Would you vote for an atheist?

I would – but apparently one in five voters in Britain and one in two voters in the United States would not.

“In the US survey, the most electoral objectionable group was atheists, with 53% of Americans saying they would not vote for an otherwise well-qualified Presidential candidate who was an atheist. One would expect that figure to be much lower in the UK, but actually it is still surprisingly high at 20%. One might not have guessed it, but not believing in God would appear to be almost as much of an electoral handicap for a potential leader in the UK as being Muslim or gay.”

See full story here.


2 Comments

  • Harry Barnes

    I am an atheist, but I would be worried about voting for an atheist who pushed his or her atheism Dawkin’s style. I managed 18 years as an MP without preaching anti-religion. For most of that time I was involved with Northern Ireland issues, yet no-one asked me if I was a Catholic Atheist or a Protestant Atheist.

  • Nick

    In North Carolina, Elizabeth Dole has been threatened with legal action over an ad that questions her opponent’s ties with an atheist organisation. However, the Dole campaign is refusing to remove the ad, saying:

    “This ad questions her judgment. Clearly, the Hagan folks are panicked that they got caught going to a fund-raiser with a group that the vast majority of North Carolinians would find objectionable.”

    It seems that, in North Carolina at least, being associated with atheists is “slanderous” and “libelous”.
    See Hagan demands Dole take down ad on faith for more details.

 




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