New poll shows atheists are no longer the least electable group in america

[Moloch]

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2015/06/22/new-gallup-poll-shows-that-atheists-are-no-longer-the-least-electable-group-in-america/

New Gallup Poll Shows That Atheists Are No Longer the Least Electable Group in America

For decades now, Gallup has been asking voters about their dealbreakers when it comes to electing a President:

    If your party nominated a generally well-qualified person for president who happened to be ________, would you vote for that person?

Every time they’ve asked that question, “atheist” has been at the bottom of the list.

In 2012, there was cause for celebration simply because more than half of those surveyed said they wouldn’t hold atheism against a politician.

Gallup released a new poll today asking the same question and — for the first time ever — “atheist” isn’t the worst trait in a Presidential candidate.

Thanks, Bernie Sanders!

    Independent Bernie Sanders, who is seeking the Democratic nomination, is the only Jewish candidate in the race. And while a large majority of Americans are willing to vote for a candidate of his faith, Sanders’ self-identification as a socialist could hurt him, as half of Americans say they would not vote for someone with that background.

Not only is being a Socialist less acceptable than being an atheist, nearly 6 in 10 Americans say they would be comfortable voting for a Godless candidate within their party.

That’s an incredible change!

(I mean, it’s not great. We’re still pretty damn low on the list. And we still have no realistic chance at getting an openly atheist candidate in the White House. But… we’re not last!)

The first time Gallup asked this question, in 1958, only 18% of respondents felt comfortable voting for an atheist. (That was the decade when “Under God” was stuck into the Pledge and “In God We Trust” was put on the currency. We were even less popular back then.)

So even though we’re nowhere near the upper echelon of Presidential traits, we’ve made some serious progress. Considering the religiosity of our country and the way just about every politician speaks about the importance of faith, this is a big freaking deal.

When it comes to the traits organizations like Gallup ask Americans about, we’re no longer the least electable group in America.

[mOgliE]

Thanks for this poll. It's always good to know what's important for Americans to know what you should do (the opposite).

So for USA, the worst candidate is an atheist socialist... Well that's exactly what we would need then.

[CoinCube]

Thanks for this poll. It's always good to know what's important for Americans to know what you should do (the opposite).

So for USA, the worst candidate is an atheist socialist... Well that's exactly what we would need then.

Stalin called for an "atheist five year plan" from 1932–1937, led by the LMG, in order to completely eliminate all religious expression in the USSR. It was declared that the concept of God would disappear from the Soviet Union.

[mOgliE]

Thanks for this poll. It's always good to know what's important for Americans to know what you should do (the opposite).

So for USA, the worst candidate is an atheist socialist... Well that's exactly what we would need then.

Stalin called for an "atheist five year plan" from 1932–1937, led by the LMG, in order to completely eliminate all religious expression in the USSR. It was declared that the concept of God would disappear from the Soviet Union.

And?
You're trying to explain me that socialist atheists can be bad? Wahou what a news! xD
Sadly religion is like most horrible disease, it can't disappear. But it can be cured, by science and education ^^

[Moloch]

Thanks for this poll. It's always good to know what's important for Americans to know what you should do (the opposite).

So for USA, the worst candidate is an atheist socialist... Well that's exactly what we would need then.

The atheist socialist was Bernie Sanders... he didn't get the nomination (spoiler: it was rigged)

[bryant.coleman]

Still more people are ready to support a Muslim candidate than an atheist. The ordinary American's hatred for atheists surprises me. He has no issue with Salafist terrorists blowing up public places. He has no issues with Catholic priests raping altar boys... and still he is afraid when someone has the courage to say that religion is just a medium to enslave the world population.

[BADecker]

Look. The atheist move from the bottom up the ladder one rung is purely coincidental. Atheism will never be big. Why not? People want order in their lives, and atheism as such isn't solid enough to have any.

[CoinCube]

You're trying to explain me that socialist atheists can be bad? Wahou what a news! xD
Sadly religion is like most horrible disease, it can't disappear. But it can be cured, by science and education ^^

I have extensively argued elsewhere that you have this exactly backwards and that rather then a disease religion is overall healthy and protective.

Religion is on whole and for most people far healthier then a lack of religion. It will never be "cured" by science and education in fact in the long run it will be reinforced by them. Throughout history various entities and governments have therefore attempted to "cure" religion with violent oppression instead. However all of these attempts have failed and will continue to fail because the oppressing system whatever form it may take is always inherently unhealthy and thus unsustainable. Its very nature guarantees failure.  

Some failed historical attempts to "cure" religion.
  

