(Vanity) Can An Atheist Be a Genuine Conservative?

Comtedemaistre

[ComtedeMaistre]

Most conservatives are religious. But there is a small minority of non-religious individuals, who were attracted to the conservative movement because they were influenced by secular movements such as Ayn Rand's objectivism.

Should atheists be welcomed into the conservative movement? Do atheists make good conservatives?

[Richard-SIA]

Are you saying that conservatism is based on religion?
That religion is a requirement for conservatism?

I am a life long atheist, and I am among the most conservative members of our local republican central committee. I have been accused (in good humor) of being "to the right of Ghengis Kahn"!

Reading the post of this thread it appears that we cannot even agree on what conservatism means (no surprise with all the knee-jerk liberalism that commonly erupts in many threads), now we have to argue weather or not it is a religious stance?
Silly me, I always thought that conservatism was related to supporting and defending our secular constitution and BOR as intended by this nations founders.
I insist on leaving religion to remain a personal choice, with no legitimate role in determining law, lest we one day wake to find ourselves compelled to join a single Gov. Org. mandated faith.
Think "Church of England", or at the rate it is growing here, "Islam"!

[Maximus of Texas]

"..but when all is said and done, darkness will prevail."

Actually, I think its more along the lines of "every knee shall bow, every tongue confess..."

[don asmussen]

ComtedeMaistre wrote:

Religion is not the only value system, but it is the MAIN value system for most people in America and the world.
Most people are not educated enough to be able to engage in the abstract high level reasoning, needed to formulate a set of secular moral values which to live under.

Hmmmm.. I'd say that most everyone learns at their mothers breast the worlds main value system, the golden rule. -- 'Don't bite the teat that feeds you'..

Simple religious teachings work for most people.

Can't get much simpler than "Do onto others" ...

[rhombus]

Please do not fall into the liberal trap that all our rights are spelled out in the Constitution. Just because something is not enumerated therein does not mean it is not a right reserved to the individual or to the state.

What they mean is "Congress shall make no laws..." All other rights are reserved to the States are they not?

[BlessedBeGod]

I was once both an atheist and a conservative. One doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the other.

[trisham]

Should atheists be welcomed into the conservative movement? Do atheists make good conservatives?

**************

Yes, if they are both fiscal and social conservatives.

[RobRoy]

"You seem to have settled for less than one."

Very, I dunno, deep.

[Junior]

Or to the individual.

[Wallace T.]

Only a small percentage of ministries, most notably Billy Graham's organization, are actively grooming a successor. Franklin Graham is far more politically conservative than his evangelist father. Whether the younger Graham will become a political activist is unknown. Focus on the Family, the current "800 pound gorilla" of the evangelical world, seems to lack a succession plan, and James Dobson, who turns 70 this year, has had problems with both heart disease and cancer. Jerry Falwell, who also has had serious medical issues, will leave an institutional legacy with Liberty University and his church, but probably not much else. As for Pat Robertson, he may have intended to groom his son, Gordon Robertson, to take over his media and educational interests, but he obviously has a problem stepping out of the limelight.

Up and coming leaders among evangelicals include Rick Warren (who falls into the anti-doctrinal and seeker sensitive category), Joel Osteen (same category as Warren), and Albert Mohler, who may lead the Southern Baptist Convention away from dispensationalism and into a more Reformed viewpoint. My guess is that the Christian Right will be more or less a memory by 2020. However, absent their influence, there will be little, humanly speaking, to prevent this nation from sliding further to the political and social Left.

[rhombus]

Agreed but there is no prohibition against legislating about rights not enumerated in the Constitution. Otherwise there is a "right" to everything and everything. I could list silly examples but I expect you already understand my point.

[Richard-SIA]

If you really believe that atheist are only 1-2% of the population, I have a bridge in N.Y. for sale, cheap!

Perhaps that reflects the percentage that industrial religion admits to, but it is a LONG way from my own observations.

If I had to guess, I would say that atheist and agnostics probably make up about 30% of the U.S. population. Just my guess based on observation.
It could be that a LOT of people who answer "Christian" to poll's are not at all active in their professed faith, and do not make any display of it in dress or conversation.

[PaulaB]

Amen....

[Doctor Stochastic]

Bagpipes coming over yon brae.

[CarolinaGuitarman]

"Agreed but there is no prohibition against legislating about rights not enumerated in the Constitution."

Then the Constitution is a meaningless piece of paper. If the Constitution doesn't specifically empower the government to do something, the government has no legitimate power to do that thing. Otherwise, the government would be empowered to do anything and everything and the Constitution would have no weight at all.

[pollyannaish]

Yes.

[Antoninus]

Sure, but only to the extent that most "atheists" aren't really non-theists. Doubters and seekers are fine by me.

The true-believing, evangelical non-theistic contrarians who have no respect for Christians or anyone of a religious frame of mind--who equate James Dobson and Pope Benedict XVI with the Taliban--have no place in the conservative movement.

[rhombus]

The Constitution set up a federal system of Government. It also set up a Bill of Rights that could not be violated by legislation. It also set up a system where states could amend that Constitution. I think it's working pretty well except when people ignore it.

[joesbucks]

Albert Mohler, who may lead the Southern Baptist Convention away from dispensationalism and into a more Reformed viewpoint

I get the distinct impression that a Mohler reformation is less toward a new church and more toward an old church.

[CarolinaGuitarman]

"The Constitution set up a federal system of Government. It also set up a Bill of Rights that could not be violated by legislation. It also set up a system where states could amend that Constitution. I think it's working pretty well except when people ignore it."

Like when they ignore the fact that unenumerated government *powers* are unconstitutional?

[rhombus]

Such as?