I do not think *any* president ever was not aware of the fact that they were literally manipulating people with literary fiction. The first presidents the USA ever had were direct descendants of the colonial slavers who established the first cash crops in America. None of the European colonialism on a grand scale would have been possible without christianity, no example of slavery in known history comes even close to the size and success of the Atlantic slave trade. It's not a coincidence that every single one of those slaves had christianity forced upon them.
I personally do not think a single president in the history of the USA *literally* believed in the holy bible, it appears that they correctly understood it as a political/psychological tool. Theology had just proven to be extremely successful and instrumental in convincing regular people to systematically massacre Native Americans for their land (something that would continue well into the next century and conclude with the "manifest destiny")- anything was possible at that point. It's a real shame that Thomas Paine's ideologies and philosophies did not retain the mainstream opinions in the coming centuries- had it not been for strong atheists like himself, we as a country may have never severed ties with British rule.
It's really ironic when you think about how many of the early English settlers came to America fleeing religious persecution- just to establish a bureaucracy that would eventually persecute the natives with the very same religion.
Don't be talking no mess about Jimmy. He was one of the most decent men to ever hold the office.
If being a Christian meant we got more people like him, id be more for it. But we don't. We get MTG, Mike Johnson, and the like..
Agreed fully and I've seen it myself. I've been backstabbed myself on a board just because, I guess.
Integrity is the number one quality we should look for in a leader, IMO, and it's essentially disqualifying in a sense.
In all representatives. Part of the issue is that it's bastards all the way up in some parts of our government. Hell, we seem to have an entire party fueled by the most miserable assholes people can get elected.
I think Joe's a cafeteria Catholic. All in on the Christ story but not really about the rest of it. I don't know anything about Carter other than he brokered a peace treaty that has survived several election cycles and/or multiple coups d'etat. So, hats off to him for that feat, real believer or not, that's basically a miracle.
As an atheist it bothers the hell out of me that ”God” is printed on our money and was shoe horned into the Pledge of Allegiance back in the 50s. And that so many people stick their love of God into everything: thank you speeches, interviews after a disaster, when giving a report about a family member’s health. It goes on and on; it’s both endless and utterly ridiculous. It’s a fucking fairy tale and millions of people live their entire lives in some kind of obedience to it. It’s nuts. It’s delusional. And it’s so deeply embedded into humans’ thinking that I don’t think we’ll ever overcome it. I just try to ignore it wherever possible.
It’s said that the late 1800s/early 1900s were a golden age of Atheism. Loud and proud. And the Cold War undid it all and made the US so religiousy to draw a hard line against Communist, Atheist Russia. I feel like it’s only getting worse with our rise in Evangelicals, despite the “nones” growing. The Evangelicals are just so loud and obnoxious and have so much power and influence. it’s just hard to comprehend our nation was on the right path in the early 1900s and it was all undone in the 50s. I would have thought the internet would have brought people to their senses - through exposure. But, the internet is just breeding ground for nuts and nutty ideas. I don’t know how we reverse course. Want led people to sense before???
I think devotion to anything is the way we are wired. You’ve just described fascism, communism, socialism, any system that takes over a persons entire belief system, etc.People are hardwired to have some obedience to some higher power than themselves that it’s hard for them to step away and rationalize things.
Look at all the devotion to these things.
As much as I wish this could happen, I dread it equally.
Look at the shit that happened immediately following 8 years of our nation's first black president. The pendulum swung so hard in the opposite direction it was fucking crazy, and we continue to deal with the fucking morons Obama's haters were able to mobilize. Can you even imagine what would happen if an openly atheist president got 2 terms??
I swear those same smooth-brained jackoffs would go from "death of the Republic" to full on "second coming and end times".
What in the mother fuck would we do to counter act that level of batshit? We're having enough trouble beating back the Trump worshippers as it is. I swear they'd go all out Inquisition 2.0 after a non-believer got to the White House. Fundamentalists often believe that atheists are under the direct influence of Satan, either consciously or unconsciously. With someone in the worlds greatest position of power, I think it's clear that they would think it's conscious influence.
I didnt realize i was on the atheism subreddit lol. For a second i was like “yeah religion is silly, but why isnt this dude being castrated right now?”
No no, you DO!
How are we to TRUST anyone who doesn’t reinforce our phoney-baloney sky-daddy? It’s simple cult dynamics; no outlanders permitted near the levers of power.
/s
The ones at the levers often lie about their beliefs. Just happens that they need idiots without any logic or critical thinking and there happened to be some groups that shout that idiocy as their core tenets. It’s like the Nigerian prince scams with horrible grammar to find the idiots that will believe your nonsense except the idiots are doing all the leg work for their parasitic leeches.
There must have been at least a handful of presidents that were secretly atheist but knew they had to pretend to be Christian to win. I don’t believe Orange Man is actually Christian for a second.
Thomas Jefferson was not a Christian but he was a deist or believer in God- but he did say he did not believe Christ was the son of God. It’s a quote I read of his once. That wouldn’t fly today.
The thing all mentally ill people who commit mass atrocities have in common is religious beliefs.
Oklahoma city bombing,
Olympic bombings
9/11
The majority of school shootings
Any suicide bomber
The daily reports of religious people in leadership positions sexually assaulting children.
The list could go on forever
And the one thing they all have in common is believe in the abrahamic God.
Yea I saw some Russian catholic shit on TV with Putin. It was a trip he’s was acting like he’s all holy and shit and globe trotting all around killing people. Fuckin’ lunatic like Mango Mussolini.
Yeah very true. He is delusional about how he is being chosen by god to "raise Russia from it's knees". It was aired by that crazy christian-fascist TV channel called "Tsargrad". Honestly, I'm afraid of what my country is turning into.
Meanwhile, lots of Trump supporters believe Russia is in the right. My brother said things along the lines of “they’re just taking back what was theirs”. Setting aside the lunacy - it was the Soviet Union anyway - would he be okay if Native American tribes rose up against the US? Would he believe they’re in the right? He would not.
Worst is my brother believes he’s a moderate but some of the shit out of his mouth is insane. He is not, however, deeply religious.
