Atheist Candidates Project with Aron Ra

This is cool. Aron Ra, outspoken atheist and science educator and advocate, is going to be running for a Texas senate district. I like the title of this video as well - Atheist Candidates Project with Aron Ra

I would love to see more atheists in politics taking a stand against the Religious Wrong even while serving the interests of religious people in the capacity of an elected public servant in a secular government such as ours. Atheists are actually a repressed minority in this country when it comes to public perception and being elected to public office. I think this is because (religious) people fear non-religious people, and indeed they're practically taught to do so by their parents, pastors and bibles.

 

I just don't see that man getting elected to anything. Our illustrious Supreme Court leader,Roberts, stated that there is no seat at the table here for atheists. Interesting. I guess that means I don't have to pay taxes either.

 

I am an atheist, but that is not all I am - I will not vote for someone just because they are an atheist.
It is time for us to have elected officials who do not have an imaginary friend.
I don't mind truly religious people, it is the religious hypocrites like Mike Pence that really get me angry.

 

How is he a hypocrite? Give a specific example or you're a liar.

I'm waiting.

 

I disagree. I don’t think politicians promoting the fact they’re atheist is no better than politicians promoting the fact their religious. A good politician should be secular, standing against wrongs regardless of whether they were (or perceived to be) based on religious principles and serving the interests of all citizens regardless of their faith or lack thereof.

This kind of thing risks promoting a religious versus atheist angle to political debate which won’t help anyone (other than the candidates who get the attention they so often crave and a commercially beneficial higher public profile).

 

An Atheist is trying political career ... in the USA, the land where anyone not telling "God bless America" is a potential Socialist and Communist???

 

Speaking for myself, as a religious person, I don't fear non-religious people. My experiences with them, though, is that most have some kind of serious character flaw or dysfunctional background. (of course, not all, but that' s my general observation. In my 45 years of memory, I can't ever recall being taught to fear non-religious people by my parents, pastor or Bible. In fact, one of my parents was non-religious.). Mr. Ra, (the former L.Aron Nelson) is pretty good evidence for my views about atheists.

 

He can't win on just being an Atheist.

 

It's been my experience that the religious like to think that their religion is essential to morality. I've also seen plenty of, erm, character flaws and dysfunctional backgrounds among the religious, in particular the fundamentalists. Same time, this is not what I see among atheists, even the outspoken atheists, which makes me wonder about your ability to judge others. When you claim that Aron Ra is pretty good evidence for your views about atheists, I question this all the more.

Of course, everyone has some issues. No one is perfect, no one epitomizes the ideal. There are goofy atheists, to be sure, because people don't always end up that way on the basis of reason alone. The fact that so many find their way to religion eventually is indication enough of that

 

I agree with the observation about dysfunctional backgrounds in fundamentalists. Aron Ra is a strange individual--no doubt about it. He's how I view most outspoken atheists. (similar to the way I view Pat Robertson as an evangelical). I stated nothing about morality. I know that non-religious people/atheists can be moral people. I just think they are often very hurt individuals. I actually feel sorry for most non-religious people.

My personal experience is that non-religious people are that way due to some kind of problem in their childhood. Your experiences may differ. I also was careful to use the term non-religious people, not atheists, in most of my post. I used atheist as a specific modifier for Aron Ra. Ra has about as much chance of being a Texas state senator as I do (and I have no intention to move to Texas).

 

So you haven't met a non-religious person who is not religious simply because religious claims are not reasonable and are easily contradicted by modern scientific knowledge, or simply because they were never raised to be religious? Because that's what I see by and large.

 

Atheists have a horrific track record of abusing the rights of others. Even though not all atheists are communists, all good communists are atheists. Looking at the mayhem, hardship and genocide communist atheists have caused in the last 100 years in the Soviet Union, the Ukraine, China, Cambodia, Cuba and Eastern Europe, I can't agree that Godless people make better politicians.

 

Progressive atheists have no set moral values I've ever heard about.
If you know of any, please list them.