The United Soviet Socialist Republic
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USSR_anti-religious_campaign_(1921%E2%80%931928)
The Soviet regime had an ostensible commitment to the complete annihilation of religious institutions and ideas. Militant atheism was central to the ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and a high priority of all Soviet leaders. Convinced atheists were considered to be more virtuous individuals than those of religious belief.
When church leaders demanded freedom of religion under the constitution, the Communists responded with terror. They murdered the metropolitan of Kiev and executed twenty-eight bishops and 6,775 priests. Despite mass demonstrations in support of the church, repression cowed most ecclesiastical leaders into submission.

The Nazi Regime
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Nazi_Germany#Plan_for_the_Roman_Catholic_Church
As Hitler rose to power, many Catholic bishops, priests, religious and lay leaders vociferously opposed Nazism on the grounds of its incompatibility with Christian morals. In early 1931, the German bishops issued an edict excommunicating all leaders of the Nazi Party and banned Catholics from membership.
In 1937 Pope Pius XI issued the encyclical Mit brennender Sorge condemning Nazi ideology. In 1941 the Nazi authorities decreed the dissolution of all monasteries and abbeys in the German Reich, many of them effectively being occupied and secularized by the Allgemeine SS under Himmler. Himmler saw a main task of the SS to be that of "acting as the vanguard in overcoming Christianity and restoring a Germanic way of living" as part of preparations for the coming conflict between "humans and subhumans". Hitler called a truce in the Church conflict with the outbreak of war, wanting to back away from policies likely to cause internal friction in Germany. He decreed at the outset of war that "no further action should be taken against the Evangelical and Catholic Churches for the duration of the war".

Khmer_Rouge
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_Rouge_period_(1975%E2%80%931979)#Religious_communities
Many monks were executed; temples and pagodas were destroyed[14] or turned into storehouses or gaols. Images of the Buddha were defaced and dumped into rivers and lakes. People who were discovered praying or expressing religious sentiments were often killed. The Christian and Muslim communities also were even more persecuted, as they were labelled as part of a pro-Western cosmopolitan sphere, hindering Cambodian culture and society.
The Roman Catholic cathedral of Phnom Penh was completely razed.[14] The Khmer Rouge forced Muslims to eat pork, which they regard as forbidden (ḥarām). Many of those who refused were killed. Christian clergy and Muslim imams were executed. One hundred and thirty Cham mosques were destroyed.

Early Communist China
https://www.mtholyoke.edu/~geary20d/worldpolitics/maozedeng.html
During the beginning of the People’s Republic of China, Mao Zedong and the Communists had seized control and 10,000 missionaries were forced to leave the country. Persecution of Christians proceeded at full throttle. Mao Zedong did not want any foreign influence on the people. In 1952 the last U.S. Presbyterian missionaries, Frank and Essie Price, were forced to leave China a mere three years after Mao Zedong assumes power. During the dark years of Mao's 'Great Leap Forward' (launched in 1958) and 'The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution' (launched in 1966), many of the Christian leaders were killed and imprisoned for their faith, and many others spent years in hard labor camps. According to an article in the Epoch Times, “The CCP (Chinese Communist Party) has lost all composure in the frantic persecution of religion. During the Cultural Revolution, numerous temples and mosques were torn down, and monks were paraded in humiliation through the streets

[gentlemand]

I have never knowingly voted for a God botherer and if I did find out my candidate was one then they're out.

[CoinCube]

I have never knowingly voted for a God botherer and if I did find out my candidate was one then they're out.

You are in luck then if you live in the US this election cycle.   

[zenitzz]

it will be difficult for the follower atheist to follow an election in any country, until recently the world still does not admit that atheism is a religion. The pool is of no use because all already knew without having to see results.

[gentlemand]

You are in luck then if you live in the US this election cycle.   

I'm stuck in the now island prison that is the UK. If anyone admits to being a Christian here people immediately run away screaming.

I've spent a lot of time in the US and the overt religion was pretty amazing to observe. There's no equivalent in Europe. 

 

[BADecker]

it will be difficult for the follower atheist to follow an election in any country, until recently the world still does not admit that atheism is a religion. The pool is of no use because all already knew without having to see results.

Atheism is not a religion.

Just like silence is not music...

BTW, as the world becomes more educated, your bronze age nonsense will become a footnote in the history books.
In 20-30 years, nobody will be treating you seriously if you say that "God talks to you...every day" or that "God is everywhere...".

This mental disorder will be recognized by the medical community.

In the same way that silence is not heard, atheism is not heard, either. If you hear atheism, it's because the music of your vocal cords has turned it into a religion.