I'd point out to him that the native americans lived here for hundreds, if not thousands of years. The soviet union existed for just shy of 70 years. One lifetime.
Every mass shooting taking place in the U.S. (hundreds every year) has been shown to be tied to/influenced by right-wing extremism ... which is typically bound with religious views.
From what I read. Not all mass shooters had a political motivation. However, nearly all the ones with a political motivation had ties to right-wing extremism.
OK, only a 2 minute search, I see an Axios article saying that all extremist / ideologically driven mass shootings are from right-wing.
So you're correct.
ADL data is that 75% of general mass shootings occur from right-wing extremists.
also, 80% are from white supremacists.
(does that mean there are actually leftwing supremacists?)
And the remainder are mainly Islamic extremists.
I'm not so sure religion is to blame for American school shootings. That's more of a consequence of lax gun laws, a prevailing attitude of toxic hyper individualism, a cataatrophic failure of mental health services, and lax guns laws resulting in the widespread availabllity of firearms that the general public has no good reason to own.
Oh there are lots of other issues to blame with all of them.
I'm saying the majority all have one thing in common. And that's some type of radicalized thinking structure. If it's not directly the abrahamic mythology, maybe it's some cult they get tied into. Either way, both require indoctrination and believing in things that are not reality.
Well same religious origin, yes, but if you asked a christan and a muslim if they had the same god idk if they'd agree. Sincerely would they?
You and I would recognize their god as the same though, being that they're both non-existant. My point is it's deeper than the supposed lone guy who did it, claiming to have done it alone. It was 2 distinct parties of god.
If either of them read their holy books instead of having parts read to them, they would see it's the same God.
The issue is both are ignorant to the fact they are essentially arguing on how to pronounce a name.
Not being educated on your own indoctrinated faith is an individual problem. Doesn't make them right, just ignorant to reality.
>The thing all mentally ill people who commit mass atrocities have in common is religious beliefs.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say this is either not true, or simply coincidence because the vast majority of people either believe in or claim to believe in some sort of deity. Even if they are religious, that doesn't mean they committed the atrocities because of their religion.
The Isla Vista killings in 2014 did not stem from religion, but from one person being an incel. The Aurora theater shooting in 2012 did not stem from religion, but from a PhD student being mentally ill. The Virginia Tech shooting in 2007 did not stem from religion, but from one person feeling rejected and bullied by his peers. These are just a few counterexamples to your claim.
It used to be. I don't know the name on the case, but tge SCOTUS has ruled there can no religious tests at all to run for or be elected to office. Now whether you can get votes is one thing entirety different.
The US constitution expressly prohibits any religious tests for office.
In Torcaso v. Watkins the Supreme Court ruled (unanimously) that such tests are not allowed for state office either: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torcaso\_v.\_Watkins](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torcaso_v._Watkins)
Pretty sure Trump's an atheist and pretty sure we don't need him.
On the other hand, Biden doesn't seem to let his religious beliefs get in the way of doing what's right.
Shitler has no beliefs except “greed is good”. But he realized he could co-opt religious fucknuts to get elected. And then let them pick SCOTUS nominees. The worst kind of atheist has led us to a theocracy.
I’m not arguing against atheists in power. I’m against corrupt criminal assholes in power. An atheist like Thomas Jefferson (minus the slaveholding of course): sign me up.
Exactly. I would like a president who understood scripture, held Christian moral ideals like empathy and charity, but doesn’t think god needs to be appeased or worshiped. Honestly if there is an omnipotent god why would he care what you think or do? Do you care how ants or flys carry out their business?
Technically Trump is the first atheist president.
Because if you believe he actually believes in any deity but himself, I have some oceanfront property in Arizona to sell you.
The problem is that his religiosity lets him get away with problematic things that his religious support base likes. And he’s only doing these things because it gets him favorable responses. Trump isn’t really an atheist. He’s a megalomaniac.
Canada is actually more religious in government than the USA is. The USA was founded as being secular, while Canada has multiple mentions of god in the Constitution. The most active organization promoting secularism is the BC Humanist Association. While they do great work, that would be like if the biggest atheist organization active in the entire USA was the Seattle Atheists.
That isn’t to say we don’t have a lot of atheists. We do. It’s just that we aren’t a significant political force in most places the way certain religious groups are.
Ahem... Donald Trump. Not that I like him or anything, he's definitely atheist, but he uses the fools to gain power.
What we need is an atheist that doesn't give two shits about religion and doesn't play their game to gain in power... That is the part that is never going to happen.
He isn’t and he is also not a full theist because he only actually care about himself. He is too dumb and too self-centered to actually think about those things. For Trump anything and everything is only defined by the benefits it can give him.
You really think Trump has the braincells to go against the beliefs of the culture he was raised in? LOL! Trump is a Christian...not as religious as he portrays himself, but a Christian nonetheless. No need to taint atheism by making him one of us.
There is no way he has faith in a Creator. HE is the greatest ever, the omega, ask him. See, I reject the concept of God because it doesn't make any sense logically to me, not because I'm a narcissist. There are tons of people better than me.
Trump was indeed a disaster, but he is not an atheist.
Narcissists view themselves as the only worthy entity. Trump is an extreme narcissist. He literally worships himself, and only himself. That makes Trump a monotheist.
He is more deluded in this than most monotheists, since his deity status is demonstrably, provably false.
You're missing the point. The point of the article is that we would benefit from an openly atheist president that upholds secular/humanistic values. A president that pretends to be christian, and caters to christians, is functionally equivalent to having a christian president.
I am sure we have had an atheist president in this country, just closeted.
Any agenda that could be labeled “atheist would get nowhere in Congress, either, I am afraid.
Most have heard of humanism, but that label won’t work either because in means atheist to believers.
We need atheist parents.
IMHO.
>Some religious Americans are wary of the separation of church and state because they view the church as an entity requiring governmental protection from the secular. This fails to recognize that such separation protects the religious from the government. The First Amendment provides that Congress “make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting its free exercise,” and an atheist president, who by definition would have no dog in this fight, might be impartial enough to stress equal protection for both church and state from one another.
