Atheists Can’t Get Elected in Brazil, Either January 6, 2008

Atheists Can’t Get Elected in Brazil, Either

By Guest Contributor
January 6, 2008

It’s bad enough in America to run for office as an openly atheistic person.

Apparently, it’s worse in Brazil.

Few Brazilian adults would cast a ballot for a presidential contender with no religious beliefs, according to a poll by Instituto Sensus published in Veja. Only 13 per cent of respondents would vote for an atheist candidate.

59% of the people would not vote for an atheist, the only category of people shunned by more than half the voters.

Here’s the table of results for the following question: Would you vote for a presidential candidate with the following characteristics?

Yes No Depends
Black 84% 1% 14%
Woman 57% 12% 29%
Homosexual 32% 34% 32%
Atheist 13% 59% 25%

Source: Instituto Sensus / Veja

Methodology: Interviews with 2,000 Brazilian adults, conducted in December 2007. Margin of error is 3 per cent.

(via National Secular Society)


[tags]atheist, atheism, gay, lesbian[/tags]

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  • Mriana

    South America is very religious too- mostly Catholic I think. So this doesn’t surprise me. Wonder what the stats are in Europe?

  • What in the world do they mean, “Depends”? Including that answer will skew the poll, because those of us who feel that we have to be honest would have to answer “Depends” on all of those – because whether I’d vote for someone depends on things other than their skin colour, gender, religious affiliation or sexual orientation!

    So I couldn’t answer “Yes” on ANYONE so long as “Depends” is available as an option. I would however answer “No” on someone who’s openly homophobic, racist or other.

  • Mriana

    Felicia, why am I getting a picture of the bladder control problem deals with how much you used the word “Depends”. 😆

  • Stephen

    Felicia, why am I getting a picture of the bladder control problem deals with how much you used the word “Depends”.

    “Would you vote for an atheist?” “Depends.” “So you’d only vote for them if they wear Depends. Got it.” “Wait…!”

    Actually, I’m more interested in the figure for women – 12% isn’t too bad. Makes me wonder how it compares to America.

  • Ludi

    Bullshit.
    Veja is the Fox News of the Magazines in Brazil. They are align with the right parties and candidates that have obscure links to Opus Dei.
    In issues like gay marriage (often claimed as ‘civil union’ instead), the use of stems cells in research, legalization of prostitution etc, most of the Brazilians are OK. In matter of fact, stem cells research has been approved last year without any problems (despite the usual whining of Catholic cleric).
    Don’t let them fool you. Brazilians are way more progressive than americans (by far). Remember that condoms and birth control pills (with folders and TV ads warning the risk of DST and unplanned pregnancy) are fairly common here. There is a tolerance towards drugs consumption (often the damage control approach is used in big events like the Gay day – one of the biggest gay pride celebration in the world).
    This year there will be a debate over the legalization of abortion. Hopefully it will pass – not without some struggle, I presume.
    And, just for the record, there is at least one representative that is gay (former TV presenter, by the way). I really don’t see how this survey has anything to do with the reality.

  • Rafael

    Well, the results don’t surprise me too much. I woulnd’ expect anything much different, since here in Brazil people seem to hate the word atheist (“ateu”, in portuguese) as much as people do in the US.

  • Daniel Yokomizo

    It’s funny to see brazilians (like me) posting about this issue and never mentioning our previous president Fernando Henrique Cardoso, who was openly atheist. So much for that poll accuracy. People love to quote that Brazil is the largest catholic country in the world, but fail to mention that most don’t even go to the church.

  • Maria

    I have a Brazilian friend who is way Evangelical. The word atheist scares her. All she knows about me is that I’m “not religious”. I’ve met others like her. So this doesn’t surprise me.

  • Dude, I don’t know which part of the country you live, but that’s pretty much the truth.. Regardless of who’s conducting the research, the results seem accurate…  Just take walk and talk to people on the street and tell them you’re an atheist… I won’t be surprised if they hit you in the face.. Our current president has said many times she was agnostic.. and look what happened on the campaign.. she’s ‘found jesus’.. look what happened when they found out that FHC was an atheist.. he had to ‘find jesus’ too.. look what Serra said on the campaign.. and Alkmin.. and all of them.. If this research is not 100% accurate for you, I think we’re not talking about the same country..

    And this hate is not only against atheists.. When I was a kid, people from my street wanted to burn the house of a family because they were jewish and jews ‘killed jesus’… wtf!

  • What are you talking about? He had to go public and say that he was a believer and.. I remember I used to study in a christian school and they were soooooo pleased to play us a video of him saying that he was a christian and stuff..

    FHC had to do that to get re-elected..