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 A voice vote to change the DNC party platform turned to chaos Wednesday night.
September 6th, 2012
03:24 PM ET
Conventions leave atheists asking: What political party represents me?By Dan Merica, CNN Washington (CNN) – This convention season has not been good for atheists. The word "God" was reinserted in the Democratic platform after it had been removed. A plan to raise atheist billboards in the convention cities was stymied by opponents. And though there were preachers and rabbis and other religious leaders opening and closing each day of each convention, there wasn’t an avowed atheist talking up unbelief on either convention’s speaking list. The political lockout has left many nonbelievers asking, “What political party represents me?” “We are deeply saddened by the exclusion of a large number of Americans by both parties,” said Teresa MacBain, a spokeswoman for the group American Atheists, in an interview on Thursday. “It amazes me that in modern-day America, so much prejudice still exists.” After word spread Wednesday that Democrats left God out of their platform, atheists rejoiced. “Truly amazing news,” wrote Loren Miller on Atheist Nexus, a popular atheist blog. “The Republicans remain in the firm grasp of right-wing Christian religiosity, and I really don't know what it's going to take to free them from it.” But the convention committee immediately received huge pressure get God back in the platform. Even President Obama, according to CNN reporting, said, “Why on earth would that have been taken out?” when he first heard of the omission. In an awkward session that required three voice votes on the convention floor, the Democrats opted to add “God” back to the platform. For atheists, the Democrats were seen to be taking away a hard-fought victory. “We had 24 hours of joy as we felt (that) finally our government values all people,” said MacBain. “But that was short-lived. The vote last night angered many atheists and left them feeling excluded once again.” Online, atheist websites and Facebook pages went from upbeat to downcast as news spread of the platform revision. “Obama was the first president to acknowledge non believers,” Mark Musante wrote on the American Atheists’ Facebook page. “I wish he would stick to his guns.” Musante was referring to Obama’s 2009 inauguration speech, when the president said, “We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and nonbelievers.” Beverly Sitherwood, on the Friendly Atheist blog Facebook page, accused the Democrats of “Pandering for power.” Some atheist leaders used the platform defeat as a rallying call. “I guess a tiny step was too much to ask for,” David Silverman, president of the American Atheists, told CNN. “This was a clear message to the 16% of the voting population - we don’t count. Well, guess what, Dems - we do. And we vote.” Silverman says that 16% of the voting public identify as nonbelievers. According to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, 12% of the electorate in 2008 was made up of people with no religious affiliation, though experts say the number of avowed atheists is much smaller. While acknowledging atheists, Obama has given platforms to high-profile religious leaders, including Rick Warren, a megachurch pastor who prayed at his inauguration, and Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who is giving the final prayer of the convention on Thursday night. American Atheists’ plans to raise billboards ridiculing the presidential candidates’ faith ended in failure. After the group put up billboards in Charlotte, North Carolina, the site of the Democratic National Convention, last month, it quickly removed them due to “physical threats to not only our staff, but the billboard company as well.” American Atheists had also planned on a billboard in Tampa, Florida, to coincide with the Republican National Convention there. But American Atheists said that all the billboard companies in Tampa rejected a sign taking aim at GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith. Perhaps because of the Republican Party’s ties to conservative Christianity, atheists tend to be Democrats. According to a 2012 Pew study, 71% of Americans who identified as atheist were Democrats. “The Republicans who spoke at the RNC seemed more like televangelists than politicians,” MacBain said. “The message was clear from the RNC: Get God, or get out.” The Republican’s 2012 platform mentions God 12 times, many of which describe the “God-given” rights that the Republican Party says are inherent to the American idea. Though most atheist groups claim that there are closeted atheists serving as representatives and senators, only one has come out as such. In September 2007, Rep. Pete Stark, Democrat of California, affirmed his atheism in a speech at the Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard University. soundoff (3,922 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 Next »
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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Political parties ignore the nonreligious at their own peril. Population surveys have indicated that people with no religious affiliation – including atheists, agnostics and spiritually independents – are one of the fastest growing segments of the US population – especially among people under 35. If the parties want to stay relevant, it's only a matter of time when they will have to acknowledge the numbers..