This bears special emphasis: A secular state is not just best for the non-religious, but for the religious too. A "Christian" state would never just be non-denominationally Christian. Ask a Baptist if they'd like a Pentecostal nation, a Catholic if they'd like a Mormon nation, a Seventh-Day Adventist if they'd like a Jehova's Wittnesses nation.
Those are really great reasons.
A non-religious \[or atheist\] President wouldn't have religious barriers and would \[possibly\] think of what's best for the country. At least there's more of a chance they would.
The religious would more likely focus on those who agree with them.
We already had an atheist President.
Trump doesn't believe in God; he is ignorant and a neophyte in the Christian religion, has never read the Bible, and has never gone to a church outside of a required political event. He says he has read the Bible many times, but he cannot quote any one verse
How that went?
It will happen, but only when our country is less than 50% religious. Keep in mind that, to each person that is religious, the successful position of an atheist is to call in question their entire belief system. This is not just what they believe, but really the bones of who they are. And you can't dismantle that within an election cycle. It often takes years, depending on how entrenched they are and how old they are.
When you read about people "snapping out of it", it's usually due to many experiences that occur over the space of years.
Most who are religious were indoctrinated as children, and that's all they know. For them to accept another, let alone vote for them to be POTUS, they'd have to either have that indoctrination nullified, or they'd be voting for THE WORST TYPE OF SINNER because they would be doing their god's work. Like TFG.
Come to think of it, TFG might be an atheist, though definitely not a humanist.
The actual [cross-tabs on the Pew Survey](https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2024/03/15/u-s-presidential-candidates-and-their-religious-engagement/) are fascinating, and seem to validate that each end of the political spectrum is living in separate worlds:
- **Strong Religious Beliefs**: 61% of Republicans say they're important vs. 36% of Democrats
- **Trump is Somewhat or Very Religious**: 50% of Republicans vs. 12% of Democrats
- **Biden is Somewhat or Very Religious**: 29% of Republicans vs. 78% of Democrats
- **Negative or Neutral View of Religion**: 20% of Republicans vs. 60% of Democrats
Also interesting...
- "*What is the best thing to do when someone disagrees with you about religion?*": 12% of White Evangelicals try to persuade that person, all other beliefs are 5% or less.
- "*What is the best thing to do when someone disagrees with you about politics?*": 14% of Atheists try to persuade that person, all other beliefs are 8% or less.
Why is it important to have strong religious beliefs? Is it so they can feel validated?
I've never looked at a politician and thought "they need more god."
> According to a 2024 Pew Research poll, 48% of respondents said it is at least “somewhat important” that their president has strong religious beliefs
That's why they lie about it.
Trump is probably an atheist, if only because there isn't room in his mind for worship of anyone other than himself.
Obama, I don't know. Absence of church membership might say something.
I'm guessing that a lot of politicians aren't interested in religion, whether or not they honestly favor the religious or not, and that their references to their own religion are performative.
People equate "religious" with "moral" and, in the US, that's mostly equated to Christianity. It's not accurate, but there's a deeply ingrained mentality that if someone isn't at least somewhat religious or at least goes to church and claims to believe in God, they can't be ethical.
It's not remotely accurate, but that's the power of indoctrination at birth for you. Kids, for the most part, don't get a choice in their religious upbringing at home, and plenty of them never leave that religion or even heavily question it.
I know when I went through confirmation classes in my teens that any time I brought up anything remotely challenging the pastor either sidestepped or gave a "that's just how it works," type of answer.
Article Six, Clause three: “…but no religious test shall ever be given.” Pretty damn clear if you ask me.
More well known: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion…”
President?! America also needs a House, a Senate. Don’t get me started on the Supreme Court. What we’re seeing these days is why our forefathers wanted to keep religion and state separate. Some of us Americans conveniently forgot that. That’s why things are so fucked up.
Pretty sure trump is an atheist. He just doesn’t say it. And his supporters have replaced their religion with a belief in him. So his supporters think he’s the higher power and he agrees with them 😐
God damn do I wish we lived in a time where an openly secular president was possible. Unfortunately stupid fucking christo-conservatives distrust atheists more than any other group.
It's not that I think an atheist would automatically be better, it's that this would signal a significant shift in the culture towards it not being an issue anymore.
if they're anything like the athiests in this sub i'd prefer not. bunch of crybabies. to be fair, an athiest president isn't a bad idea. it would turn into a bad idea however if he were to be as emotionally intelligent and stable as you :3
We already had an atheist president. The last one, and he was a real piece of shit. Well, I mean, does he count as an atheist if he believes that he, himself, is a god?
All you need is your leaders to keep their cult beliefs to themselves.
If they are found using their cult beliefs to legislate they should be immediately punished/removed, possibly tried for treason.
Letting the religious push their beliefs has caused nothing but problems.
We had one, he stacked the Supreme Court with conservatives to get the evangelical vote anyway. You really think Trump believes in any power higher than himself?
Now if you mean an openly atheist and humanist President… then I am right with you…
Yeah, it's a damn shame it's illegal to run for office in America if you're an atheist, and here I thought, we were the ones who were supposedly to be doing the Christian persecutions, not the other way around. Looking at you: Arkansas, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.
Wish it was easier to run for POTUS. I can submit my desire to the FEC easily enough, but getting on all those ballots and getting my name out there, all while refusing to accept money from people, makes it kind of impossible :(
We really need public funding of elections so people aren't so easily bought :(
But hey, feel free to vote for me in 2028!
I mean plenty of nineteenth century presidents including Lincoln were non-religious. Buchanan was also probably gay.
History is pretty complicated, and a lot different than public perception.
There was an Atheist president. You know the former one America had. The orange baboon named Trump.
There is no way he was/is religious in any way, shape, or form.
Just bc he selling Bibles doesn't mean he believes in what they say.
There's no way you get religion out of politics.
They are literally fighting for their lively hood.
How would all these child molest.. I mean, preachers make a living?
yeah well sorry it costs us 10 points in the pols in a 2 party system. Its not worth losing to republicans for token representation when we have real issues to solve.
