Religion
Related: About this forumAn Atheist’s Case For Religious Liberty
April 1, 2014
By Robert Tracinski
I am an atheist, which puts me firmly on the secular right. There arent a whole lot of us, but were out here, in some surprising places.
Yet I consider the current campaign against religious libertythe attempt to coerce Christians into providing service to gay weddings or to provide abortifacient drugs to their employees, against the dictates of their faithto be a deep cultural crisis.
Why? Above all, because the sight of a bully using a club to force someone else to violate his conscience is inherently repugnant. As a humanist, what I regard as sacred is the power of the human mind to think and make judgments. To put this in terms borrowed from religion, when someone uses coercion to overrule the judgment of their victims mind, they are defiling my temple.
But there is another, more practical reason. History shows that the only way to fight for freedom of thought is to defend it early, when it comes under threat for otherseven people you strongly disagree with, even people you despise. So Im willing to fight for it for people who are much worse, by my standards, than your average Christian.
http://thefederalist.com/2014/04/01/atheists-case-religious-liberty/
Make no mistake. These people are out there, this one via the Ayn Rand Institute.
http://ariwatch.com/WhosWho.htm
http://ariwatch.com/index.htm
edhopper
(33,616 posts)He might want to read the Constitution. But since he's a right winger, he probably wouldn't understand it.
Heddi
(18,312 posts)"I'm an atheist, which firmly puts me on the secular right"?
that doesn't make any sense.
Since when did Atheism = stereotypical right wing?
Even when I wasn't an Atheist, the label "atheist" was generally used to further stereotpye lefty, democratic, progressive, birkenstock wearing, devil worshiping, granola eating seattle living blah blah blah.
Then again, when other articles on the site are titled
Just How Poorly Did Wendy Davis Do Last Night?
The Party Of Science Has Absolutely No Clue What It's Talking About
Why Do Liberals Want People To Stop Learning From Other Cultures?
Erickson, Sullivan, And What Bigots Deserve
No, Michael Tomasky, 'Conservatives' Aren't Always On The Wrong Side Of History
Sorry, America Isn't Destined To Be More Liberal
I have to question the reason for putting this article, from this source, on a democratic website. I thought that posting from garbagey right-wing sites was kind of tasteless
rug
(82,333 posts)The political danger is from the right, religious or secular.
Heddi
(18,312 posts)are the WORST. I'll take a mouth-breathing republican over a libertarian any day, even though I'd rather not deal with either of them. I find Libertarians to just be...slimy. It's sad that there is a sizeable number, at least on other Atheist forums, that are Libertarian Atheists. This forum looks like Candy Land Cupcake Time compared to ones where the Big L's are allowed to roam freely.
And you know, I've said this before and I swear I'm not being "no true scotsman" about it, but there is a subsect of Atheist Libertarians who don't believe in God not because they don't believe in a higher power, or God, but because they see THEMSELVES as the higher power, as the ultimate. They're anti-religion only because they see religion as a competitor of attention, money, worship. They're anti God for the same reason. They're almost nihilist in a sense, although I don't want to slander my good nihilist friends by even putting them in the same sentence as Libertarians. They're nauseating to be around.
Dawson Leery
(19,348 posts)el_bryanto
(11,804 posts)rug
(82,333 posts)el_bryanto
(11,804 posts)what they want to hear. I guess it's not too surprising that some Atheists would go down the same route. Money is a powerful temptation. But I don't know if this is more a commentary and the validity of that argument in favor of "religious liberty" or if that is an argument that not all atheists are the same?
It's about power not liberty. They will adopt any ideology necessary to keep it.
MellowDem
(5,018 posts)No Christian ever has to put on a wedding or make a wedding cake for a gay person if they don't want to. But if you decide to incorporate, which is an entirely state-based invention, you have to follow the discrimination laws of the sate when acting as a business.
Businesses give people a lot of advantages, like no personal liability. The trade off is that, by voluntarily using a state tool, you have to abide by state regulations.
If you can't stand those regulations, get out of business. You can't have your cake and eat it too.