The Democrats expect Atheists to vote for them anyway because they represent the lesser of two evils. And unfortunately for America, it is nearly impossible to form a new party, the two party oligarchy has been cemented into our political live her too deeply for us to brake the dictatorship of the ruling class which is disguised as democracy.
@Fritz,
the first step is to abolish the electoral college – the 28th amendment: election of the President by popular vote.
Then we need to make some really tough decisions about plurality verus majority in a Federal election. It's probably not a good thing to have a President elected by anything less than a majority, but given how few registered voters actually vote (or don't get disenfranchised by 'voter fraud' laws or confusing ballots or uneven access to vote through locations or polling hours) the President is elected by a small minority today.
The 2012 election will be decided by a handful of counties in OH and PA, with possibly some influence in WI and FL. This system is not democracy.
I think the bottom line is this;
When Christianity can accept people for who they are instead of creating a second class citizen, I'll be all for it.
I am spiritual, but not religious but coming from one who isnt Christian, I ask, you have everyone to support you, so why cant *I* have the same RIGHTS as you. First Amendment. Which not only says Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion and Freedom FROM Religion. Why cant a party or even a Representative understand they represent ALL people? How hard it is to say "I respect your beliefs, but I dont just represent you but I represent the Atheist, Muslim, Buddhist, Native American..."
My dog is "spiritual" too.
Bioya1, more resonance on the atheists' blog. Everybody is familiar with Psalm 23. Note dogs in 22......'Psa 22:16-18 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones: they look [and] stare upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.'
But don't give up, help is on the way!
Yep from the good book that tells us that flying insects have four legs, that the sun stood still, that the sun was created days after the day itself was created etc. pp. I rather learn from Grimm's Fairy Tales than from that piece of crap
Teaching your child religion, that is, religion according to Christianity or Judism, etc., and describing the world and your child's life in the view of that religion, and thus telling your child that he or she "is" of that religion - is child abuse.
This is very different than teaching your child "about" religions and un-religions...as long as you teach your child the philosophy of at least three hundred of them ! )
Atheists think that when they get their way, that means that the speaker has included everyone? Can they really think that the rest of us will not understand the inconsistency in that? Atheists represent less than 12% of the population and ask that the other 88% should disappear from public view?
Of course the political parties are not listening. Who would? If atheists want mention equal to other belief systems, that's not a problem, but getting other belief systems out of public view is too arrogant for words.
I would not object if the 88% vanished from view. We'd all be better off.
Talking snakes? Really?
Conclusion: Religious people are mentally handicapped.
What talking snakes? I hope you are not referencing Genesis. There are no talking snakes there.
"The snake was more clever than all the wild animals the LORD God had made. He asked the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must never eat the fruit of any tree in the garden'?""
Name calling people that do not hold your own personal beliefs is ugly and distracts from any point that the writer might be making. It's not cool, it's unacceptable, you get the picture.
I don't see the party that supports them, so it must not exist.
But reading about in a book written by nomads a couple thousand years ago talks about a party, so it must be true.
Politicians will pedal and pimp any snake-oil it takes to keep them in their phoney-baloney jobs... and that includes singing the praises of God. They will continue to do this as long as atheists are outnumbered.
ATHEISM: The belief that there was nothing, and nothing happened to nothing and then nothing magically exploded for no reason, creating everything, and then a bunch of everything magically rearranged itself for no reason whatsoever into self-replicating bits which then turned into dinasours. Makes perfect sense, right?
No, it doesn't, and neither do you.
@ArchieDeBunker
Now we have it on record that you don't believe in magic.
Kinda makes you god beliefs a little difficult to stand behind.
Actually atheism by very definition means being completely free of theist beliefs.
It has no bearing on believing anything.
Wow,You got the science wrong.