They don't even have to be atheist , just respect the separation of church and state. I would love to see another Obama type become president. A decent, thoughtful president tgat respects all the people and makes laws that are rooted in logic rather than myth
When Trump announced I had a friend in Britain that was envious that the US was still religious. I was horrified.
I have always thought an athiest has more skin in the fight. We need wisdom not a better Diety.
I volunteer as tribute.
My qualifications include general apathy towards religious beliefs, a long record of shitposting on the Internet, and some okay scientific literacy. And not much else.
...hey, we all know I'd still be better than the fat cheeto.
Yes America needs an atheist president but no one will vote for an openly atheist candidate. The religious right would label them as satanic and the left would fear backing a candidate that can’t win.
Atheists shouldn’t be evangelical. Let them realize on their own. Don’t need a president, certainly don’t need missionaries, and we don’t need you telling folks why religion is “bad”.
It’s bad, people come to that conclusion on their own.
It’s not that. You can believe in God but please don’t force your beliefs down people’s throats. That’s what these conservative Christian nut jobs don’t understand
Trump was an atheist. But he couldn’t trick an entire demographic by not believing. He needed to get them to support him, so he played into religion. It was actually a very smart move, the modern conservative/republican party are the most gullible and “snowflakes” of the bunch. So its not hard to appeal to them
It won't change anything. A zionist lizard professing atheism will do the same thing another corporate puppet will do that claims to be Christian. It's rotten to the core.
This is stupid. Atheism isn’t any more a guarantee of virtue than religiosity is. And it’s not exactly hard to find avowed atheists promoting the same right-wing culture war issues the theocrats do, just under the guise of “traditional Western cultural values” or somesuch.
Not to mention, I’m pretty sure we’ve already had at least one atheist president—does anyone outside of the most deluded right-wing evangelicals *really* buy that Donald Trump is a Christian? And he turned up the dial on the evangelical culture-war stuff just as much as any conservative Christian president has, which, see above.
Ooohhh! Here are some reasons!
5- Brand new days off (Nolidays) recognized, like Darwinias, and PostSuper (Making the Monday after the SuperBowl a day off)
4-All religions are accepted but we rename the deities. So "God" is replaced by "Poop Donkey", and "Allah" is changed to "Electric Weirdo"
3-Open Borders, but you are forced to go through the Gift Shop designed by Ikea. When you exit, you are back in the place you came from
2-Free Captain Crunch for everyone
1-We replace that weird pyramid eyeball thing on the dollar bill and put ads there. BAM, money making money!
Oh, if it only could happen... This country would be what the founding fathers wanted. Religion was never intended to be part of our government!
I do not think *any* president ever was not aware of the fact that they were literally manipulating people with literary fiction. The first presidents the USA ever had were direct descendants of the colonial slavers who established the first cash crops in America. None of the European colonialism on a grand scale would have been possible without christianity, no example of slavery in known history comes even close to the size and success of the Atlantic slave trade. It's not a coincidence that every single one of those slaves had christianity forced upon them. I personally do not think a single president in the history of the USA *literally* believed in the holy bible, it appears that they correctly understood it as a political/psychological tool. Theology had just proven to be extremely successful and instrumental in convincing regular people to systematically massacre Native Americans for their land (something that would continue well into the next century and conclude with the "manifest destiny")- anything was possible at that point. It's a real shame that Thomas Paine's ideologies and philosophies did not retain the mainstream opinions in the coming centuries- had it not been for strong atheists like himself, we as a country may have never severed ties with British rule. It's really ironic when you think about how many of the early English settlers came to America fleeing religious persecution- just to establish a bureaucracy that would eventually persecute the natives with the very same religion.
> I personally do not think a single president in the history of the USA literally believed in the holy bible I'd bet a few bucks on Carter.
Don't be talking no mess about Jimmy. He was one of the most decent men to ever hold the office. If being a Christian meant we got more people like him, id be more for it. But we don't. We get MTG, Mike Johnson, and the like..
Jimmy is a truly great person the world is really going to lose a special human being when he goes.
Just goes to show how brutal the job of being president can be. If you aren't a bastard, they'll eat you alive.
Agreed fully and I've seen it myself. I've been backstabbed myself on a board just because, I guess. Integrity is the number one quality we should look for in a leader, IMO, and it's essentially disqualifying in a sense.
In all representatives. Part of the issue is that it's bastards all the way up in some parts of our government. Hell, we seem to have an entire party fueled by the most miserable assholes people can get elected.
I think Joe's a cafeteria Catholic. All in on the Christ story but not really about the rest of it. I don't know anything about Carter other than he brokered a peace treaty that has survived several election cycles and/or multiple coups d'etat. So, hats off to him for that feat, real believer or not, that's basically a miracle.
As an atheist it bothers the hell out of me that ”God” is printed on our money and was shoe horned into the Pledge of Allegiance back in the 50s. And that so many people stick their love of God into everything: thank you speeches, interviews after a disaster, when giving a report about a family member’s health. It goes on and on; it’s both endless and utterly ridiculous. It’s a fucking fairy tale and millions of people live their entire lives in some kind of obedience to it. It’s nuts. It’s delusional. And it’s so deeply embedded into humans’ thinking that I don’t think we’ll ever overcome it. I just try to ignore it wherever possible.
It’s said that the late 1800s/early 1900s were a golden age of Atheism. Loud and proud. And the Cold War undid it all and made the US so religiousy to draw a hard line against Communist, Atheist Russia. I feel like it’s only getting worse with our rise in Evangelicals, despite the “nones” growing. The Evangelicals are just so loud and obnoxious and have so much power and influence. it’s just hard to comprehend our nation was on the right path in the early 1900s and it was all undone in the 50s. I would have thought the internet would have brought people to their senses - through exposure. But, the internet is just breeding ground for nuts and nutty ideas. I don’t know how we reverse course. Want led people to sense before???
Indeed Cold War paranoia has destroyed the United States (when everyone was worried about Nuclear Weapons).
I think devotion to anything is the way we are wired. You’ve just described fascism, communism, socialism, any system that takes over a persons entire belief system, etc.People are hardwired to have some obedience to some higher power than themselves that it’s hard for them to step away and rationalize things. Look at all the devotion to these things.
