# Would a snake-handler be more electable as POTUS than an atheist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 6, 2012, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-snake-handler-be-more-electable-as-potus-than-an-atheist/624237 "2012-06-06T04:01:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [June 7, 2012, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-snake-handler-be-more-electable-as-potus-than-an-atheist/624237/41 "2012-06-07T21:11:12Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > Truth be told, though, the fundathiest who’s screaming that the non-existence is proven fact (Dio, are you lurkin?) worries me almost as much. Would you be equally worried about someone who said the non-existence of Santa Claus was a “proven fact”? ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-snake-handler-be-more-electable-as-potus-than-an-atheist/624237/42 "2012-06-08T00:45:50Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Nonsense, by that logic Stalin could be elected over Ayn Rand since Stalin occasionally expressed religious sentiments during World War II. Many people have a visceral distrust of Athiests (to say nothing of a lack of math skills). > [@](#): > > [A] study, conducted among 350 Americans adults and 420 Canadian college students, asked participants to decide if a fictional driver damaged a parked car and left the scene, then found a wallet and took the money, was the driver more likely to be a teacher, an atheist teacher, or a rapist teacher? > > The participants, who were from religious and nonreligious backgrounds, most often chose the atheist teacher. [Cite](http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/story/2011-12-10/religion-atheism/51777612/1) ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-snake-handler-be-more-electable-as-potus-than-an-atheist/624237/43 "2012-06-08T03:06:05Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Would you be equally worried about someone who said the non-existence of Santa Claus was a “proven fact”? nope ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2012, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-snake-handler-be-more-electable-as-potus-than-an-atheist/624237/44 "2012-06-09T12:22:35Z")
> [@Jas09](#): > > A member of just about any group you can think of outside of pedophiles and rapists has a better chance of winning the presidency than an atheist. > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > I think a pedophile or rapist would have a better chance as long as they praised God often enough. So, maybe an atheist could beat a snake handling pedophile, on the grounds that the snakes would be dangerous to the children the pedophile was raping. Hmmm… how about a snake handling atheist? “Oh, I’m not doing it for religious reasons. I just like the feel of snakeskin.” ---
**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:** [June 9, 2012, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-snake-handler-be-more-electable-as-potus-than-an-atheist/624237/45 "2012-06-09T12:31:30Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > nope Which demonstrates that the problem isn’t atheists, the problem is religion being given a special privileged status. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2012, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-snake-handler-be-more-electable-as-potus-than-an-atheist/624237/46 "2012-06-09T12:40:50Z")
> [@Lanzy](#): > > My experience is saying you’re an atheist means losing 90% of your friends, losing 90% of the vote will not get you elected. RMV Thing is, being a rapist or, worse, pedophile, tends to make you lose more than that. There are some people who think atheists are worse than rapists, but I don’t think they make up a majority of the U.S. Snake handlers do better than 1 in 10, though. But I don’t see their numbers growing, while I do see that for atheists. Both in population and in acceptance. We will almost certainly have an atheist president before a Pentecostal snake-handling one. I’m not sure though that people who were friends with a snake handler would vote for them, though. Said people are made fun of even in pentecostal circles. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2012, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-snake-handler-be-more-electable-as-potus-than-an-atheist/624237/47 "2012-06-09T12:45:40Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Which demonstrates that the problem isn’t atheists, the problem is religion being given a special privileged status. I think outlierrn is am outlier there, too. Assuming by screaming it out he means someone who brings it up unbidden or someone who gets mean about it, I would just as much dislike a fundaSantist. That said, atheism is a rationalist position–when you tie emotion to it, I get suspicious that you are just anti-religionist and malicious. ---
**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:** [June 9, 2012, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-snake-handler-be-more-electable-as-potus-than-an-atheist/624237/48 "2012-06-09T13:07:11Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > There are some people who think atheists are worse than rapists, but I don’t think they make up a majority of the U.S. Last I heard studies indicated that the majority of Christians felt that way, and the majority of the US is composed of Christians. > [@BigT](#): > > That said, atheism is a rationalist position–when you tie emotion to it, I get suspicious that you are just anti-religionist and malicious. Or are angry from years or decades of harassment and contempt. Or are angry at the harm religion has done. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2012, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-snake-handler-be-more-electable-as-potus-than-an-atheist/624237/49 "2012-06-09T13:30:55Z")
If the Atheist self-described as an [Unitarian Universalist](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitarian_Universalism), would that make him more palatable then the snake-handler? I’m an atheist, but if I would move to the US I would become an UU, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2012, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-snake-handler-be-more-electable-as-potus-than-an-atheist/624237/50 "2012-06-09T16:35:34Z")