[BADecker]

it will be difficult for the follower atheist to follow an election in any country, until recently the world still does not admit that atheism is a religion. The pool is of no use because all already knew without having to see results.

Atheism is not a religion.

Just like silence is not music...

BTW, as the world becomes more educated, your bronze age nonsense will become a footnote in the history books.
In 20-30 years, nobody will be treating you seriously if you say that "God talks to you...every day" or that "God is everywhere...".

This mental disorder will be recognized by the medical community.

In the same way that silence is not heard, atheism is not heard, either. If you hear atheism, it's because the music of your vocal cords has turned it into a religion.

Science is failing Why? Scientists have proven God exists over and over again in many ways. Yet they completely ignore the proof, and focus on other things.

When science ignores the obvious like they ignore the existence of God, they are doomed. It is showing, already, in how they take science theory (not known to be fact) and attempt to treat it as though it were fact. It is showing already, in how they attempt to us Quantum Mechanics to prove science facts, when QM is only probability that can be used to disprove the exact things that it is supposedly used to prove.

At this rate, in a hundred years, either science will be gone, or the scientists will.

[Gronthaing]

Thanks for this poll. It's always good to know what's important for Americans to know what you should do (the opposite).

So for USA, the worst candidate is an atheist socialist... Well that's exactly what we would need then.

The atheist socialist was Bernie Sanders... he didn't get the nomination (spoiler: it was rigged)

Would like to see a more recent poll like this. After sanders, results in favor of socialism probably went up as the media tried to push that against him so much. Which got more people to look it up and inform themselves. Atheism maybe not so much. Don't believe he is well known for being one. So atheism should be in last place again. Or maybe it's muslims now.

[nururochac]

Thanks for this poll. It's always good to know what's important for Americans to know what you should do (the opposite).

So for USA, the worst candidate is an atheist socialist... Well that's exactly what we would need then.

Stalin called for an "atheist five year plan" from 1932–1937, led by the LMG, in order to completely eliminate all religious expression in the USSR. It was declared that the concept of God would disappear from the Soviet Union.

This is atheist atrocities fallacy, if stalin did a mass murder that doesn't because of shoving his belief that there is no god but it is because of his perspective.
https://michaelsherlockauthor.wordpress.com/2014/10/21/the-atheist-atrocities-fallacy-hitler-stalin-pol-pot-in-memory-of-christopher-hitchens/

[CoinCube]

This is atheist atrocities fallacy, if stalin did a mass murder that doesn't because of shoving his belief that there is no god but it is because of his perspective.
https://michaelsherlockauthor.wordpress.com/2014/10/21/the-atheist-atrocities-fallacy-hitler-stalin-pol-pot-in-memory-of-christopher-hitchens/

All religions represent a code of moral behavior. The exact code varies between religions. Atheism rejects this code freeing one to replace it with something of the atheist own choosing. As evil people in power usually desire evil things they naturally regard religion as a direct threat because the moral code of most religions would condemn whatever it is they plan to do. Atheism is simply a void which leaves an empty space to be filled. Everyone lives by some sort of general principles if only simple personal expediency. This void leaves the atheist highly vulnerable to whatever unhealthy substitute moral codes are in vogue at a given moment. Eighty years ago the concepts of Lebensraum, Rassenschande, and Untermensch were in vogue in Germany.      

Christopher Hitchens arguments on Hitler are quite disingenuous. Hitler was a first rate demagogue he said whatever was necessary to solidify his power and advance his goals. As in all things you need to look at what he actually did.

The Case Against the Nazis; How Hitler's Forces Planned To Destroy German Christianity
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/13/weekinreview/word-for-word-case-against-nazis-hitler-s-forces-planned-destroy-german.html?pagewanted=all

''The Persecution of the Christian Churches,'' summarizes the Nazi plan to subvert and destroy German Christianity, which it calls ''an integral part of the National Socialist scheme of world conquest.''

In the 1920's, as they battled for power, the Nazis realized that the churches in overwhelmingly Christian Germany needed to be neutralized before they would get anywhere. Two-thirds of German Christians were Protestants, belonging to one of 28 regional factions of the German Evangelical Church. Most of the rest were Roman Catholics. On one level, the Nazis saw an advantage. In tumultuous post-World War I Germany, the Christian churches ''had long been associated with conservative ways of thought, which meant that they tended to agree with the National Socialists in their authoritarianism, their attacks on Socialism and Communism, and in their campaign against the Versailles treaty'' that had ended World War I with a bitterly resentful Germany.