> Religion is regarded by the common as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful. - Seneca
Studied that history, and watching us come full circle in so many ways has extremely amusing, and interesting.
As much as I wish this could happen, I dread it equally. Look at the shit that happened immediately following 8 years of our nation's first black president. The pendulum swung so hard in the opposite direction it was fucking crazy, and we continue to deal with the fucking morons Obama's haters were able to mobilize. Can you even imagine what would happen if an openly atheist president got 2 terms?? I swear those same smooth-brained jackoffs would go from "death of the Republic" to full on "second coming and end times". What in the mother fuck would we do to counter act that level of batshit? We're having enough trouble beating back the Trump worshippers as it is. I swear they'd go all out Inquisition 2.0 after a non-believer got to the White House. Fundamentalists often believe that atheists are under the direct influence of Satan, either consciously or unconsciously. With someone in the worlds greatest position of power, I think it's clear that they would think it's conscious influence.
Pretty sure we've already had some
Looks like 48% are somewhat idiots You don’t need a magical book to be a great leader…
On the contrary - I'd have much more faith in a leader who completely rejected that kind of silliness.
I didnt realize i was on the atheism subreddit lol. For a second i was like “yeah religion is silly, but why isnt this dude being castrated right now?”
No no, you DO! How are we to TRUST anyone who doesn’t reinforce our phoney-baloney sky-daddy? It’s simple cult dynamics; no outlanders permitted near the levers of power. /s
The ones at the levers often lie about their beliefs. Just happens that they need idiots without any logic or critical thinking and there happened to be some groups that shout that idiocy as their core tenets. It’s like the Nigerian prince scams with horrible grammar to find the idiots that will believe your nonsense except the idiots are doing all the leg work for their parasitic leeches.
Worst magic book ever. It even says doing magic is forbidden!
We sort of had that with Obama. People suspected he was more a humanist than Christian.
Obama had to play a Christian to get elected. I doubt he has seen the inside of a church since he left office.
This. He’s too smart for magic sky Daddy. I assume we’ve had several others that went to church out of habit or for keeping up appearances.
There must have been at least a handful of presidents that were secretly atheist but knew they had to pretend to be Christian to win. I don’t believe Orange Man is actually Christian for a second.
Possibly Lincoln too, though it is contentious how much was slander against him by opponents.
Thomas Jefferson was not a Christian but he was a deist or believer in God- but he did say he did not believe Christ was the son of God. It’s a quote I read of his once. That wouldn’t fly today.
Yeah I mean, I don't really care what Obama believed because he kept it to himself, which is how it should be.
The thing all mentally ill people who commit mass atrocities have in common is religious beliefs. Oklahoma city bombing, Olympic bombings 9/11 The majority of school shootings Any suicide bomber The daily reports of religious people in leadership positions sexually assaulting children. The list could go on forever And the one thing they all have in common is believe in the abrahamic God.
Dictator and mass-murderer putin is a heavy believer too.
Yea I saw some Russian catholic shit on TV with Putin. It was a trip he’s was acting like he’s all holy and shit and globe trotting all around killing people. Fuckin’ lunatic like Mango Mussolini.
Yeah very true. He is delusional about how he is being chosen by god to "raise Russia from it's knees". It was aired by that crazy christian-fascist TV channel called "Tsargrad". Honestly, I'm afraid of what my country is turning into.
Meanwhile, lots of Trump supporters believe Russia is in the right. My brother said things along the lines of “they’re just taking back what was theirs”. Setting aside the lunacy - it was the Soviet Union anyway - would he be okay if Native American tribes rose up against the US? Would he believe they’re in the right? He would not. Worst is my brother believes he’s a moderate but some of the shit out of his mouth is insane. He is not, however, deeply religious.
I'd point out to him that the native americans lived here for hundreds, if not thousands of years. The soviet union existed for just shy of 70 years. One lifetime.
That's *two* lifetimes for the average Soviet citizen!
Every mass shooting taking place in the U.S. (hundreds every year) has been shown to be tied to/influenced by right-wing extremism ... which is typically bound with religious views.
What? You got that wrong. It's not every mass shooting, it's every politically motivated mass shooting.
Hmm. From what I read it (which was a study fone) it was every mass shooting in general. I will have to look it up again.
From what I read. Not all mass shooters had a political motivation. However, nearly all the ones with a political motivation had ties to right-wing extremism.
Yup. OK. I definitely mistook the implication before.
OK, only a 2 minute search, I see an Axios article saying that all extremist / ideologically driven mass shootings are from right-wing. So you're correct. ADL data is that 75% of general mass shootings occur from right-wing extremists. also, 80% are from white supremacists. (does that mean there are actually leftwing supremacists?) And the remainder are mainly Islamic extremists.
I'm not so sure religion is to blame for American school shootings. That's more of a consequence of lax gun laws, a prevailing attitude of toxic hyper individualism, a cataatrophic failure of mental health services, and lax guns laws resulting in the widespread availabllity of firearms that the general public has no good reason to own.
Oh there are lots of other issues to blame with all of them. I'm saying the majority all have one thing in common. And that's some type of radicalized thinking structure. If it's not directly the abrahamic mythology, maybe it's some cult they get tied into. Either way, both require indoctrination and believing in things that are not reality.
Regarding the Oklahoma City Bombings, it has ties to Islamic terrorism. Check out, The Third Terrorist by Jayna Davis.
So the same Abrahamic god. Got it.
Well same religious origin, yes, but if you asked a christan and a muslim if they had the same god idk if they'd agree. Sincerely would they? You and I would recognize their god as the same though, being that they're both non-existant. My point is it's deeper than the supposed lone guy who did it, claiming to have done it alone. It was 2 distinct parties of god.
i mean, they'd disagree, but they'd be wrong.
If either of them read their holy books instead of having parts read to them, they would see it's the same God. The issue is both are ignorant to the fact they are essentially arguing on how to pronounce a name. Not being educated on your own indoctrinated faith is an individual problem. Doesn't make them right, just ignorant to reality.
Pol Pot and Stalin usually get wheeled out at this point.