@ArchieDeBunker,
Christianity:The belief that everything MUST have a creator, except the creator, who just always was, who then waited about 9 billion years, floating around in nothingness, until he got bored and lonely and decided to create the universe and planet earth. He then created only TWO humans from whom all humanity descended. Later, he impregnated a woman without benefit of s e x u a l relations, so he could make himself born and then sacrifice himself to himself. He has a master plan for everyone, but also gives us free will, meaning that his master plan is ever changing depending on our choices.He "works in mysterious ways" when our prayers go unanswered, but performs "miracles" when, coincidentally, our prayers seem to be answered. He created h o m o s e x u a l s, yet hates his own creation.
Most importantly, he is but ONE of thousands of gods worshipped over the millennia, whose worshippers have been convinced that theirs is the ONLY true God. The only evidence to substantiate their claims? Their particular holy book which assures them that all other holy books are mythological nonsense.
Makes perfect sense, doesn't it?
By the way, pick up a book on the beginnings of the universe and you will see that your understanding of it all is virtually non-existent. You remind me of the fools who ask, "If we came from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?!"
Actually yes, the universe came from nothing but it is still nothing because all the parts of the universe add up to nothing. For everything there is its opposite.
We are still many years away from being able to speak intelligently with each other without invoking a god as our trump card. I have finally accepted that it will not happen in my lifetime. Sad. How very insecure people must be to need a super being to make them feel safe in the world. If only we could just agree to let our actions speak for us, and not need the crutch of 'belief.'
Ascribing nasty and unprovable things about people who do not share your beliefs or lack of them drags down public discourse and hinders the country and society. Maybe atheists are the insecure ones because they were unable to withstand the implied ridicule of their guidance teachers in high school. See what I mean?
Unless you will be dead in the next few years then it will happen in your lifetime. I intend to write a book about this.
The only party I can think of that would be 100% atheists would be the communist party. Communists are just as guilty of atrocities as the nazis are. Sorry, atheists. Dictatorships don't belong in America.
@Terri
To me, communism has more in common with a theocracy. Everyone equal, knowing exactly what their place is, working for the common good, secure and safe in the knowledge that someone is looking over your shoulder.
Communism – Social ideology
Atheism – Not social ideology
Know the difference
You do realize that there has been no truly communist country in existence, right?
It's a multistep process to reach communism in it's true sense. First socialism then a slow migration to communism once the resources and workers are in proper sync. Most countries ended up staying in socialism of some form... in Soviet Russia it was a totalitarian socialism. North Korea took the same route, unfortunately.
I don't know of any atheists that are communists. Just like I don't know any vegetarians that are Nazis, as Hitler was. Atheists just demand reason, evidence and critical thinking to back up claims.
Excellent point.
It's funny when atheists try to 'church themselves up' and distance themselves from Communism (A failed political philosphy created almost exclusively by logic-minded atheists). Despite what radical atheists claim, at the end of the day, all Communist governments embraced state-sponsored atheism, and brutally oppressed and murdered those living under their regimes who were defiantly religious. It's well known that when the Iron Curtain fell, citizens willingly flocked in droves back to Christianity after decades of being forced against their will to be atheists under Communist rule. Billy Graham always stated that attendance of his Revival's was always the highest in formerly Communist countries. Today, the underground Christian community in China is possibly larger than the Christian community in the United States, and is growing exponentially, despite atheist Chinese Communist officials trying to stop them from worshipping in private or public (doing what the atheists living in the U.S. wish they could do to Christians here...if they had their way).
One strength of the Communist system ... is that it has some of the characteristics of a religion and inspires the emotions of a religion.
@ HM8432 .. "make no law respecting an establishment of religion" .. if that isn't an Atheist Government, you wouldn't know one if it bit you on the nose!
FYI – the MOST atheistic country in the world today? Denmark.
Terri: How do you make the leap from atheism to dictatorship?
http://www.usanap.org/
Prayer changes things .
No, no it doesn't.
