Atheism
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Political Parties

To the author’s limited knowledge there is no Atheist Political Party. Atheists hold a wide range of different political opinions. Atheists agree only that there is no evidence for the existence of God. Atheists don’t all necessarily agree about politics.

Atheists tend to support Liberal or Social Democrat parties or Democratic Socialist parties. Atheists are rarely politically conservative because conservatives are traditional. Traditional people tend to support Christianity or some other traditional religion. Political liberals are in favour of helping minorities that face discrimination. Atheists sometimes face discrimination and therefore tend to favor political groups that would protect them.

Liberal minded atheists might argue further that atheists support liberal and social democrat democratic socialist causes because they follow the scientific method and focus on improving conditions in this world (as all political parties claim). In their opinion liberal and social democrat policies are better at improving life here. Liberal minded atheists might also argue that countries like Denmark and the rest of Scandinavia are better than the United States at making their people happy despite lower living standards, denser populations and problematic Northern European climates.

Libertarian political parties, which are considered very politically conservative by anti-capitalist liberals and social democrats, have a large number,if not majority, of members being atheist. Objectivism, also incorrectly considered very conservative by liberal types due to it's moral support of capitalism and rejection of pacifism, holds that there are no gods, or any other form of mysticism in the universe. Objectivists in the USA are often divided between voting republican (conservative) or democrat (less conservative). Neither are traditionally conservative.

Issues

An atheist ruler would not feel that he has a God given imperative to pursue certain policies regardless of evidence. Such policies as banning religious advertising or evangelizing would raise free speech issues. Such a policy could easily be counterproductive.

Telling people they shouldn't, or, god forbid, can't worship who and how they please will quickly push things in the other direction. People love being the Oppressed Righteous. [1]

There may be a case for limiting the money people are allowed to spend on religious or freethought advertising. Any limit would have to cover both to ensure fairness.

Religious indoctrination of children before they are old enough to think critically is an issue for many atheists. Many atheists believe that frightening children about Hell is a form of child abuse and should be illegal.

Atheists in Office

United States

From Wikipedia[2]:

Atheists note that few politicians have been willing to identify as non-theists, since until recently such revelations would have been "political suicide", and welcomed Democratic California Representative Pete Stark's 2007 decision to come out as the first openly nontheistic member of Congress. In 2009, City Councilman Cecil Bothwell of Asheville, North Carolina was called "unworthy of his seat" because of his open atheism, well Carolina is in the Bible Belt. Indeed, several polls have shown that about 50 percent of Americans would not vote for a well-qualified atheist for president.

Europe

According to AAI president Stuart Bechman, "atheists or agnostics are elected to office and serve in the highest levels of many European governments without the slightest controversy".[3]

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