Atheism, a dangerous idea?

Well, not really. I think people who have responded so far are hyping this a little out of proportion. Remember that the christian fundamentalists only represent a small portion of the voting population here in the U.S.The problem, I think, is that atheism tends to be misunderstood by people who have been religious all their lives. The overwhelming majority (in the upper 90's percentile) of the U.S. voters believe in a god of some sort. And in their minds, atheism somehow equates to not having any moral. I think it's about time we have a burning Bush...Anyway, to most people out there, a politician who proclaims to not believe in a deity of some sort is the same as someone who would burn a cat for fun.Personally, every once in a while when someone asked me how I have any moral at all if I was an atheist, I just tell him that I was on my way to get some spare gasoline and a cat from the store and see how big of a fire I can get the cat to light up and how fast can it run around while while screaming.

Minnemooseus writes

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I think the great majority of theists either accept biological evolution theory (call it "Darwinism" if you wish) or are indifferent about it.

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I don't agree. My personal experience tells me that the majority of theists tend to be indifferent about it because they don't know anything about it but tend to lean away from it whenever the topic comes up. You have to admit that the surfaces of evolution have some kind of theistic repellent characteristic. More often than not, evolution theory is viewed more of an atheistic concept than a true scientific theory.

schraf writes

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I thought that it was an important voting block which had a very high voter turnout rate.

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It was an important voting block because the few fundamentalists had their god-given loud mouths that demonized gay people, misrepresented science, and sometimes outright lied about political issues. They also had the will and resources to organize whole congregations to the voting booths via bus. Heck, they were even willing to FedEx people to the right voting locations if it meant making a victory for the ultra-right.

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Wouldn't that make it a large percentage of the voting population?

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The large percentage of the voting population you are speaking of are people who don't know (pardon my french) a fucking shit about evolutionary science or the so-called gay agenda. You have to admit that even though we have a lot of liberals in the media, none are as vocal, insistent, and outright doomsayeth (if that's a word) as the fundamentalists.Even in this day and age, there are still congregations that teach about the "gay plague". Ann Coulter's The Church of Liberalism: Godless dedicates a whole chapter to the so-called gay plague and denies HIV's nondiscriminate nature when dealing with heteros versus homos.There is one thing that Fundamentalists have that our side doesn't: The will to sensationalize bullshit issues. Quite frankly, people nowadays worry more about gay marriage bringing down fire and brimstone than what is happening to the ozone layer or the average global temperature. Heck, they don't even give a second's thought on how many orphans are out there waiting to be adopted. Why do you think the right is pushing for legislations on banning gay people from adopting? How are the fundamentalists achieving all of this? They sensationalize bullshit issues.

I know this is old stuff, but internet isn't an easy thing to come by in the part of the world where I'm at!I have no intention of discussing such an issue with Rob. Some feel that he is really trying while others feel that he has lots of humility. I personally think he is intellectually dishonest and he knows it, too. I can already imagine what he is going to say about the gay rights issue. It's going to be something along the line of it not being natural and something like "if you put a bunch of gays on an island they will eventually die out..." (ahem... riverrat)Anyway, I apologize for the interruption. There is much prejudice where I am currently at, but at least these people have an excuse. They are not living in a society where diversity or free will is encouraged. It just hurts to see intolerance happening in the most diversed country on the planet.

The country where it's 100 degrees and 5,000% humidity all the freakin' time.