Nothing has done more to denigrate "other living things" than the Christian idea that God created them for man's pleasure and purposes, to treat as he sees fit. Nothing has done more to strip "other living things" of their dignity and natural rights than religion. Nothing.
praying does change things. what it changes is debatable. but studies have shown differences in outcomes between those who pray or are prayed for and those who don't/weren't. physiologic changes associated with prayer may be identical, for all we know, with the same changes seen with meditation. it hasn't been studied well enough yet. but if it takes prayer for someone to harness the awesome power of the human body to heal itself, terrific. But don't dismiss it out of hand as useless. Placebos work 30% of the time also. As long as it gets the job done for a particular individual, who are you or I to throw stones at them because we believe that it doesn't work for us? Are you so dogmatic in your atheism that you cannot accept differences? that doesn't strike me as very inclusive or understanding of individual differences.
Atheists have murdered more people in the last 100 years than were killed in all previous centuries.
Were all people in those wars atheist?No.That is not atheism.That is war.Atheism is different.
Prayer does not change things.Do you have a source of study?
"but studies have shown differences in outcomes between those who pray or are prayed for and those who don't/weren't. physiologic changes associated with prayer may be identical, for all we know, with the same changes seen with meditation. it hasn't been studied well enough yet."
An article in the Journal of Pediatrics examined the deaths of 172 children from families who relied upon faith healing from 1975 to 1995. They concluded that four out of five ill children, who died under the care of faith healers or being left to prayer only, would most likely have survived if they had received medical care.
The statistical studies from the nineteenth century and the three CCU studies on prayer are quite consistent with the fact that humanity is wasting a huge amount of time on a procedure that simply doesn’t work. Nonetheless, faith in prayer is so pervasive and deeply rooted, you can be sure believers will continue to devise future studies in a desperate effort to confirm their beliefs!
@hal
nope
nope is a dope
Atheists murdered more people than were killed in all previous centuries not counting their war dead, just those innocent victims lined up and shot, gassed, poisoned and otherwise dispatched by the millions.
nope is virtue, nope sees wrong and identifies it with no frills. nope means nope
"Peteyroo": There's no mother nature, and God apparently gave a lot of you low iq's. Your imagination is quite wacky (as it is) to think you evolved from what? Space snot from an unknown random being? Wow, good one. Sad, pathetic little atheists. Use those tiny brains and think how this vast and complex universe can be possible without a Creator.
So where did the creator come from? Was there a creator creator? And then a creator creator creator? And don't give me the usual bullshit answer "he was always here". Why not just say the universe was always here and be done with it? Why invoke multiple miracles when one will do? And, by the way, Person, studies have shown atheists to be significantly more intelligent than cross clutchers. Your post certainly proves this.
@athy,
nope
The nope troll is branching out apparently. It seems that parasitically attaching itself to the prayer troll wasn't enough.
@hawaii....
nope
I simply ignore it.
I see the whacko's are out tonight in full force.. LOL
It's "whackos", not "whacko's". Apostrophes are never used in forming plurals.
Let's pretend that there is a creator. Do you honestly believe that this creator looks like a human, sent his 'son' to the earth (who apparently couldn't travel across continents despite having created the entire universe), and that the creator is in the minds of seven billion people at once, and is obsessed with the bedroom habits of each one of those seven billion people? Ummm...does that make even a tiny bit of sense?
Certainly not to me, Jen. But, incredible as it may seem, some people actually do, apparently without even questioning it. Unbelievable, isn't it?
Atheists have a lack of imagination? Here's the story of creation according to theists: "God created everything." End of story. Wow, how imaginative. And you believe that story despite the fact that the bible has been edited and revised countless times by known and unknown scribes over the course of a few thousand years. But, oh, it's THE story, THE word of God, THE truth about all things. Grow up, theist!
Yes, anyone who doesn't believe what you do is obviously less intelligent.
Very well done, sir. I applaud you.
Person, please read Chaos theory and Godel's Incompleteness theorem to understand how order and meaning can rise spontaneously out of disorder and non meaning
ibelive we will all find out soon enough,
I believe in freedom of speech. I believe in the right of others not to believe. Having said that, I believe it is wholly unreasonable for any group (be it Christian, atheistic or any group) to demand inclusion by another group. If you don't like being left out, start your own party. And, if you can't drum up enough popularity to win the vote, take the hint: you're outnumbered. Either go live somewhere else or just be content being in the minority. It's no more appropriate for you to demand inclusion by others than it is for them to demand it from you.
