern trends and assuming they'll continue at the same rate.

 

[TigerWoods]

I apologize for generalizing, but when I said that I was thinking of 3mmanuel, another temporary debater who hasn't posted in a while now.
He attempted preaching Atheism at a bible camp, although he said that he only preached it to 2 or 3 children. Technically, doing so is trying to stop Christianity.

Just in case you were thinking that I took offense, I did not. I was just stating that the majority of us don't preach.

Maybe someday but not soon. This country does allow freedom of religion but it was founded with strong christian overtones. Ten Amendmants sounds alot like Ten Comandments. It was founded by a bunch of catholics. Pledge of Allegiance has UNDER GOD in it. Face it this country was founded on catholicism but its never been stated before because of seperation between church and state. With that being said who knows they may be elected someday. Women got their rights. Black people got their rights. So whos not to say Athiests... well they have rights but whos not to say that the next athiest candidate may be our next president. So yes its not gonna be in our lifetimes that they get more rights thats for sure, but I know that they will be accepted even more someday

Uhm. The Ten Amendments were founded by Christians, not Catholics. There is a difference.

Also, in America, the separation of Church and State was completed in 1777. It was one of the founding principles that prevented our nation from becoming a theocracy.

I agree with your statement that acceptance will come someday, but it really is impossible to tell when. It'll happen when it does.


*source
Separation of Church and State

I'm not really sure what we can debate about, since the topic is "ever" and not in any set amount of time. It's possible we'll elect an Atheist president, probably within about a hundred or so years, but that's just based on modern trends and assuming they'll continue at the same rate.

I agree here. I am pretty sure that all of us believe that this may happen someday. Feel free to prove me wrong if anyone out there disagrees.

 

[Fuelbi]

Sorry Twoods. Made a mistake. I meant christians, not catholics

 

[thegreatkazoo]

I'm not really sure what we can debate about, since the topic is "ever" and not in any set amount of time. It's possible we'll elect an Atheist president, probably within about a hundred or so years, but that's just based on modern trends and assuming they'll continue at the same rate.

Edited this to fit within a time window: The window is 25 years.

Thanks, Eor.

 

[TigerWoods]

Edited this to fit within a time window: The window is 25 years.

Thanks, Eor.

In that case, no. Not unless the President is a "closeted" atheist. At this current time, atheists are viewed in a negative light(as stated by your article). I strongly doubt a candidate would be viable if he/she publicly stated that he/she is an atheist.

Such as in the case of John F Kennedy and Barrack Obama, people like leaders who they can relate themselves to. As of now, I don't think many people can relate to an atheist.

If a candidate can get by without answering anything about his/her religious affiliation, maybe it is possible that we can elect an atheist, however.

 

[Eor]

Hell no. In 25 years I'd be happy if we allowed gay marriage, there is no way a non-christian, an Atheist at that, could be president within that time frame. I don't really want to pull up polls, but literally any poll shows that either the majority of americans or a number that's almost half of americans won't vote for someone like that.

 

[Man of Popsicle]

Uhm. The Ten Amendments were founded by Christians, not Catholics. There is a difference.

If you're speaking of the ten commandments, you're both wrong.
In the Bible Moses climbed to the top of a mountain where upon he confrenced with God who made him stone tablets engraved with 10 main laws which he was to present to the Israelites, Jews. When he came back down and found them worshipping a golden calf (small statue) he threw the tablets and they broke, so he went back up and got more. But now I'm just rambling.

If you're speaking of the first ten ammendments to our constitution then that's a different story.

Catholicism has never really been a big thing in the U.S.

 

[TigerWoods]

If you're speaking of the ten commandments, you're both wrong.
In the Bible Moses climbed to the top of a mountain where upon he confrenced with God who made him stone tablets engraved with 10 main laws which he was to present to the Israelites, Jews. When he came back down and found them worshipping a golden calf (small statue) he threw the tablets and they broke, so he went back up and got more. But now I'm just rambling.

If you're speaking of the first ten ammendments to our constitution then that's a different story.

Catholicism has never really been a big thing in the U.S.

Your post is rather, irrelevant.

We aren't debating religion, we're debating on whether or not America will ever elect an atheist president in the next 25 years. This has nothing to do with the story of the Ten Commandments. I was invalidating his argument that America was built on Catholic principles.

The Ten Amendments, or, The Bill of Rights, is a totally different subject from the Ten Commandments.


Edit: I have to correct myself earlier. America was NOT founded on the Separation of Church and state. It was only founded on the principle that the state will not interfere in matters of religion, and that there would be no official religion. Even though it wasn't founded on that principle, it has been widely accepted and inferred from the law.

 

[Man of Popsicle]

Well I'd like to point out to you that a topic about an atheist becoming president is directly related to religion, but I digress.

 

[KrazyGlue]

I think this is incredibly hard to debate on. The US's culture will be radically different in 100 years, and it's hard to say how open-minded people of the future will be.

That said, it was practically illegal to not follow Christianity a few hundred years ago, so I think people are becoming more religiously tolerant and the chances of having an atheist president will increase as time goes by.

 

[CStick]

Are we talking about KNOWINGLY electing an atheist president?

But, regardless of whether or not we as a country would knowingly vote on it, who knows. We did however vote in Barack Obama, who represented several things that everyone thought were highly against the grain of American society (in the superficial sense, anyway). I think it is perfectly possible to elect one. Now, whether or not it will be publicized that he or she is an atheist is a toss-up, in my opinion.