# Believers deem atheists as untrustworthy as rapists **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 1, 2011, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-deem-atheists-as-untrustworthy-as-rapists/604739 "2011-12-01T20:17:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-deem-atheists-as-untrustworthy-as-rapists/604739/41 "2011-12-02T15:22:58Z")
My husband is a “closeted” atheist who comes from an evangelical family. He has suggested to me that I not try to discuss religious at all, ever. A couple of family arguments I’ve witnessed over his not-attending-church made it clear to me that his family doesn’t differentiate between “believes in God”, “is a good person”, “loves his momma”, “works hard”, “is trustworthy”, and “cleans up well”. That was weird enough for me to take the advice not to get involved. Thanks for the explanation that these people see a conscience as being the same thing as belief in god. They just live in a completely different thought-universe… ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-deem-atheists-as-untrustworthy-as-rapists/604739/42 "2011-12-02T15:26:27Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > Let’s stop you right there. What is a “militant atheist”? what defines them? A militant atheist is one who tries to preach you out of your faith. Most atheists don’t bother. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-deem-atheists-as-untrustworthy-as-rapists/604739/43 "2011-12-02T15:53:57Z")
Rather that fight this, I’ve decided to co-opt it. My new position is “Don’t fuck with me. I’m an atheist. There’s nothing stopping me from raping you where you stand.” I’m having t-shirts made up right now. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-deem-atheists-as-untrustworthy-as-rapists/604739/44 "2011-12-02T16:24:53Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > A militant atheist is one who tries to preach you out of your faith. Most atheists don’t bother. Is a militant religionist one who tries to preach you into _their_ faith? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-deem-atheists-as-untrustworthy-as-rapists/604739/45 "2011-12-02T16:31:57Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > It’s also kind of new. Does anyone know when distrust of other religious denominations was replaced with distrust of atheists? Not that new. I remember reading as a kid 25-30 years ago a newspaper article by some bishop that claimed it was better to be in a religion, any religion and support faith than to be an atheist and support none. “It is better to kill for Kali and uphold a faith than to live in peace as an atheist and have none”, to quote from memory. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-deem-atheists-as-untrustworthy-as-rapists/604739/46 "2011-12-02T16:32:33Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Is a militant religionist one who tries to preach you into _their_ faith? Good question, since most/all Christians are called on to witness/evangelize to a degree. By that definition, a good chunk of Christians would be considered very militant, certainly more militant than most atheists. Another, more stringent definition of “militant atheist” would be someone who used atheism as a guiding principle in what they advocate for public policy. People who try to get granite erections of the Ten Commandments removed from public parks would be one example. So, too, would be people who try to get prayer removed from football games and such. And, yes, I acknowledge that some of you might titter a bit regarding “granite erections.” Don’t knock it 'til you’ve tried it. ---
**Author:** ![Condescending\_Robot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a183cd/32.png) [@Condescending\_Robot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Condescending_Robot)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-deem-atheists-as-untrustworthy-as-rapists/604739/47 "2011-12-02T16:34:08Z")
This does prove how demented most religious people are. Lots and lots of Christians just assume that everyone out there would go on a murdering and baby-raping spree if they weren’t going to be punished by God for it. They don’t get that moral people don’t have these impulses and will refrain from such behavior even if they know they won’t be caught. Maybe it’s the theists who shouldn’t be trusted around children. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-deem-atheists-as-untrustworthy-as-rapists/604739/48 "2011-12-02T16:52:29Z")