Well, as far as the strychnine drinking, at least the president wouldn’t need a poison tester. So there’s that advantage. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2012, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-snake-handler-be-more-electable-as-potus-than-an-atheist/624237/51 "2012-06-09T18:45:56Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > If the Atheist self-described as an [Unitarian Universalist](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitarian_Universalism), would that make him more palatable then the snake-handler? > > I’m an atheist, but if I would move to the US I would become an UU, I think. Why bother, since you can’t be President anyway? I’ve found that being atheist hasn’t really cost me friends, though it has convinced many of them that I’m somehow “confused” and don’t really understand what it means. And I’ll admit, an unfortunately large number of them have gone on to try explaining those implications to me. ---
**Author:** ![Untoward\_Parable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/51bf81/32.png) [@Untoward\_Parable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Untoward_Parable)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2012, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-snake-handler-be-more-electable-as-potus-than-an-atheist/624237/52 "2012-06-09T19:04:51Z")
absolutely, religious people hate people that don’t have a similar flavor of faithfulness. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2012, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-snake-handler-be-more-electable-as-potus-than-an-atheist/624237/53 "2012-06-09T19:36:00Z")
It’s not just the snake handling… it’s the whacky music and dancing that goes along with it.[Check it out here.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nl_8r7WG3g4) I would suspicious of any poll taken on this subject since few people know any snake handlers or anything about them. And a person answering a poll about a generic atheist isn’t going to have the same response to that person as they would have if they knew something about him. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-snake-handler-be-more-electable-as-potus-than-an-atheist/624237/54 "2012-06-10T02:40:51Z")
Perhaps I’ve been wrong all these years about why so many Christian sects don’t allow dancing. If dancing doesn’t lead to sex, then it must lead to snake handling. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-snake-handler-be-more-electable-as-potus-than-an-atheist/624237/55 "2012-06-10T12:53:40Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Why bother, since you can’t be President anyway? I’d become an UU to be " something" and for the social aspect, which is more done though church in the US then through other venues like in Holland (We mostly socialize through all sorts of semi-volunteer work). ---
**Author:** ![rat\_avatar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rat_avatar/32/255_2.png) [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-snake-handler-be-more-electable-as-potus-than-an-atheist/624237/56 "2012-06-10T17:41:58Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > It’s not just the snake handling… it’s the whacky music and dancing that goes along with it.[Check it out here.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nl_8r7WG3g4) > > I would suspicious of any poll taken on this subject since few people know any snake handlers or anything about them. And a person answering a poll about a generic atheist isn’t going to have the same response to that person as they would have if they knew something about him. Sarah Palin was raised Pentecostal, that was a small issue but not a show stopper. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-snake-handler-be-more-electable-as-potus-than-an-atheist/624237/57 "2012-06-10T17:58:21Z")
> [@rat\_avatar](#): > > Sarah Palin was raised Pentecostal, that was a small issue but not a show stopper. Was her church of the “snake handling” type? Pentecostalism covers a lot of territory, and there it’s not like the RCC with a hierarchical structure enforcing monolithic beliefs or practices. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-snake-handler-be-more-electable-as-potus-than-an-atheist/624237/58 "2012-06-10T22:20:01Z")
> [@rat\_avatar](#): > > But in another few decades, as the old guard dies off, we may gain a non-christian POTUS again but I think it will take several popular “agnostic” ones before an Atheist could be elected. Agnostics are what we need. Atheists are just as wrong as believers, they’re simply oriented 180 degrees from them. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-snake-handler-be-more-electable-as-potus-than-an-atheist/624237/59 "2012-06-11T00:54:42Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Agnostics are what we need. I’m not so sure. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-snake-handler-be-more-electable-as-potus-than-an-atheist/624237/60 "2012-06-11T01:18:02Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I’m not so sure. I see what you did there. Or maybe I don’t. Hmmm… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-snake-handler-be-more-electable-as-potus-than-an-atheist/624237.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-snake-handler-be-more-electable-as-potus-than-an-atheist/624237.md?page=4)