But there was a dilemma for Hitler. While conservatives, the Christian churches ''could not be reconciled with the principle of racism, with a foreign policy of unlimited aggressive warfare, or with a domestic policy involving the complete subservience of Church to State.'' Given that these were the fundamental underpinnings of the Nazi regime, ''conflict was inevitable,'' the summary states. It came, as Nazi power surged in the late 1920's toward national domination in the early 30's.

According to Baldur von Schirach, the Nazi leader of the German youth corps that would later be known as the Hitler Youth, ''the destruction of Christianity was explicitly recognized as a purpose of the National Socialist movement'' from the beginning, though ''considerations of expedience made it impossible'' for the movement to adopt this radical stance officially until it had consolidated power, the outline says.

Attracted by the strategic value inherent in the churches' ''historic mission of conservative social discipline,'' the Nazis simply lied and made deals with the churches while planning a ''slow and cautious policy of gradual encroachment'' to eliminate Christianity.

The prosecution investigators describe this as a criminal conspiracy. ''This general plan had been established even before the rise of the Nazis to power,'' the outline says. ''It apparently came out of discussions among an inner circle'' comprised of Hitler himself, other top Nazi leaders including the propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, and a collection of party enforcers and veteran beer-hall agitators.

Of course, the churches stayed in Hitler's good graces for only as long as the Nazis considered their cooperation expedient. Soon after Hitler assumed dictatorial powers, ''relations between the Nazi state and the church became progressively worse,'' the outline says. The Nazis ''took advantage of their subsequently increasing strength to violate every one of the Concordat's provisions.''

In 1937, Pope Pius XI denounced Nazi treachery in an encyclical that accused Hitler of ''a war of extermination'' against the church. The battle had been joined on some fronts. Nazi street mobs, often in the company of the Gestapo, routinely stormed offices in Protestant and Catholic churches where clergymen were seen as lax in their support of the regime.

Still, in a society where the entire Jewish population was being automatically condemned without public protest, care was taken to manipulate public perceptions about clergymen who fell into Nazi disfavor. ''The Catholic Church need not imagine that we are going to create martyrs,'' Robert Wagner, the Nazi Gauleiter of Baden, said in a speech, according to the O.S.S. study. ''We shall not give the church that satisfaction. She shall have not martyrs, but criminals.''

But once they had total power and set off to launch a world war, the Nazis made no secret of what lay in store for Christian clergymen who expressed dissent.

In Munich, Nazi street gangs and a Gestapo squad attacked the residence of the Roman Catholic cardinal. ''A hail of stones was directed against the windows, while the men shouted, 'Take the rotten traitor to Dachau!' '' the outline says, adding: ''After 1937, German Catholic bishops gave up all attempts to print'' their pastoral letters publicly and instead ''had them merely read from the pulpits.''

Then the letters themselves were confiscated. 'In many churches, the confiscation took place during Mass by the police snatching the letter out of the hands of the priests as they were in the act of reading it.''

Later the same year, dissident Protestant churches joined in a manifesto protesting Nazi tactics. In response, the Nazis arrested 700 Protestant pastors.

Objectionable statements made by the clergy would no longer be prosecuted in the courts, the Nazis said. Statements ''injurious to the State would be ruthlessly punished by 'protective custody,' that is, the concentration camp,'' the outline says.

[Gimpeline]

it will be difficult for the follower atheist to follow an election in any country, until recently the world still does not admit that atheism is a religion. The pool is of no use because all already knew without having to see results.

Atheism is not a religion.

Just like silence is not music...

BTW, as the world becomes more educated, your bronze age nonsense will become a footnote in the history books.
In 20-30 years, nobody will be treating you seriously if you say that "God talks to you...every day" or that "God is everywhere...".

This mental disorder will be recognized by the medical community.

In the same way that silence is not heard, atheism is not heard, either. If you hear atheism, it's because the music of your vocal cords has turned it into a religion.

Science is failing Why? Scientists have proven God exists over and over again in many ways. Yet they completely ignore the proof, and focus on other things.

When science ignores the obvious like they ignore the existence of God, they are doomed. It is showing, already, in how they take science theory (not known to be fact) and attempt to treat it as though it were fact. It is showing already, in how they attempt to us Quantum Mechanics to prove science facts, when QM is only probability that can be used to disprove the exact things that it is supposedly used to prove.

At this rate, in a hundred years, either science will be gone, or the scientists will.

Scientist haven't proven that. As I have said over and over again. Show me the paper that proves God.
I have even given you links to search engines for scientific papers and still nothing. Stop lying!