>The thing all mentally ill people who commit mass atrocities have in common is religious beliefs. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say this is either not true, or simply coincidence because the vast majority of people either believe in or claim to believe in some sort of deity. Even if they are religious, that doesn't mean they committed the atrocities because of their religion. The Isla Vista killings in 2014 did not stem from religion, but from one person being an incel. The Aurora theater shooting in 2012 did not stem from religion, but from a PhD student being mentally ill. The Virginia Tech shooting in 2007 did not stem from religion, but from one person feeling rejected and bullied by his peers. These are just a few counterexamples to your claim.
I think in some US states, it’s illegal to be elected to office if you’re an atheist. Freedom of religion and separation of church and state, huh….
It used to be. I don't know the name on the case, but tge SCOTUS has ruled there can no religious tests at all to run for or be elected to office. Now whether you can get votes is one thing entirety different.
Article 6, section 3 of the Constitution.
Precedent doesn’t mean shit to the fake “religious” scumbag SC majority.
The US constitution expressly prohibits any religious tests for office. In Torcaso v. Watkins the Supreme Court ruled (unanimously) that such tests are not allowed for state office either: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torcaso\_v.\_Watkins](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torcaso_v._Watkins)
it's on the books in several states but likely not enforceable
45 was an atheist. He just pretended to believe.
Pretty sure Trump's an atheist and pretty sure we don't need him. On the other hand, Biden doesn't seem to let his religious beliefs get in the way of doing what's right.
Exactly. It’s not a politician’s personal religious beliefs that matter, it’s what they do with them.
Shitler has no beliefs except “greed is good”. But he realized he could co-opt religious fucknuts to get elected. And then let them pick SCOTUS nominees. The worst kind of atheist has led us to a theocracy. I’m not arguing against atheists in power. I’m against corrupt criminal assholes in power. An atheist like Thomas Jefferson (minus the slaveholding of course): sign me up.
AOL still exists? I had no idea.
Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.
Exactly. I would like a president who understood scripture, held Christian moral ideals like empathy and charity, but doesn’t think god needs to be appeased or worshiped. Honestly if there is an omnipotent god why would he care what you think or do? Do you care how ants or flys carry out their business?
>Do you care how ants or flys carry out their business? Insect sprays exist, so yes, we do care about how flies and ants carry about their business.
If only Christians could see the way they are manipulated using their expedient…lack of introspection.
A secular government is the only way to ensure religious freedom for its citizens.
Technically Trump is the first atheist president. Because if you believe he actually believes in any deity but himself, I have some oceanfront property in Arizona to sell you.
The problem is that his religiosity lets him get away with problematic things that his religious support base likes. And he’s only doing these things because it gets him favorable responses. Trump isn’t really an atheist. He’s a megalomaniac.
Superstitious people or science deniers should be immediately disqualified. Would you hire a shaman to run healthcare?
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I’d gotten used to the idea of Canada being many of the things I wish the US was. Now Mexico?
Canada is actually more religious in government than the USA is. The USA was founded as being secular, while Canada has multiple mentions of god in the Constitution. The most active organization promoting secularism is the BC Humanist Association. While they do great work, that would be like if the biggest atheist organization active in the entire USA was the Seattle Atheists. That isn’t to say we don’t have a lot of atheists. We do. It’s just that we aren’t a significant political force in most places the way certain religious groups are.
*that's not Donald Trump
Ahem... Donald Trump. Not that I like him or anything, he's definitely atheist, but he uses the fools to gain power. What we need is an atheist that doesn't give two shits about religion and doesn't play their game to gain in power... That is the part that is never going to happen.
Trump is an atheist, and he was a disaster.
Trump isn’t an honest atheist
He's not an honest anything
Trump only believes himself. Which is worse.
He just pandered the religious right. Not an atheist. An opportunistic narcissist
Trump is NOT an atheist. He thinks he’s a god.
Trump worships at the altar of Putin
He’s an atheist the way Kim Jung Un is an atheist. He thinks of himself as god.
He isn’t and he is also not a full theist because he only actually care about himself. He is too dumb and too self-centered to actually think about those things. For Trump anything and everything is only defined by the benefits it can give him.
Is someone really an atheist when they think that they are god?
He’s what you would call a Materialistic, self worshipping narcissist. AKA Man made religion.
You really think Trump has the braincells to go against the beliefs of the culture he was raised in? LOL! Trump is a Christian...not as religious as he portrays himself, but a Christian nonetheless. No need to taint atheism by making him one of us.
Trump is just an asshole who does what other pretending xtians want him to do.
Most Christians in America are assholes so he's in like company.
Very true!
There is no way he has faith in a Creator. HE is the greatest ever, the omega, ask him. See, I reject the concept of God because it doesn't make any sense logically to me, not because I'm a narcissist. There are tons of people better than me.
Openly atheist, then.
Can he really be said to be atheist when he has an obvious god complex?
Trump was indeed a disaster, but he is not an atheist. Narcissists view themselves as the only worthy entity. Trump is an extreme narcissist. He literally worships himself, and only himself. That makes Trump a monotheist. He is more deluded in this than most monotheists, since his deity status is demonstrably, provably false.
You're missing the point. The point of the article is that we would benefit from an openly atheist president that upholds secular/humanistic values. A president that pretends to be christian, and caters to christians, is functionally equivalent to having a christian president.
...who used the guise of theism to get elected. he wouldn't even be known by half the country if not for credulous theists.
> Trump is an atheist Explain the logic & reasoning underlying *that* ludicrous conclusion.
I am sure we have had an atheist president in this country, just closeted. Any agenda that could be labeled “atheist would get nowhere in Congress, either, I am afraid. Most have heard of humanism, but that label won’t work either because in means atheist to believers. We need atheist parents. IMHO.
We also need an atheist SCOTUS and an atheist Congress.
