# Why don't liberals and Democrats fully embrace atheism? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 13, 2021, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421 "2021-07-13T20:41:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/204 "2021-07-18T22:43:42Z")
And who has ever called Mao, Stalin or Hitler “progressive thinkers” other than their most rabid followers in their lifetime? ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/205 "2021-07-18T22:46:04Z")
It’s a popular refrain among a certain class of religious folks; they think they can trot out how those groups are “atheist progressives” and then they “win” their argument. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/206 "2021-07-18T22:46:18Z")
I think this is the 10-1 “piling on of conservative posters” for “wrongthink” people are complaining about. ---
**Author:** ![Franklymydear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a6a055/32.png) [@Franklymydear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Franklymydear)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/207 "2021-07-18T22:48:49Z")
well to be fair, their most rabid followers counted in the millions for each of them. one could argue they weren’t true believers, but they followed the party line. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/208 "2021-07-18T22:50:03Z")
I’m having a hard time understanding what Mao, Hitler and Stalin have to do with liberals and Democrats embracing or not embracing atheism. Let’s please try to keep at least somewhat on the rails with this discussion. ---
**Author:** ![Franklymydear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a6a055/32.png) [@Franklymydear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Franklymydear)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/209 "2021-07-18T22:52:07Z")
I think this is a poorly constructed OP that everyone agrees is not well thought out. Not a single person has attempted to defend the idea that liberals are atheists. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_was_in_Saudi)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/210 "2021-07-18T23:28:40Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > What do Hitler, Stalin and Mao have to do with what “Christians” have been doing in the United States for the last 50 years (I assume Miller’s lifetime)? Oh, I thought I was clear. When you are talking about the mass slaughter and persecution of Gays, religious people and so on over the last century or so, you are talking about people who fully embraced the most modern scientific ideas and rejected the delusions of religion. Of course the difference now is that modern atheists are following the most modern scientific thinking and rejecting the delusions of religion for correct reasons. Not like those old guys. See? These atheists are good and wise. Those atheists were cruel and confused. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/211 "2021-07-18T23:35:55Z")
> [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](#): > > Oh, I thought I was clear. When you are talking about the mass slaughter and persecution of Gays, religious people and so on over the last century or so, you are talking about people who fully embraced the most modern scientific ideas and rejected the delusions of religion. > > Of course the difference now is that modern atheists are following the most modern scientific thinking and rejecting the delusions of religion for correct reasons. Not like those old guys. See? These atheists are good and wise. Those atheists were cruel and confused. That still doesn’t have anything to do with the responses to your reply to Miller’s post. “Other people do it too!” is in this case perfectly accurate and also entirely irrelevant to the point that people giving religious reasons for their actions might well have done much worse things to Miller than to say prayers. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_was_in_Saudi)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/212 "2021-07-18T23:38:01Z")
I am not aware of mass genocides being carried out by religious people in the last century. The ones we have to worry about are the atheists. But, as I said modern atheists are not like those ones from long ago. Now it is completely different. No doubt about. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/213 "2021-07-18T23:39:24Z")
You really see no difference between Bertrand Russell and Stalin? ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_was_in_Saudi)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/214 "2021-07-18T23:39:47Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > And who has ever called Mao, Stalin or Hitler “progressive thinkers” other than their most rabid followers in their lifetime? Good point. Other than a few million people over a couple of decades. Really, what did they know? ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_was_in_Saudi)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/215 "2021-07-18T23:40:21Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > You really see no difference between Bertrand Russell and Stalin? Sure I do. I also see a difference between acorns and oak trees. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/216 "2021-07-18T23:45:11Z")
> [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](#): > > I am not aware of mass genocides being carried out by religious people in the last century. The ones we have to worry about are the atheists. But, as I said modern atheists are not like those ones from long ago. Now it is completely different. Modern religious people are not like those ones from long ago. Now it is completely different. /s. (Do you mean the last 100 years, by the way, or the last 20?) > [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](#): > > > [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > > > You really see no difference between Bertrand Russell and Stalin? > > Sure I do. I also see a difference between acorns and oak trees. You think Russell was bound to grow up into Stalin if he just lived long enough? I guess 98 years just wasn’t quite long enough for the transformation to take place. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_was_in_Saudi)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/217 "2021-07-18T23:47:01Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Modern religious people are not like those ones from long ago. Now it is completely different. Excellent point! Modern religious people in the last century or so are very unlike those from the Thirty Years War and so on. I am glad we are reaching agreement. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_was_in_Saudi)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/218 "2021-07-18T23:47:46Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > You think Russell was bound to grow up into Stalin if he just lived long enough? No. Thank you asking. I think people who plant acorns may not realize how their seeds might grow. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/219 "2021-07-18T23:49:14Z")
Ok. This discussion is totally off the rails now. I’m locking the thread to discuss with other mods how best to address it. Frankly, I see little useful debate at this point. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2021, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/220 "2021-07-18T23:49:38Z")
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**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2021, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/221 "2021-07-19T00:01:32Z")
_ **Moderating** _ Another mod has already tried to gently steer the discussion away from Mao, Stalin, etc as these issues are not related to liberal progressives and atheism as put forth in the OP and we have discussed it as well. That whole sidetrack is to be dropped now. Additionally, pretending to be unaware of violence directed toward the queer community by bigots, religious or otherwise, _within recent memory_ smacks of bad faith posting, as does attempting to then turn _that_ into mass genocide by long dead dictators. I’ll reopen this, but… Don’t make me regret it, please. ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2021, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/222 "2021-07-19T00:03:28Z")
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**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2021, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/223 "2021-07-19T00:47:07Z")
As said several times in that great Film “Clue”- “_Too Late_!”. But I thank you for the effort. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421.md?page=12)