Wait, You're an Atheist AND a conservative?

[onager]

Article at Humanist.com today. Covers some topics brought up here and in the Religion group recently, including big-name conservos coming out of the closet. The comments are worth reading, too:

http://thehumanist.com/commentary/wait-youre-an-atheist-and-a-conservative

[CJCRANE]

1. Of course it's possible, it's just not advisable to be one in the Tea Party/GOP.

The Democratic Party is the party for people with rational opinions based on reason, from liberal, through moderate, to conservative.

[Warpy]

2. Possible, not probable

Conservatism requires such a strong 'us versus them' mindset that it will tolerate no divergence from established dogma. Any atheist who comes out in one of their groups is likely to find the ambient temperature in the room drop by 50F and his mailbox suddenly empty of Astroturf emails while his phone grows suddenly silent.

Of course there are conservative atheists, probably the same proportion as more liberal atheists. However, to continue being accepted at all, they must remain deeply closeted.

[Warren Stupidity]

3. Doesn't SE Cupp claim to be sort of an atheist?

And of course Ayn Rand was, in addition to being a monumental asshole, an outspoken atheist. I encourage all of our conservative atheists colleagues to speak up and identify themselves for what they are. I'm sure that they will be welcomed with open arms by the god-smacked nutjobs that constitute the rank and file of the republican party.

[AtheistCrusader]

4. She 'aspires to be a person of faith'.

Meaning, she's not an atheist. She's just found a niche market and is mining the hell out of it.

[Warren Stupidity]

5. Hmmm... reminds me of somebody else.

[AtheistCrusader]

6. Took the words right out of my mouth.

[Heddi]

7. Oh God. Libertarian Atheists troll the Atheist groups online, especially facebook, hence my startin

the little chat group I did in Facebook.

1) they all have the debate skills of a 12 year old with cognitive disabilities. "Oh yeah? well. Fuck you. That's why"

2) What incredibly sexist and racist trolls they are. So full of hate.

3) I think their lack of belief in a God has more to do with their view that they are the top of the food chain. It's a very egotistical view they have---not just being Atheist. I dont' know if I can explain it, maybe someone who's read the ass drippings of these little shits can explain it better. It's like they don't care whether there's a god or not, they don't necessarily KNOW whether they believe in God or not. They're so certain that they're the most important thing in the universe, that they're the most right thign in the universe, so God doesn't exist to them because he's competition....does that make sense?

And oh my...they're just so awful to read...which is why I stopped. So fucking conservative.

They're almost nihlist in their utter contempt for everything: hate women, hate minorities, hate taxes, hate church, hate god, hate laws, hate the world, hate you, but jesus everloving christ do they LOVE themselves

[Curmudgeoness]

8. You have got their number.

That is a perfect explanation of the "atheist conservative".

And if you take out the "hate church" and "hate god" part, it is the definition of any of these ultra-conservatives.

[Heddi]

9. I don't even consider them Atheists, and this isn't a "No true scottsman" idea

I mean, they're Atheistic in the sense that they don't believe in God. BUt I see a very large difference between someone who doesn't believe in a higher power because they see themselves as the pinnacle of everything, and people who don't believe in a higher power because there isn't evidence for it.

Again, they're more nihlist than anything. THey hate the church for being competition. They hate the church for being an institution. Just like they hate government for being an institution. They hate taxes for being in finanical competition. It's a hatred of anything that is different, anyone who is a threat, anything that is viewed as an "institution."

They also reject climate change, and sexual inequality, and racial inequality, and income inequality. They reject the idea of equal education for all. They are dismissive of women, and racial minorities, and sexual minorities.

To me, an Atheist isn't just someone who doesn't believe in God. An Atheist is someone who doesn't believe in God and who can understand the damage that the God idea, and the REligion idea have done to society in general, individuals in particular. I don't think anyone here just rejects God but who gives a shit about the gays, or the blacks?