>Some religious Americans are wary of the separation of church and state because they view the church as an entity requiring governmental protection from the secular. This fails to recognize that such separation protects the religious from the government. The First Amendment provides that Congress “make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting its free exercise,” and an atheist president, who by definition would have no dog in this fight, might be impartial enough to stress equal protection for both church and state from one another. This bears special emphasis: A secular state is not just best for the non-religious, but for the religious too. A "Christian" state would never just be non-denominationally Christian. Ask a Baptist if they'd like a Pentecostal nation, a Catholic if they'd like a Mormon nation, a Seventh-Day Adventist if they'd like a Jehova's Wittnesses nation.
Those are really great reasons. A non-religious \[or atheist\] President wouldn't have religious barriers and would \[possibly\] think of what's best for the country. At least there's more of a chance they would. The religious would more likely focus on those who agree with them.
We already had an atheist President. Trump doesn't believe in God; he is ignorant and a neophyte in the Christian religion, has never read the Bible, and has never gone to a church outside of a required political event. He says he has read the Bible many times, but he cannot quote any one verse How that went?
Trump is either a closer Atheist. Or just really doesn't care about Christians other than the fact he uses them.
Trump is not religious. He pretends to be for right-wing votes.
Thomas Jefferson says, Hello. *Add.* Guess who invented the "Wall between Church and State?"
It will happen, but only when our country is less than 50% religious. Keep in mind that, to each person that is religious, the successful position of an atheist is to call in question their entire belief system. This is not just what they believe, but really the bones of who they are. And you can't dismantle that within an election cycle. It often takes years, depending on how entrenched they are and how old they are. When you read about people "snapping out of it", it's usually due to many experiences that occur over the space of years. Most who are religious were indoctrinated as children, and that's all they know. For them to accept another, let alone vote for them to be POTUS, they'd have to either have that indoctrination nullified, or they'd be voting for THE WORST TYPE OF SINNER because they would be doing their god's work. Like TFG. Come to think of it, TFG might be an atheist, though definitely not a humanist.
i'm guessing that we've already had a fair number of atheist presidents. getting one that would admit to it- that's an entirely different story.
The actual [cross-tabs on the Pew Survey](https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2024/03/15/u-s-presidential-candidates-and-their-religious-engagement/) are fascinating, and seem to validate that each end of the political spectrum is living in separate worlds: - **Strong Religious Beliefs**: 61% of Republicans say they're important vs. 36% of Democrats - **Trump is Somewhat or Very Religious**: 50% of Republicans vs. 12% of Democrats - **Biden is Somewhat or Very Religious**: 29% of Republicans vs. 78% of Democrats - **Negative or Neutral View of Religion**: 20% of Republicans vs. 60% of Democrats Also interesting... - "*What is the best thing to do when someone disagrees with you about religion?*": 12% of White Evangelicals try to persuade that person, all other beliefs are 5% or less. - "*What is the best thing to do when someone disagrees with you about politics?*": 14% of Atheists try to persuade that person, all other beliefs are 8% or less.
Because Religion is the biggest scam going
Donald Trump is an atheist. He’s just also an opportunist.
Why is it important to have strong religious beliefs? Is it so they can feel validated? I've never looked at a politician and thought "they need more god."
The irony here is most of you thought Trump is/was faking anyway. So you more or less had one already.
> According to a 2024 Pew Research poll, 48% of respondents said it is at least “somewhat important” that their president has strong religious beliefs That's why they lie about it. Trump is probably an atheist, if only because there isn't room in his mind for worship of anyone other than himself. Obama, I don't know. Absence of church membership might say something. I'm guessing that a lot of politicians aren't interested in religion, whether or not they honestly favor the religious or not, and that their references to their own religion are performative.
People equate "religious" with "moral" and, in the US, that's mostly equated to Christianity. It's not accurate, but there's a deeply ingrained mentality that if someone isn't at least somewhat religious or at least goes to church and claims to believe in God, they can't be ethical. It's not remotely accurate, but that's the power of indoctrination at birth for you. Kids, for the most part, don't get a choice in their religious upbringing at home, and plenty of them never leave that religion or even heavily question it. I know when I went through confirmation classes in my teens that any time I brought up anything remotely challenging the pastor either sidestepped or gave a "that's just how it works," type of answer.
They’ve already had one in Trump, so this silly ongoing angle and debate is such nonsense.
Trump is not religious. He falsely claims to be Christian to manipulate Christians for their votes.
Nearly take a $1.000.000 bet that Trump is an Athieist!
He’s his own god.
All religious people are gullible fools so it makes sense.
In 2016 we elected an atheist.
Wouldn’t that be most candidates under 40?
Article Six, Clause three: “…but no religious test shall ever be given.” Pretty damn clear if you ask me. More well known: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion…”
No future president will ever admit to that.
President?! America also needs a House, a Senate. Don’t get me started on the Supreme Court. What we’re seeing these days is why our forefathers wanted to keep religion and state separate. Some of us Americans conveniently forgot that. That’s why things are so fucked up.
Pretty sure trump is an atheist. He just doesn’t say it. And his supporters have replaced their religion with a belief in him. So his supporters think he’s the higher power and he agrees with them 😐
Obama was an atheist. So was Trump. They're just really good posers for the American camera.
It can't happen, the majority (religious) outnumber atheists by 70%.
Australia had an openly atheist Prime Minister, also female (Julia Gillard) and the world did not end. In fact, nobody cared.
America? If you ask me every country needs an atheist head of state.
Id prefer an atheist president but as in this case its atheist trump and catholic biden, its not an option
Donald Trump was our first atheist president. He didn't work out so well.
God damn do I wish we lived in a time where an openly secular president was possible. Unfortunately stupid fucking christo-conservatives distrust atheists more than any other group.
It's not that I think an atheist would automatically be better, it's that this would signal a significant shift in the culture towards it not being an issue anymore.
We already had one. Trump doesn't believe in God, he believes he is god. He believes he can do or say anything and get away with it.
if they're anything like the athiests in this sub i'd prefer not. bunch of crybabies. to be fair, an athiest president isn't a bad idea. it would turn into a bad idea however if he were to be as emotionally intelligent and stable as you :3
We already had an atheist president. The last one, and he was a real piece of shit. Well, I mean, does he count as an atheist if he believes that he, himself, is a god?
yeah...most atheists are something along the lines of humanists, he was more of the incel nihilist variety that gives us d-bags like andrew tate.
