# 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:** 13
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2021, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/245 "2021-07-24T21:59:04Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > I too base my ideology based on what suffix the root word is modified by. Luckily there are lots of fun systems like “monarchy” or “autocracy” that don’t end in ‘ism’! Genocide ain’t an “ism”! That makes it okay! ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2021, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/246 "2021-08-05T22:42:31Z")
> [@Crane](#): > > Atheism is just another 'isim. Like Christism and Muslism. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/247 "2021-08-06T03:16:11Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > Let me observe that the evil done by theists (e.g. to LGB…, but also by Inquisition and others) is a _result_ of their religious beliefs; the evil done by atheists, real enough, is not _caused_ by their atheism. This is a false equivalence. Stalin and Mao didn’t murder tens of millions because they hated believers. While I agree, IME many theists will disagree because they will say atheists do evil stuff because they have no reason not to unlike (they say) theists who have morals handed down by their deity. Its horseshit of course, but that’s what they will say. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2021, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/248 "2021-08-06T03:23:52Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Like Christism and Muslism. And prism. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2021, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/249 "2021-08-08T01:55:10Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > And prism. The religion of PR agents. Empty, but it gets a lot of ink. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2021, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/250 "2021-08-08T14:55:38Z")
I’m sorry if this has already been asked, but in response to the OP: Why should liberals and Democrats fully embrace atheism? ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2021, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/251 "2021-08-08T18:57:26Z")
Good luck, @Velocity has left the building. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2021, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/252 "2021-08-08T19:14:47Z")
They shouldn’t, because there are plenty of liberal Democrats who _are_ religious, and their religion directly influences their politics. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2021, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/253 "2021-08-08T20:34:08Z")
Sorry, I should have checked before posting. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/254 "2021-08-09T08:46:06Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Good luck, @Velocity has left the building. At speed. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/255 "2021-08-09T09:03:55Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > While I agree, IME many theists will disagree because they will say atheists do evil stuff because they have no reason not to unlike (they say) theists who have morals handed down by their deity. Its horseshit of course, but that’s what they will say. You must not know any theists personally. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/256 "2021-08-09T09:08:25Z")
I have met theists who have made such arguments. But not “many”. ---
**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:** [August 9, 2021, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/257 "2021-08-09T10:05:16Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > You must not know any theists personally. My family is overwhelmingly Catholic, my friends for much of my life have been overwhelmingly Muslim, and I have worked for many years in an office with a very Christian (and VERY clearly protestant) culture, during which time I belonged to the Jewish Community Center (I’m not of Jewish heritage). I don’t have to discuss religion with these folks to know that they assume that The Moral Code comes from a religion, specifically theirs. The only group in which religious people did NOT routinely use “pious”, “observant” and “godly” as synonyms for both religious and moral were the Jewish folks. If I ever discussed this with Muslims, Catholics and Christians, most of them treated this as a foregone conclusion. Of course it is possible for the godless to be good. It’s just a minor miracle when it happens. Like I am the exception that proves the rule. And like some people here, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot find their way into the conversation pretty quickly. And for the “Christian” ones Bernie Madoff as well. I have discussed this with Catholic priests in our family (there are many). None of them take this position. To them a “good Catholic” is an observant one. They don’t mean it as a synonym for moral, honest, diligent, etc. Maybe because they hear confessions. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/258 "2021-08-09T10:32:23Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > My family is overwhelmingly Catholic, my friends for much of my life have been overwhelmingly Muslim, and I have worked for many years in an office with a very Christian (and VERY clearly protestant) culture, during which time I belonged to the Jewish Community Center (I’m not of Jewish heritage). > > I don’t have to discuss religion with these folks to know that they assume that The Moral Code comes from a religion, specifically theirs. > > The only group in which religious people did NOT routinely use “pious”, “observant” and “godly” as synonyms for both religious and moral were the Jewish folks. > > If I ever discussed this with Muslims, Catholics and Christians, most of them treated this as a foregone conclusion. Of course it is possible for the godless to be good. It’s just a minor miracle when it happens. Like I am the exception that proves the rule. And like some people here, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot find their way into the conversation pretty quickly. And for the “Christian” ones Bernie Madoff as well. > > I have discussed this with Catholic priests in our family (there are many). None of them take this position. To them a “good Catholic” is an observant one. They don’t mean it as a synonym for moral, honest, diligent, etc. Maybe because they hear confessions. I haven’t had this experience myself. Probably because I mostly have hung out with nuns, monks, and liberal Catholics. I also think “good Catholic” is a very specific term which doesn’t refer to moral character but strictly to observance. There are plenty of other terms which do refer to moral character. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/259 "2021-08-09T10:38:37Z")
In my experience, the folks that say things like ‘You say you don’t believe in God but really you just don’t want to held accountable for your sins’ will also happily tell you that ‘Catholics are not Christians’. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/260 "2021-08-09T11:30:57Z")
Firstly I should really have said that “many theists _of the type who get into debates like that which **Hari\_Seldon** was discussing_ will disagree… etc” I appreciate that most theists don’t get into this sort of discussion at all. However, the allegation that atheists do evil stuff because they have no reason not to do so is one of the key BS reasons theists give for anti-atheist bigotry. “[Those whom we interviewed view atheists](https://www.soc.umn.edu/assets/pdf/atheistAsOther.pdf) in two different ways. Some people view atheists as problematic because they associate them with illegality, such as drug use and prostitution—that is, with immoral people who threaten respectable community from the lower end of the status hierarchy. Others saw atheists as rampant materialists and cultural elitists that threaten common values from above—the ostentatiously wealthy who make a lifestyle out of consumption or the cultural elites who think they know better than everyone else. Both of these themes rest on a view of atheists as self interested individualists who are not concerned with the common good.” “To many people in the United States, [atheists are seen as unprincipled, immoral or unethical](https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1054&context=psychology_etds), which is a root cause of the prejudicial attitudes toward atheists” ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2021, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/261 "2021-08-09T11:53:27Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > At speed. AND in a given direction! ---
**Author:** ![veryfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@veryfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/veryfrank)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2021, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/262 "2021-08-18T18:14:42Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > In my experience, the folks that say things like ‘You say you don’t believe in God but really you just don’t want to held accountable for your sins’ will also happily tell you that ‘Catholics are not Christians’. I used to work with a woman who was…Pentecostal? I think. Super hardcore religious, just a few notches up from snake handling. Hers was a very narrow faith, basically anyone who went to her particular church or was from her village in Ghana were saved, everyone else was at risk. She did once say to me, rather conspiratorially, I thought, “Catholics aren’t Christians, you know. Even they’ll tell you that.” I’d tend to keep my atheist yap shut on the subject of religion around her. Not that I would have minded mixing it up a bit, but it was at work and I had enough on my plate. ---
**Author:** ![Crane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crane/32/3495_2.png) [@Crane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crane)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2021, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/263 "2021-08-19T13:51:08Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > “There _is_ no God, it’s just us alone on a planet in a vast universe?” Because it’s polarizing, not falsifiable, unconstitutional and political suicide. Such a position even had difficulty in the [**Soviet Union**](http://soviethistory.msu.edu/1924-2/antireligious-propaganda/). I’d characterize the popular US mind set as more agnostic than atheist. Liberalism being secular does not make it atheist. It’s a big tent. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2021, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421/264 "2021-08-24T01:02:21Z")
1. Most Democrats believe in god. 2. Taking an official stance on it is wrong as a matter of policy 3. It would hurt them politically [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-liberals-and-democrats-fully-embrace-atheism/946421.md?page=12)