Which of these do you think we’ll see first, as President of the United States?
We’ll see an Atheist before we see a Muslim, especially in the current environment. BTW, I relaize (hope?) you were trying to be funny, but people of your ilk need TO CUT THE CRAP WITH THIS BULLSHIT about Obama’s religion! Too many people believe it to make fun of it!
How far into the future are we supposed to speculate?
“Current environment” … that’s the sticky wicket, isn’t it. If you’d asked me this question on September 10th, 2001, I’d have said Muslim before atheist … now, I’m not so sure.
Oh, for… yes, it was a joke. For the record, I was trying to imply that he is both an atheist and a Muslim, though I see now that’s not at all clear. I should have added “Twofer!!!” And I wasn’t making fun of his religion, I was making fun of the people who believe he’s Muslim. They should be made fun of, as often as possible.
As far as you like.
My point EXACTLY!
I’d guess atheist because I think we’re only a generation or so from open non-religiosity being a complete non-issue. On the other hand, it’s difficult to not see being Muslim as thought of as somehow un-American for the foreseeable future.
Muslim, for instance what if a Kurdish-American neocon grateful for George W Bush’s Operation Iraqi Freedom ran for POTUS? After all Kurdistan is said to be the only place where Bush could win a Presidential election.
Muslim. Americans would elect a fundamentalist Muslim before they’d elect an atheist as President. For that matter, they’d probably elect some cultist who supported human sacrifice before they’d elect an atheist; at least the cultist has faith.
You didn’t include Hispanic in the poll
Aren’t “Equally Likely” and “Equally Unlikely” the same thing?
Or women, or Mormon, or openly gay, or Jehovah’s witness, or Asian, or… perhaps the OP was only interested in the two options asked about.
I don’t see that at all. I had the same thought 60 years ago when I realized that most people my age were less religious than their parents. Now I meet people all the time who are my age and astonished that their children are more religious than they. It seems to go in waves but there is no evidence that religiosity among Americans will ever disappear.
I knew somebody would say this. Strictly correct… but I’m sure in context that the poll means the first to read as there’s a good chance for either, the second to mean there’s not a good chance for either.
Note, the question is open-ended in time; voting that two “firsts” are “equally unlikely” is therefore a statement that the United States will probably never see either one as long as the country endures. That strikes me as either a prediction of remarkable cultural immobility, or else a pessimistic views of the country’s long-term prospects.
Atheist. Christianity’s not going away, but I constantly see Christians that accept atheists, even here in the Bible Belt. I do not see any Christians that accept Muslims around here.
There’s a reason why Obama is usually painted as a closet Muslim and not a closet atheist–the former bothers people more.