[link=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,75094,00.html] This article [/link] that I happened upon claims a growing, significant support of Democrats by atheists, agnostics, and other “secular” forces, much like Christians are stereotypically associated with Republicans. The article claims that this is underreported.
So my question is, so what? The article SEEMS to argue that since the, uh, liberal media puts so much emphasis on what Christian conservatives support, that there should be a balance, or at least an acknowledgement of a double standard, and something inside me is inclining towards agreement. On the other hand, I also feel a strong level of disagreement for reasons I’m not sure I can articulate, partly because I can’t think of the last politician who’d want to be seen anywhere near, say, a meeting of the American Atheists (the closest analogue to the Bob Jones flaps of recent times I can think of).
I find it interesting that the article seems to studiously avoid any implication that atheists and such are BAD in any sense, only pointing out that they seem, or are mostly percieved to be, unpopular with mainstream America at large, which is why I’m treating this article with any sort of dignity.
So is there underreporting here? Should the “liberal media” be telling us what the atheists think (presumably so Christian Americans can oppose)? Or am I misinterpreting the point of the article? Thanks!
Hrm. On one hand, its a big “yeah, duh” non-story in my book. I don’t believe the “its the liberal media not reporting on this!” angle.
What it could be is that atheists and agnostics and the “secular” forces really aren’t as “exciting” as the Christian Right. We know the Christian Right is anti-abortion, anti-cloning, anti-gay rights (among others) because, dammit, we’ve got Pat Robertson making firebrand speeches calling the damnation of God down on the baby-murderers.
What are atheists and agnostics supposed to do to compare with that? Reasoning, careful examination and explanation of an issue doesn’t work in today’s sound-bite obssesed media – its looks wishy-washy (Exhibit A: Al Gore).
Right, because by definition atheists and agnostics are reasonable. :rolleyes:
It’s a non-issue because atheists are basically not organized. They don’t have rallies. They don’t have a group leader. They don’t have a platform. In addition, there just aren’t that many people in this country that identify as atheists.
So basically, you have a very small, unorganized section of the populace that don’t necessarily agree on anything except that there is probably no god(s). Versus a much larger very organized group that regularly holds rallies and meetings and has a firebrand leader who makes outrageous statements in the media.
Gee, I wonder why one group gets more airtime than the other.