> [@Condescending\_Robot](#): > > Lots and lots of Christians just assume that everyone out there would go on a murdering and baby-raping spree if they weren’t going to be punished by God for it. I was at a separation of church and state political convention recently, and everyone who got up to speak–well, four of them–had to append their “I’m an atheist” with “but that doesn’t mean I eat _babies!_” And I was rather hurt and offended on behalf of those of us who \*do \*eat delicious, delicious babies. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-deem-atheists-as-untrustworthy-as-rapists/604739/49 "2011-12-02T16:57:16Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#): > > ::wades cautiously into Great Debates..I have a feeling this thread would end up here anyways:: > > I’ve just come across [this news article,](http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Believers+deem+atheists+untrustworthy+rapists+Study/5792265/story.html) and while I haven’t read the study itself, the results being claimed just absolutely astound me. > > I can perhaps see why believers are more comfortable with other theists, but to have a similar level of trust in an atheist as they do in a _rapist_ is just so irrational and crazy. I’m surprised that this is news to you. There is a wide, isolated, evangelical (fundie) subculture in the US where the only thing that makes people behave is fear of Hell. Therefore, anybody who doesn’t believe in Hell because they are atheists will rape women and eat babies. Read for example some of the articles of Fred Clark at [slacktivist](http://www.patheos.com/community/slacktivist) - he’s a former evangelical who’s become humanist and has both good insight in the scene and a good writing style (and still compassion with those twisted, hate-filled people). No, not every normal Christian believes these things. No, you won’t find many of these rabid believers on the Dope. Yes, they do exist in large numbers in real life, the fundies are not a fringe of the evangelicals. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-deem-atheists-as-untrustworthy-as-rapists/604739/50 "2011-12-02T16:57:28Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#): > > Do the religious people in the SDMB have a fundamental lack of trust of atheists? Are there some tasks that you simply wouldn’t trust an atheist to do (other than leading a sermon or things of that nature, obviously!) I think the first question is too vague to answer with a yes or a no. I do not have a fundamental distrust of atheists. I generally trust my father and most of my relatives on his side of the family. I trusted the other math teacher at my school, before he left. I trust SDMB posters like **Revenant Threshhold** and **voyager**. When I know an individual I judge their trustworthiness based on what they say and do and what can reasonably be inferred from that. As a group, however, I would list atheists as one of the groups from whom I’d be much less likely to choose a President of the United States or any other person who will have some sort of authority over me. This is not an indication of hatred or prejudice. I can choose to not want a member of a group as President without hating that group. I’m sure that groups such as circus clowns, football players, those with only a high school education, and nudists all contain many wonderful people, but I would not want any of them to be the President. The reasons why I’d be less likely to put an atheist in a position of authority are as follows. (1) I can look at history and see that when atheistic movements have come to power, the results have usually been very bad for Christians and other religious believers. (2) In my experience atheists, particularly the influential ones, are more likely to hold unreasonable political positions such as animal rights extremism. (3) On the internet I see a large proportion of atheists demanding that my rights be taken away, calling me stupid or crazy or irrational or any other insult that comes into their mind, and otherwise indicating that they view themselves as superior and religious believers as inferior. (4) I find the Christian view of morality to be much more defensible than any atheist view I’ve ever seen. (5) Many atheists have tried to use a misinterpretation of a phrase in the Constitution to shut down the free speech rights of government employees and others, which I strongly disagree with. (On point 4, I do find it curious that some atheists in this thread have said that religious believers need to “compartmentalize” in order to function in a normal, healthy way. To me it’s plain that it’s atheists who need to do that. If you look at someone who starts a thread [like this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=516966&highlight=morality), obviously such a person cannot live his day-to-day life in agreement with that philosophy, so he must be compartmentalizing.) ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-deem-atheists-as-untrustworthy-as-rapists/604739/51 "2011-12-02T17:24:51Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > The reasons why I’d be less likely to put an atheist in a position of authority are as follows. (1) I can look at history and see that when atheistic movements have come to power, the results have usually been very bad for Christians and other religious believers. In other words you are _again_ trying to equate communism and atheism, but you “don’t hate atheists” - you may think we are all mass murdering tyrants, but I’m sure you mean that in the most loving and tolerant way. :rolleyes: > [@ITR\_champion](#): > > (4) I find the Christian view of morality to be much more defensible than any atheist view I’ve ever seen. The “Christian view of morality” is completely indefensible, and isn’t even really morality; it’s just following a set of rules regardless of the consequences. That’s amoral, not moral. > [@ITR\_champion](#): > > (5) Many atheists have tried to use a misinterpretation of a phrase in the Constitution to shut down the free speech rights of government employees and others, which I strongly disagree with. What? > [@ITR\_champion](#): > > (On point 4, I do find it curious that some atheists in this thread have said that religious believers need to “compartmentalize” in order to function in a normal, healthy way. Of course; religion is insane, and generally barbaric since the most popular religions were _made_ by barbarians. If a religious person didn’t compartmentalize to some degree they’d end up in prison or dead. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-deem-atheists-as-untrustworthy-as-rapists/604739/52 "2011-12-02T17:28:33Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > I was at a separation of church and state political convention recently, and everyone who got up to speak–well, four of them–had to append their “I’m an atheist” with “but that doesn’t mean I eat _babies!_” > > And I was rather hurt and offended on behalf of those of us who \*do \*eat delicious, delicious babies. Mmmm. In particular, there is nothing quite like the piquant aftertaste of _Christian_ babies. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-deem-atheists-as-untrustworthy-as-rapists/604739/53 "2011-12-02T17:40:09Z")
> [@constanze](#): > > I’m surprised that this is news to you. It really isn’t something I encounter in day-to-day life (despite there being a church on nearly every street corner in Montreal, people’s religion just doesn’t _matter_ all that much). It never occurs to me to wonder “I wonder what religion they are from?” or to use that knowledge - if I have it - to judge someone’s character. I’ve encountered this type of stuff on these boards, in discussions like this one and other GD ones (I read, but don’t post here usually) but I guess I thought it was somewhat “slippery-slope, extreme example, simplified”. I didn’t realize that people _actually_ thought this way, to the extent of having significant numbers of believers responding to questions about atheists as if they were rapists. I guess I knew it was theoretically possible for people to think this way, I just didn’t think I’d encounter it in such significant numbers in practice! > [@ITR\_champion](#): > > As a group, however, I would list atheists as one of the groups from whom I’d be much less likely to choose a President of the United States or any other person who will have some sort of authority over me. This is not an indication of hatred or prejudice. I can choose to not want a member of a group as President without hating that group. I’m sure that groups such as circus clowns, football players, those with only a high school education, and nudists all contain many wonderful people, but I would not want any of them to be the President. But this is a prejudice… what is it about an atheist that makes them “bad” politicians? For that matter, what is it about the rest of your examples - other than perhaps the lack of high school education - that makes them bad candidates? Clown: nothing to say they aren’t educated, knowledgeable, intelligent and capable. Their career choice indicates they likely have some charisma and are comfortable in public. I mean, you guys had _Ronald Reagan_ as a president and _Arnold Schwartzenegger_ and _Jesse Ventura_ as state governors- Hollywood actors and freaking _wrestlers_ (a clownish career if ever there was one). Football players: as much as some football players get through university with a degree in underwater basketweaving, several come out of school - or return to it - to get degrees in all kinds of things. Off the top of my head, Mathieu Proulx (a Canadian football player, mind you) is a lawyer. Going to other sports, Ken Dryden - winning goalie of 6 Stanley Cups - is a Cornell and McGill educated lawyer and businessman, who served as a Canadian MP for a time. What is it about a sport someone may play that makes them unqualified to become a politician? Nudists: You do realize that this is something people do either in their homes or in specific clubs/beach settings, right? Not like the President would be walking around naked 100% of the time. I’m sure you’re occasionally naked at home too, perhaps even - gasp! - in front of someone else (a spouse/partner?). I know people are prudish, but I fail to see how this disqualifies someone from Presidency. > [@](#): > > The reasons why I’d be less likely to put an atheist in a position of authority are as follows. (1) I can look at history and see that when atheistic movements have come to power, the results have usually been very bad for Christians and other religious believers. Atheism != communism. Most atheists don’t really give a fuck about other people’s beliefs, and would just love it if people would stop giving a fuck about theirs. > [@](#): > > (2) In my experience atheists, particularly the influential ones, are more likely to hold unreasonable political positions such as animal rights extremism. In my experience, these aren’t