My friend just said that he’s never met a conservative atheist.
Since I’m sure there’s some here, feel free to ID yourselves. I assume this
thread is okay for IMHO? And the flame level can be kept way down too?
I’m conservative in that I despise all government and want to be left the fuck alone. But I’m not a social conservative by any means. Whatever floats your boat.
Yup. Kind of. Sometimes. Well…
Except for the religious crap I identify with conservatives more than liberals, and most of my disagreement with pre-Dubya conservatives have been, in one way or another, based on their religion. Abortion and gay rights are two examples. The whole concept has changed in the past 5 years so that has to play a part, too.
I don’t (didn’t) usually call myself conservative because of the big ol’ chain of religion that the label has, now more than ever (it seems). But I sure as heck don’t call myself a liberal.
So maybe. If those were the only two choices, I’d take conservative.
I self-identify as a conservative atheist, but not everyone’s definition of ‘conservative’ is the same. If by “conservative” your friend means “Republican” - then no, I’m not. But, like friedo I’m a small-government conservative. YMMV
Lump me in with everyone else in this thread.
This is about 90% where I am. I generally say “fiscal conservative, social liberal” but I’m not sure that’s entirely accurate anymore.
I’m half liberal, half conservative. I support small government, the right to bear arms, and the death penalty, but I also support gay marriage, abortion, and freedom of and from religion. And I’m almost violently an atheist.
~Tasha
Definitely Atheist, but like kurilla, I self-identify as a fiscal conservative.
As to my “political” leanings, I tend to the “one from column A and one from column B” method.
I’ll bet that you see a lot of Atheists identify as Libertarians… just a thought.
-Cem
Conservative agnostic here.
I’m an economic/political conservative and an atheist, but not a social conservative. I think social conservatism (as it’s currently understood in the US) and atheism are mutually incompatible, since the former is almost aways associated with a strong belief in God. And the arguments against things like gay marriage are almost exclusively religious.
But maybe there’s someone on this board who will come along and self identify as an atheist and a social conservative.
I think you’re going to find a lot of folks here who don’t neatly pigeonhole into the traditional American notions of conservative or liberal.
For myself, I’m about 98% atheist these days. Politically, I would guess that my beliefs run somewhat more towards the liberal side, but it’s not a black and white issue. I’m socially libertarian, in favor of at least partial drug decriminalization, gay rights, and all that good stuff. I’m against the death penalty, both morally (it’s barbaric) and practically (it is difficult to administer, impossible to correct a mistake, and of negligible proven deterrent value). I’m for private gun ownership (see socially libertarian), freedom of speech, and prefer my states secular in the manner of France, with not the tiniest taint of religion in the state.
Economically, my feelings are mixed; my faith in the Market is not rock solid either. Certain things seem to do poorly when allocated by purely market principles, and the government should likely be involved there. On the other hand, I feel that greed–excuse me, self-interest–and meritocracy are likely the best remedies to problems such as racism.
Of that muddle, all that I feel flows from my lack of religious conviction are my feelings on separation of church and state and social libertarianism. (“Cause it’s in the Bible” strikes me, in other words, as a poor policy justification.) The rest are beliefs that I feel are rational–but they would be so regardless of whether I went to church or not.
Yes. I’m generally very strongly fiscal conservative and moderate-to-liberal social conservative. Most of the time I’ll choose a Republican over a Democrat, simply because my position on social issues isn’t quite as strong as my stance on fiscal ones (money makes the world go 'round and all that), but wouldn’t, say, vote Katherine Harris or another preach-and-spend type over most Democrats.
Conservative atheist here.
I’ve never been registered to either party except for the few minutes that you’re required to be for a primary vote. (I’ve done this for both parties.)
My views range from liberal (pro-choice), to libertarian (legalize it, dude) to conservative (get yer damn hands off my guns). But overall I’m conservative, get the government out of my life, don’t need the nanny state type that most Americans tend to be. I’m certainly conservative compared with the average on this board.