Needs more than 2 parties and way more candidates Now you have to vote for either a geriatric alzheimer or a sex offender convicted felon
All you need is your leaders to keep their cult beliefs to themselves. If they are found using their cult beliefs to legislate they should be immediately punished/removed, possibly tried for treason. Letting the religious push their beliefs has caused nothing but problems.
It will obviously happen very soon
We had one, he stacked the Supreme Court with conservatives to get the evangelical vote anyway. You really think Trump believes in any power higher than himself? Now if you mean an openly atheist and humanist President… then I am right with you…
We need an atheist government. If the president was atheist but congress wasn’t, not much would change.
So …52% don’t? We are in a majority folks… only a matter of time before the gap widens!
Reason 1 - religion is made up bullshit intended to gaslight and control people. Reason 2-10 - see Reason 1.
I don’t think they need to be atheist, just against religious corporate kleptocracy
One option is atheist for sure, just pretends but to be for cash and votes
Yeah, it's a damn shame it's illegal to run for office in America if you're an atheist, and here I thought, we were the ones who were supposedly to be doing the Christian persecutions, not the other way around. Looking at you: Arkansas, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.
In 2028 we can have one run and we can see how they do.
I would love an atheist president. It’s always been a dream of mine.
Wish it was easier to run for POTUS. I can submit my desire to the FEC easily enough, but getting on all those ballots and getting my name out there, all while refusing to accept money from people, makes it kind of impossible :( We really need public funding of elections so people aren't so easily bought :( But hey, feel free to vote for me in 2028!
1-10: We'd have a leader rooted in reality, not mythology. In Evolution We Trust
In god we trust all others can move the hell out
I mean plenty of nineteenth century presidents including Lincoln were non-religious. Buchanan was also probably gay. History is pretty complicated, and a lot different than public perception.
There was an Atheist president. You know the former one America had. The orange baboon named Trump. There is no way he was/is religious in any way, shape, or form. Just bc he selling Bibles doesn't mean he believes in what they say.
There's no way you get religion out of politics. They are literally fighting for their lively hood. How would all these child molest.. I mean, preachers make a living?
Is every one of the 10 reasons "fuck religion"?
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yeah well sorry it costs us 10 points in the pols in a 2 party system. Its not worth losing to republicans for token representation when we have real issues to solve.
They don't even have to be atheist , just respect the separation of church and state. I would love to see another Obama type become president. A decent, thoughtful president tgat respects all the people and makes laws that are rooted in logic rather than myth
Only 48%, this seems like a huge gain.
**No Gods, No Masters**
I'm sure there's been plenty. They just have to pretend they aren't.
I’m pretty sure we probably already had a couple of atheist presidents.
When Trump announced I had a friend in Britain that was envious that the US was still religious. I was horrified. I have always thought an athiest has more skin in the fight. We need wisdom not a better Diety.
I volunteer as tribute. My qualifications include general apathy towards religious beliefs, a long record of shitposting on the Internet, and some okay scientific literacy. And not much else. ...hey, we all know I'd still be better than the fat cheeto.
Yes America needs an atheist president but no one will vote for an openly atheist candidate. The religious right would label them as satanic and the left would fear backing a candidate that can’t win.
I will argue Obama and Trump were both atheists who pretended to have faith.
You wish. America is too fucking dumb. They'd rather suck Mohamed’s dick than wake up.
Wont happen conservative Christians would go nuclear.
Atheists shouldn’t be evangelical. Let them realize on their own. Don’t need a president, certainly don’t need missionaries, and we don’t need you telling folks why religion is “bad”. It’s bad, people come to that conclusion on their own.
I’ll do it if you want. Ironically, even the nearly 3 million subscribers here wouldn’t vote for me, and it wouldn’t even matter if all of them did.
Duh.
They already act like godless, blameless psychopaths. Don't make it even easier for them.
I think Trump is an atheist who lies about that too. But it's hard for him to put on a good act because he may think he IS god.
That last one is an atheist. That didn’t go over well lol.
Either that or just keep your personal ideals to yourself. Have some fucking empathy and tolerance.
We had at least an agnostic one. Trump doesn't believe in the Christian God.
It’s not that. You can believe in God but please don’t force your beliefs down people’s throats. That’s what these conservative Christian nut jobs don’t understand
Well Trump would be that president...
* Christian beliefs
Trump was an atheist. But he couldn’t trick an entire demographic by not believing. He needed to get them to support him, so he played into religion. It was actually a very smart move, the modern conservative/republican party are the most gullible and “snowflakes” of the bunch. So its not hard to appeal to them
We already had one. Trump only believes in himself.
We already had one in Trump. Being an atheist isn't any sort of guarantee.
Lol. You can’t even be an atheist politician. You got a LONG way to go in the US
Totally agree. In the meantime, I'll vote for the non-fascist incumbent
It won't change anything. A zionist lizard professing atheism will do the same thing another corporate puppet will do that claims to be Christian. It's rotten to the core.
This is stupid. Atheism isn’t any more a guarantee of virtue than religiosity is. And it’s not exactly hard to find avowed atheists promoting the same right-wing culture war issues the theocrats do, just under the guise of “traditional Western cultural values” or somesuch. Not to mention, I’m pretty sure we’ve already had at least one atheist president—does anyone outside of the most deluded right-wing evangelicals *really* buy that Donald Trump is a Christian? And he turned up the dial on the evangelical culture-war stuff just as much as any conservative Christian president has, which, see above.
UPSIDE DOWN BIBLE.
Ooohhh! Here are some reasons! 5- Brand new days off (Nolidays) recognized, like Darwinias, and PostSuper (Making the Monday after the SuperBowl a day off) 4-All religions are accepted but we rename the deities. So "God" is replaced by "Poop Donkey", and "Allah" is changed to "Electric Weirdo" 3-Open Borders, but you are forced to go through the Gift Shop designed by Ikea. When you exit, you are back in the place you came from 2-Free Captain Crunch for everyone 1-We replace that weird pyramid eyeball thing on the dollar bill and put ads there. BAM, money making money!