{"id":2535,"date":"2012-06-23T13:10:00","date_gmt":"2012-06-23T13:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2012\/06\/atheists-and-muslims-need-not-apply-for-president.html"},"modified":"2012-06-23T13:10:00","modified_gmt":"2012-06-23T13:10:00","slug":"atheists-and-muslims-need-not-apply-for-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2012\/06\/atheists-and-muslims-need-not-apply-for-president.html","title":{"rendered":"Atheists and Muslims need not apply for President"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

On one hand, the findings of this poll<\/a>, if they are to be believed, are bothersome.\u00a0 It\u2019s not good that in America, we would judge a person just because of their beliefs, one way or another.\u00a0 Though I partly fault the back-and-forth between the religious right and the secular liberal media.\u00a0 As ostracizing of traditional religious (read: Christian) values in our country has caused a movement to form in protest (the religious right), the media has turned this into a liability for many candidates.\u00a0 How many times in the last 10 years have we seen a politician\u2019s Christian beliefs scrutinized by the media, as if merely being a devout Christian should somehow preclude you from running for office?<\/p>\n

Since most Americans still identify, in some way or another, as Christian, it\u2019s not hard to see why this would breed a tendency to look toward belief has a fundamental characteristic of a candidate, especially if the candidate holds beliefs not scrutinized in the same way by the MSM.\u00a0 Thus we have this, where Christians and those close to the Christian faith come off fairly well in a poll.\u00a0 Still, it isn\u2019t encouraging, and I\u2019d be happy if the idea of religion could be private once again, and that includes private both ways \u2013 not just telling Christians to sit down and shut up while folks with non-Christian beliefs can parade them proudly, but keeping all such things to a personal level, and respecting those of differing beliefs and what they bring to the table. <\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not where things are.\u00a0 That\u2019s the first thing I come from this poll thinking. The second, however, is that if any groups are going to fail, it\u2019s not illogical that it would be these groups.\u00a0 First, the Muslims.\u00a0\u00a0I think it\u2019s foolish to imagine that simply because a person is a Muslim, they represent a threat to our freedoms.\u00a0 That\u2019s foolish, and demonstrably false.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

With that said, however, the attitudes and responses to America by Muslims since 9\/11 has been, at times, confusing at best.\u00a0 It took years before Muslim representatives would, on national TV, actually condemn the terrorist attacks outright and without qualifications.\u00a0 Even then, many continue to dangle old, lame notions that \u2018it\u2019s the Crusader\u2019s fault\u2019, or \u2018Christians nuked babies in Japan\u2019 as if that somehow reduces blame on the terrorists.\u00a0 In addition, many Muslims who speak and talk about the topic, tend to wrap it up with \u2018it\u2019s still America\u2019s fault\u2019 or \u2018real Muslims never do wrong, so you can\u2019t blame Islam\u2019, ideals not usually accepted when Christians or other groups attempt the same line of arguments.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

In addition to these tendencies, you have that Islamic characteristic of not looking like the browbeat Christians of America.\u00a0 More than once, a Muslim will draw stark lines between modern new-age sensitivities and the absolute confessional truths of Islam in\u00a0a way that, were it a Christian doing the same, he would be lumped into the category of \u2018right wing fundamentalist fringe.\u2019\u00a0 <\/p>\n

And then, beyond all that, you have Muslims who seem to want to focus on the worst that America has done, which has been, on the whole, very little.\u00a0 Some vandalism.\u00a0 Some threats.\u00a0 In the early days following 9\/11, some reprisals and even a few assaults.\u00a0 But as of now, more Americans have been killed on American soil by Muslims than Muslims on American soil by Americans.\u00a0 In fact, despite the media narrative<\/a>, there have been relatively few \u2013 proportionally speaking \u2013 reprisals against Muslims since 9\/11.\u00a0 And\u00a0 yet, to hear far too many Muslims speak, we are a nation of ignorant bigots and racists, loping about and looking for innocent Muslims to slaughter by the millions.\u00a0 Somehow people who seem to want to focus on the minor to non-existent, while\u00a0appearing reluctant to give credit where it is due, can unnerve people.\u00a0 These things probably account for the Muslim side of the poll.\u00a0 Plus, of course, you have some Americans who are just bigots, and wouldn\u2019t vote for a Muslim if none of the things previously mentioned had occurred. <\/p>\n

Now, the atheists.\u00a0 That\u2019s far less difficult to understand.\u00a0 Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, the late Christopher Hitchens, P.Z. Myers, Bill Maher \u2013 as long as they are the darlings of modern atheism, don\u2019t expect the religiously oriented American public to vote yes in November.\u00a0 In our world, where higher education is secular progressive, and our media outlets are not far behind the same path, these individuals are praised, lauded, celebrated, and rewarded.\u00a0 If you took their same statements and tweaked them so that Christians said the same thing, they would be condemned, mocked, loathed, and cut off from mainstream debate.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Their attitudes are based on half-truths, no truths, and an exploitation of a lazy and intellectually floundering generation.\u00a0 They use bigotry and ignorance to paint ludicrous and simplistic pictures of reality, while meandering about levels of extremism that, if they were in the religious camp, would be somewhere between radical fundamentalist and Fred Phelps.\u00a0 Logic and common sense should shoot holes in their hatred of religion, and yet the industries that should hold them at bay \u2013 education and media \u2013 are more than happy to help and reward accordingly.<\/p>\n

Still, even though they are beloved of our universities and news outlets, most Americans are, rightly so, suspicious of individuals who more or less say that they are the true intellectual mater race, superior in thought to religious dolts, and religion, being the singular cause of evil in the world, needs wiped off the planet so that humanity may thrive.\u00a0 Their twisted logic used to support such demonstrably false notions is the stuff of legend, and yet it gets a pass every time.\u00a0 At least it does with our elites.\u00a0 With the average thinking American, not so much.\u00a0 Even a few atheists cringe at what they see representing atheism in our post-modern age.\u00a0 Unfortunately, those atheists who attempt to distance themselves are not enough, and thinking Americans are not going to vote for someone from a camp that seems to appreciate the idea that religion is a stupid and evil lie that needs eradicated from open society.\u00a0 Until new spokespeople for atheism emerge, I don\u2019t see this changing any time soon.\u00a0 And that\u2019s a good thing.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On one hand, the findings of this poll, if they are to be believed, are bothersome.\u00a0 It\u2019s not good that in America, we would judge a person just because of their beliefs, one way or another.\u00a0 Though I partly fault the back-and-forth between the religious right and the secular liberal media.\u00a0 As ostracizing of traditional […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nAtheists and Muslims need not apply for President<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On one hand, the findings of this poll, if they are to be believed, are bothersome.  It's not good that in America, we would judge a person just\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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