So easy to say when you are in the majority. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be included in YOUR parties platform.
So ......... shut the fk up – moron
"party's", not "parties".
I 'm glad past generations of minorites, including Jews, blacks, women, etc didn't share your defeatist mentality.
It was a debacle from the start. The outcome was already decided via the teleprompter. Villaraigusa had to call for a voice vote 3 times, but when the crowd refused to go along with the script he just gave up and followed the teleprompter instead.
At least Villaraigusa had the decency to look embarrassed. He couldn't even get support from his OWN party.
Ugh, that vote was painful to listen to, just as bad as the speaker ignoring Ron Paul and his delegates at the RNC.
If you happen to be a non-God believer and you also think government should be smaller, you're left with third parties who don't win elections.
Until people start voting their conscience instead of feeling like they have to vote for the winner, third parties will never gain much of a foothold in politics.
There's always an excuse for why atheists are left no choice but to hate religion. It's not their own predisposition to hatred, they're being MADE to fgeel that way, always the victims. And of course, they just pick whatever negative thing any religious person or organization has ever done and pretend it represents the ideal of the religion itself, when the religion itself is quite clear that sin exists within it's ranks and among it's people just like it does outside of it. And of course, we all know that no atheists ever sin, and that to believe that there is such a thing as sin when you yourself are not perfect makes you a hyprocrite. The whole atheist schtick is based on false assumptions and lies. That's why there are so few of them.
More excuses from the religious fanatic.
Boob, wrong again! Mother Nature gave us good looks and brains. Unfortunately, she gave religious folks low IQs and no imagination. A cruel twist of fate. BTW unicorns do not roam the earth and leprechauns don't sit on pots of gold. The Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus–nope. There is more evidence for the Loch Ness Monster than there is for God. And we're not even talking proof–of which there is none.
"the Athiest Schtick" is based on reason and science. Things that are observable. Religion is based on story telling, brain washing and fear of death.
Right, because China has such an outstanding human rights record and Stalin never existed. Wake up, man, religions are just scapegoats for wars and a way to inspire the masses to get into it, wars are about money and power, not religion.
"...religions are the cause of most wars." Stop by NORAD and share this theory with a General on staff. It'll make they're day. They'll find you amusing.
their – pardon.
PhillyFeeFee, NORAD prevents wars. It doesn't wage wars. You might want to explain the Crusades to me. Caused by religion, or not? The Spanish Inquisition was about camp fires? Explain the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. Religion confers a license to hate at best and a license to kill and maim at worst.
Well you don't have to go to NORAD just google Bush's reasoning for invading Iraq.
Here, I'll help............... because he believed his god told him it was the right thing to do.
When we have powerful people believing they hear voices in their heads and associate it with some sort of religious dogma it is everyone's liability. Just ask the tens of thousand of family members of innocent Iraqi civilians that were murdered.
I'm standing by my statement. There are 23,000 active nuclear weapons in the world; invented and perfected with little regard or assistance from theology. Think about it. And thank you for the pedestrian history lesson.
It's hard for any atheist NOT to have a hatred of religions when they all know that religions are the cause of most wars. Religious people are the world's biggest hypocrites. They have their 10 commandments and rarely obey them. They are ALL sinners. Atheists are not sinners as they don't recognize sinners mythological gods. They simply listen to their hearts and follow a moral road because it's the right thing to do. Religious people hide behind their gods and commit atrocities–such as those on kids by priests by the tens of thousands.
What ever!!!
@Cindy gets the Deep Thinker of the Year award.
She walks among us...
We're all hypocrites. Some of us recognize it more than others. I don't get why we have to call each other names about our beliefs.
Ben Franklin said, "Your right to swing your fists ends where my nose begins."
I don't care if you believe in God or not as long as you abide by the laws of the land and your beliefs aren't forced upon me. Whether anyone cares to believe it or not, nothing any of us thinks is more important than anything else. You want to have an impact, go invent something or discover a new theory or drug. Or go serve food at a homeless shelter or pay for some kid to go to college. Make life better for humanity and then you'll have justified your existence. Everything else is a bunch of meaningless handwaving