It bothers me that the conservatives and the religious have formed an alliance, and I wish that wasn’t the case. However, I just don’t see the huge power that some folks seem to think the religious right has. They basically never get anything that they want except for some lip service even when “their” party was running all branches of government.
If you compare where we are now with both freedom of religion and from religion, we atheists are better off than any other period in American history. America ten, twenty, fifty, or one hundred years ago was less accepting of us than it is now. We’ve got a long way to go still, of course, but I’m OK with taking it slow.
Some openly atheist congressmen would be a good start.
Yet another libertarian atheist here, who usually self-identifies as “conservative” unless a specific social issue like gay rights or drug use is under discussion.
My dad is most definitely a Conservative, Republican Atheist. He’s also a hawk, pro-PATRIOT act, anti-civil liberties wants to see people carrying national “papers” for identification at all times, wants all forms of welfare eliminated and he’s a strict Constitutionalist (Am I using that word correctly? I mean he wants a very literal interpretation of the Constitution at all times. Clarence Thomas is slightly too liberal, in his humble opinion.). OTOH, he’s pro drug legalization, supports gay marriage (“let them be as miserable as the rest of us!”), is himself in a non-legal plural marriage, and is extremely interested in ecology and protecting the environment, or at least his little corner of it.
I love the man, and I agree with him on a lot of things, but I think he’s just too scared for words. Gave me a lot of insight into the whole pro-war anti-terror terror: these guys aren’t against personal freedoms per se, they’re just absolutely shit-stained scared of terrorist attacks and will support anything that might remotely prevent that, even if our own citizens suffer for it.
But yeah, atheist as the day is long and très conservative.
I have a friend that I would say is quite conservative (I’ve never asked her - because I’m liberal and don’t want to know what she thinks she knows) and she’s either athiest or agnostic-leaning-towards-athiest.
I would say she’s definitely not conservative in the name of God. More like in the name of uhm…Johnny Appleseed.
I’m a conservative agnostic. Does that count?
It’s worth keeping in mind that conservatism in other countries often (usually) isn’t as bible-thumping as it is in the US. UK, Australian, and other politicians who are believers will actually play down the religious stuff if they want to attract more votes.
I knew a guy in college who identified as a conservative atheist, although he was probably closer to a libertarian. His conservatism manifested mostly in his beliefs about economics, governmental structure, and foreign policy. He was fairly liberal on social issues and even considered himself pro-choice.
I’m guessing a mixture of social conservatism and atheism are rare, since many socially conservative beliefs seem to stem directly from religious doctrine.
I see many people describing themselves as “fiscally conservative but socially liberal”. I used to describe myself that way too (I’m pro-choice, pro- gay rights, etc) until I read Chris Patten’s wonderful book East and West (which I recommend highly to anybody interested in conservatism, even if they don’t like it - maybe especially if they don’t). It was then that I realised that the left of politics doesn’t have a monopoly on being “nice” and that conservatives don’t need to keep apologising for themselves. Nowadays, I’m still a conservative who believes in the same things, but I no longer feel the need to describe myself as “I’m a conservative, but…”. I’m a conservative. True conservatism, IMHO, involves - as an example - a company manager hiring a person from a minority group because they are the right person for the job, not because of a quota. In my mind, that’s much more genuine, and I have no problem with fitting my support of gay rights or whatever squarely within my conservatism. The bigoted stuff comes from the religious right, not necessarily the political one.
Pretty much ditto, here. I’m a big fan of the market economy—though it’s pretty amusing how the “conservatives” say they are, too, but often manage to contradict themselves on the subject (“Don’t teach evolution, that’s unnatural! And I don’t like naughty stuff on broadcast TV—let’s just ban it, that’ll make it go away forever! Just like it worked with prohibition! And—hey, why are imported Japanese cartoons getting so popular all of a sudden?”).
And don’t get me started on liberals—ugh. In short, I guess I’m just some kind of warped nihilist-centrist.