Voting for Atheists and Teaching Creationism

November 3, 2007

In the latest issue of The Economist, there is an article called “Who will take on Hillary?”

The article includes this graph which highlights differences between Republicans and Democrats on several moral/social issues:

Here’s the part that seemed most interesting to me:

No, it’s nothing you didn’t already know. But it’s still shocking to see it laid out like this. Less than 20% of Republicans would vote for a qualified atheist, and only half of Democrats would do so.

The numbers seem to be flipped when it comes to Creationism: more than 80% of Republicans favor it along with just over 50% of the Democrats. You can’t automatically conclude there is a link between the numbers, but I find it hard to think otherwise.

(Thanks to Brett for the link!)

[tags]atheist, atheism, religion, politics[/tags]

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What Are Your Thoughts?leave a comment

Darryl

Democrats in general aren’t any more enlightened than Republicans. Their biases are just different.
Maria

Democrats in general aren’t any more enlightened than Republicans. Their biases are just different.

I agree
Thrawn

At least some of the Democrat pro-creationists would vote for an atheist. Seems a bit strange. I’d have to check the website to see how much overlap there is.
vjack

Yeah, there is something different about seeing the information visually like this. It tells me that we have a long way to go in defense of reason. Depressing but motivational too.
PrimateInRepose

It doesn’t mean you can’t be an atheist and a politician. It just means that you have to lie about it and you would after all be a politician so it all works out.
Joel Sax

I hate questions like the “Do you think creationism should be taught in the public schools” because it hides so many nuances. They might, for example, ask me and I would respond “Sure, as part of a comparative religions/mythologies course or as an example of what is not science and why.” The poller would nod soporifically and mark “yes….”
Darryl

Am I wrong to suspect that a great many politicians that mouth the obligatory “God bless America”s and the whole “shining city on a hill” narrative don’t really believe it? It’s so easy for them to rationalize the value of religious rhetoric for our common civic vision–to keep up the appearances and the rituals, after the spirit has departed, when you know that to do otherwise would mean you’d be ostracized and the voters would reject you.
Scotty B

I wonder how much these results would change (if at all) if there was no such thing as Fox News…
Mriana

I don’t know why people would base their decision on something as to someone being an atheist. It seems silly to me, then again, IF I knew someone was an Evangelical Fundamentalist, I probably would not vote them, for fear they would mix religion and politics, which is against the Constitution. It is less likely an atheist would do that, therefore I’d be more likely to vote for them. I’d vote for an Episcopalian too, because I know they believe in separation of Church and State too. So, religion or lack there of isn’t the issue for me. It’s knowing for sure that they will keep the First Amendment as well as the rest of the Constitution. So far, Evangelicals have not shown that they can keep Separation of Church and State. IF they could show that they can do that, then maybe I’d change my mind about them.

So the issue with me is not whether they are religious or not, but whether or not they can keep religion out of government.