 

I can cite the KKK burning crosses, the Crusades, "ethnic cleansing" in Bosnia,... all done in the name of god. I think there are evil atheists and there are evil believers. ISIS atrocities are all attributed to religion.

 

We believe everyone has equal rights - that justice should be "blind" to sex, income, race, etc.
We believe in the right to choose and follow your religion - or no religion - as long as that does not impact other people.
We believe that government and religion need to be separate - as specified in the constitution.
We believe that we do not have an afterlife, and that all of humanity is in this together, so we need to follow the golden rule.

 

He lies - No where in Christ's teachings that I recall is telling a lie advocated
SOME of his lies : http://www.politifact.com/personalities/mike-pence/statements/byruling/false/
He does not follow Christ's teachings to tend to the poor, yet he says he is a christian.
He pretends to be so moral, yet he supports and enables a foul-mouthed, lecherous, adulterous, abusive liar, the so-called president.
(I am an atheist, but was brought up christian, and I support the teachings of Christ as an excellent role model).

 

Speaking for myself, as an atheist, I don't fear religious people. My experience with them, though, is that most have some serious character flaw or dysfunctional background.
I am not ignorant, I don't base my opinion on only one religious person, they all have exhibited less than stellar character.

 

Christ advocated person-to-person giving to the poor, and Christians give far more to the poor than non-Christians.

Christ did not advocate massive taxation by Rome so the Romans could set up a welfare state.

 

Dogmatic religion of The State is still religion, Marx and others would argue you destroy religion by education and eliminating ignorance of the masses allowing it to die off a slow death of many cuts so to speak.

 

Those are not real moral values. How about:
Don't lie.
Don't commit adultery.
Don't murder unborn children.
Don't join drug gangs.
Believing a traditional nuclear family is far superior to Uncle Sammy handing out welfare to fatherless children.

 

I see you are very protective of socialist/communists. When is the last time Western Christian nations fought over purely religious matters among themselves? The War of the Roses. The ignorance of people allowing communist states to form (there can't be a stateless government) has led to more deaths in the 20th Century than any other form of religion.

 

All progressives support Affirmative Action that discriminate based on sex and race.
America was founded by Christians, almost exclusively. They would not have written "endowed by their creator" is they were all about atheism.
http://christianobserver.org/the-united-states-constitution-and-christianity/

 

What is your point here ? That the US should be a theocracy ?

The word "Creator" was specifically chosen so as not to specifically name the Christian or any other God.

The main point though is that the reason the "Creator" was invoked was to separate Church from State power.

The declaration of independence puts individual rights and freedoms "ABOVE" the legitimate authority of the State/Gov't. The purview of the state extended only to protection from direct harm.

The Gov't is then not to make "any" law outside it's legitimate purview -never mind making law based on religious belief. This is especially true in relation to messing with individual rights and freedoms.

The second part of the DOI is about where the authority of Gov't comes from. Rather than coming from Divine Right/God as was the case in the past, the founders had the authority of Gov't come from "We the People".

This has nothing to do with atheism and everything to do with secularism. You seem to be confusing the two.

 

My point is that America was founded by Christians, and is still a majority Christian nation. No other religion played any significant role in the shaping of our American government.

As for separation of church and state, to the same degree it was separated in 1789, should it be today. No Neo-Com or other progressive atheist should have the right to remove Christian monuments (such as the Ten Commandments) from public government property. Only a majority of the people in the community themselves should begin to have such a right.

 

Christianity didn't really shape our government, either.

This is precisely why I don't like seeing a bunch of religious nuts elected to public offices. They don't respect the Establishment Clause, but rather seem bent on skirting it any way they can. You'd think freedom of religion would be enough, but no - plenty of insecure Christians think this country should go farther than that. The Ten Commandments have no place in government, considering that so many of them violate the Establishment Clause in their very essence. "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Boom, violation if it is in any way endorsed in any official capacity by the government. Our laws are not based on the Ten Commandments, either.