Now, I do know some republican atheists, and they are very different from these nihlist Big L Libertarian atheists. I don't know...I think there is something fundamentally wrong with the brain chemistry of someone who is a Libertarian. It's just a sociopathic way to view life and society. Even moreso than Republicanism. Barely different, but different to me. I look at the rapidly dwindling number of friends I have who identify as Libertarian/Tea Party, and those who are Conservative/Republican, and there is just some difference between them. I find the Libertarians to be just nastier. Stupider, but with this misplaced sense of superiority. Republicans are happy to be the aw shucks stupid country boys and girls who drive pick-em-up trucks and who happily shun education as being some liberal agenda, and who go to church and question nothing. THe Libertarians take 3 college classes, a sociology class and come out and are like I ARE SMARTER THAN YOU, PLEBE. Unlike the republicans who are dumb and loving it, the Libertarians got 1/10th of a college education and think they are just the SMARTEST FUCKING PERSON IN THE ROOM and because they took Intro to Basic Economics then they are like a fucking economic genius...

sorry. I have a real fucking hatred of libertarians/teabaggers. THey are a stain on this country and I immediately defriend anyone on Facebook who reveals themselves to be a libertarian. Their entire political viewpoint is an antithesis to how I live my life, how I think others should live their lives, how society should function, etc.

The fact that they attach themselves as Atheists as a way to prove their oh so superior life view is even more infuriating, because they aren't Atheist. They're Anti-everyonebutme-ist.

[Curmudgeoness]

10. You and I must run into different Republicans.

Or maybe the Republicans that I know are really Libertarians who are too lazy to look into where they really fall on the political scale. All of the Republicans that I deal with fit your description on libertarians with the "I'm smarter that you" attitude. I guarantee you that they are not, and I am not being superior here.

Another thing that I see in most atheists, at least those here, is that we know that this life is all we have, and we accept that and try to make the most of it by caring about others. God isn't there to give love to mankind, someone has to be there to help those in need. We think this world should be the best that we can make it, for ourselves and for others, because there is no paradise for eternity.

[Heddi]

11. Most of my conservative friends are from the south, where i grew up

They were raised in traditional conservative southern baptist republican homes. They got married right out of high school, had 23940 babies, go to church, live in the trailer, husband #2 works as a mechanic or wife #2 works through those "sales party" things where you sell awful candles to your friends.

This is a LARGE number of the conservative republican friends I have.

There are quite a few that went from that ^^^ to buying the tea-party Libertarian bullshit YEAH WHY SHOULD I PAY FOR SOME BLACK WOMAN"S BABBYS!@?!??! and saw Sarah Palin as some messiah and that's when I started dropping them like flies. They feel that republicans are too liberal, that George Bush was to the left of Obama...

My republican friends (and please know I use the term "Friends" as lightly as possible. THey're not coming to my house, we're not raising kids together, and the extent of my interaction with them is sharing youtube videos of cute cats and goats that scream like jerry lewis) are just dumb southern rednecks. They aren't enlightened. They're not interested in race relations...but they don't spam my wall with racist meme's about Obama. They're anti-abortion, but they're not putting pictures of dead fetuses on my page.

the libertarians are. I just find them to be so much more base, so much nastier.

Again, maybe it's because i grew up in a poor southern city/town and most of my classmates have stayed poor, stayed southern, and live within 15 miles of where they were born and grew up

[Warpy]

12. You're describing most of the people I left behind in the south to a T

I've looked a few of them up over the years and the ones who consider themselves wildly successful sell insurance. Or cars.

I lost touch with the ones I liked during the 60s and 70s when I was knocking around New England and doing lighting and we just didn't speak the same language any more. I'd gone wild while they stayed tame and I'm sure they consider themselves superior for it.

They'd probably be deeply shocked that I ended up in nursing, Flossie Nightingale, famous for her good works among the sick. They'd probably remark sourly that I'd just gone where the drugs were.

[LostOne4Ever]

13. Comparing those type of people to nihilists

Is an insult to nihilists everywhere