a significant majority of atheists - though they may be a vocal majority - and don’t really qualify as “mainstream” and “not fundamentalist” which is the group of people I was interested in discussing. I’m willing to bet (though admit that I can’t prove) that there are more atheists than you think in political power right now that you actually respect; would you lose that respect for them based solely on this issue? > [@](#): > > (3) On the internet I see a large proportion of atheists demanding that my rights be taken away, calling me stupid or crazy or irrational or any other insult that comes into their mind, and otherwise indicating that they view themselves as superior and religious believers as inferior. The internet isn’t everyday life, and the fact is that atheists are much more concerned with maintaining their own rights to not have your religion foisted upon them than they are about taking anything away from you. Believe what you want to believe, but leave us alone, basically. You are painting an entire group of people _that you can’t even identify_ based upon the actions of a few who are acting in a context where they can say anything they like without consequence. That’s not really all that rational. > [@](#): > > (4) I find the Christian view of morality to be much more defensible than any atheist view I’ve ever seen. I don’t know what you mean by this. What’s indefensible about an atheist’s morality?!? Most of us don’t kill, don’t rape, don’t eat babies, don’t steal, don’t vandalize, don’t do [whatever], _the same as Christians don’t_. The sole difference is that we don’t attribute anything to a god, we merely consider it to be common sense. I don’t want to get killed, so I won’t kill, for example. Pretty straightforward and no deity needed. Though the fact that you’d even say this point indicates some level of truth to the study… there is something about atheism that leads to a lack of trust, since you consider us to be morally indefensible! > [@](#): > > (5) Many atheists have tried to use a misinterpretation of a phrase in the Constitution to shut down the free speech rights of government employees and others, which I strongly disagree with. I don’t know what you are referring to here, so I won’t comment. > [@](#): > > (On point 4, I do find it curious that some atheists in this thread have said that religious believers need to “compartmentalize” in order to function in a normal, healthy way. To me it’s plain that it’s atheists who need to do that. If you look at someone who starts a thread [like this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=516966&highlight=morality), obviously such a person cannot live his day-to-day life in agreement with that philosophy, so he must be compartmentalizing.) It probably happens both ways. I guess that’s kind of what these threads are exploring - how do people group their thoughts, beliefs, actions, etc in order to explain the world to themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-deem-atheists-as-untrustworthy-as-rapists/604739/54 "2011-12-02T17:53:37Z")
What does the word “prejudiced” mean, I wonder? I always thought it was nearly self-explanatory. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-deem-atheists-as-untrustworthy-as-rapists/604739/55 "2011-12-02T17:55:32Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#): > > I don’t know what you mean by this. What’s indefensible about an atheist’s morality?!? IIRC, he’s one of those people who thinks that the only valid morality is an “absolute morality” declared by God. Since atheists don’t base their morality on this supposed absolute morality, their morality isn’t valid. ---
**Author:** ![Condescending\_Robot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a183cd/32.png) [@Condescending\_Robot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Condescending_Robot)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-deem-atheists-as-untrustworthy-as-rapists/604739/56 "2011-12-02T18:00:16Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > IIRC, he’s one of those people who thinks that the only valid morality is an “absolute morality” declared by God. Since atheists don’t base their morality on this supposed absolute morality, their morality isn’t valid. And of course, as a Christian, he enjoys the “get out of morality free” card that says you can do whatever you want as long as you believe in Jesus’s existence. Following atheist or Jewish or Muslim morality would be too hard for him, so he’s taken the easy way out. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-deem-atheists-as-untrustworthy-as-rapists/604739/57 "2011-12-02T18:05:41Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > The reasons why I’d be less likely to put an atheist in a position of authority are as follows. (1) I can look at history and see that when atheistic movements have come to power, the results have usually been very bad for Christians and other religious believers. So you are ignorant of any history before the 20th century? Never heard of how bad the medieval Christian states were for people of other faith or sects? Or how strict the laws and harsh the punishment in the early Christian American colonies were? > [@](#): > > (2) In my experience atheists, particularly the influential ones, are more likely to hold unreasonable political positions such as animal rights extremism. Have you looked at the positions that the prominent Christian Republican candiates are holding - creationism vs. evolution, denial of AGW, etc.? You don’t consider those shrill voices to be unreasonable positions? > [@](#): > > (3) On the internet I see a large proportion of atheists demanding that my rights be taken away, calling me stupid or crazy or irrational or any other insult that comes into their mind, and otherwise indicating that they view themselves as superior and religious believers as inferior. You never see large groups of Christian evangelicals and fundies on the Internet or in real life actually taking people’s rights away: the right of gays to marry, the right of children to learn science and facts; a church denying a mixed racial couple membership just right now? As long as crazy fundies are the voice of US Christians because the other Christians keep silent, the rest of the population will react to that craziness. > [@](#): > > (4) I find the Christian view of morality to be much more defensible than any atheist view I’ve ever seen. The OT morality that many fundies espouse, or NT? Have you looked at the morality that is proclaimed by actual Evangelicals groups? Like the new hate-filled immigrant law in the Sooner state - very unchristian, but supported by Conservative Christians. Laws and actions that support young women in their health care because they also provide counseling on family planning. Lying about people to get support (like lying about gays being child molesters, or lying about facts). Read some [of the articles there](http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/) about Evangelicals and consider whether those laws are very christian, and if it would be beneficial to enact them for the whole country. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-deem-atheists-as-untrustworthy-as-rapists/604739/58 "2011-12-02T18:07:59Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#): > > It really isn’t something I encounter in day-to-day life (despite there being a church on nearly every street corner in Montreal, people’s religion just doesn’t _matter_ all that much). It never occurs to me to wonder “I wonder what religion they are from?” or to use that knowledge - if I have it - to judge someone’s character. > > I’ve encountered this type of stuff on these boards, in discussions like this one and other GD ones (I read, but don’t post here usually) but I guess I thought it was somewhat “slippery-slope, extreme example, simplified”. I didn’t realize that people _actually_ thought this way, to the extent of having significant numbers of believers responding to questions about atheists as if they were rapists. > > I guess I knew it was theoretically possible for people to think this way, I just didn’t think I’d encounter it in such significant numbers in practice! I see my mistake - I assumed you were from the US. Seeing that you are a Canuck, I can understand why this is strange, since outside the US, (Thank God) the fundies are marginal and don’t play a big role. This also means there is less reaction from militant atheists, either. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-deem-atheists-as-untrustworthy-as-rapists/604739/59 "2011-12-02T18:12:18Z")
> [@Condescending\_Robot](#): > > And of course, as a Christian, he enjoys the “get out of morality free” card that says you can do whatever you want as long as you believe in Jesus’s existence. Following atheist or Jewish or Muslim morality would be too hard for him, so he’s taken the easy way out. No, it’s not that believing in Jesus is the free card, it’s that you are allowed to repent and be forgiven seventy times seventy. So [Newt Gringrich](http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2011/11/29/richard-land-to-newt-gingrich-strike-a-pose/) can divorce and treat his wifes like shit, as long as he apologizes, he’s a model person. But if he claimed that obviously marriage is not for eternity, so we shouldn’t judge divorced women - that would make him a bad person, because you aren’t allowed to deviate from theoretical morality. Only to break it, again, and again… Just as long as no inner-city people are living without marriage - that’s obviously sin, (being black poor people, not white rich ones). ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2011, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-deem-atheists-as-untrustworthy-as-rapists/604739/60 "2011-12-02T18:14:19Z")
> [@constanze](#): > > Have you looked at the positions that the prominent Christian Republican candiates are holding - creationism vs. evolution, denial of AGW, etc.? You don’t consider those shrill voices to be unreasonable positions? He is a creationist. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-deem-atheists-as-untrustworthy-as-rapists/604739.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believers-deem-atheists-as-untrustworthy-as-rapists/604739.md?page=4)