Penn Jillette: An Atheist's Guide to the 2012 Election

[guyver01]

Well Jewish, Islamic, Atheist, etc. It baffles me that it appears if you identify your self as any of the above there's no being president for you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_affiliations_of_Presidents_of_the_United_States

don't tell these guys they cant be president..

Richard Nixon– Quaker
Calvin Coolidge– Congregationalist
Rutherford B. Hayes– no affiliation
Abraham Lincoln– no affiliation

 

[Howard]

What exactly is this a guide for?

 

[HAL9000]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_affiliations_of_Presidents_of_the_United_States

don't tell these guys they cant be president..

Richard Nixon– Quaker
Calvin Coolidge– Congregationalist
Rutherford B. Hayes– no affiliation
Abraham Lincoln– no affiliation

Quakers are a christian movement.
Congregationalist's are christians.

Your link proved my point.

No president thus far has been an Atheist, a Jew, a Buddhist, a Muslim, a Hindu, a Sikh or an adherent of any other specifically non-Christian religion.

What exactly is this a guide for?

Which candidates are batshit crazy christians / theists.

 

[guyver01]

Which candidates are batshit crazy

that's easy..

(R) means whacko

 

[HAL9000]

that's easy..

(R) means whacko

I've heard that, and based on what I've seen of late that seems to be true, I'm yet to see a republican candidate that I would call sane.

 

[Jeff7]

Uh oh, I've worked on the Sabbath already.

Duuuude, I'm gonna get stoned. At least that's what the talking snake told me.




Imaginary friends into adulthood? Grow up!
Well, unless it's this one. And his son. They're totally legit. But no one can see them, and they're totally not imaginary, and you'll suffer eternal pain if you don't also believe in them. I'm super serial.

 

[jackschmittusa]

I'm old enough to remember when your tribe only included your sect.
There was a pretty big deal in some quarters about Kennedy being Catholic. My mother had a fit when she found out that a girl I had started dating was Catholic and made it clear that it could no longer continue. Lots of people believed Mormons were were not Christians. And those Seventh-day Adventists, keep your distance from them.

I guess "Christian" is a magic word to make your tribe bigger and more powerful.

 

[davmat787]

What if he's hearing the voice of god in his head telling him what to do? Would you not be slightly concerned then?

I would be concerned with voices period, deity or not. Why do you make that distinction? Have there not been many examples of serial killers such as Manson who claimed a voice (of the non-deity/religious type) told them to commit their crimes?

 

[bfdd]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_affiliations_of_Presidents_of_the_United_States

don't tell these guys they cant be president..

Richard Nixon– Quaker
Calvin Coolidge– Congregationalist
Rutherford B. Hayes– no affiliation
Abraham Lincoln– no affiliation

Quakers are pretty badass imo.

 

[HAL9000]

I would be concerned with voices period, deity or not. Why do you make that distinction? Have there not been many examples of serial killers such as Manson who claimed a voice (of the non-deity/religious type) told them to commit their crimes?

Because hearing the voice of god is the most common delusion and people the world over just accept it

If Obama says he heard the voice o god tell him to x then people are fine with it, if he says that the red power ranger told him to do it people would want him psychiatrically evaluated

 

[davmat787]

Because hearing the voice of god is the most common delusion and people the world over just accept it

If Obama says he heard the voice o god tell him to x then people are fine with it, if he says that the red power ranger told him to do it people would want him psychiatrically evaluated

I did not know that of all the imagined voices, God was the most common. I think people wouldn't just accept Obama hearing voices, God or not, and just accept it. You are probably projecting.

Good morning to you, good night for me.

 

[JSt0rm]

I did not know that of all the imagined voices, God was the most common. I think people wouldn't just accept Obama hearing voices, God or not, and just accept it. You are probably projecting.

Good morning to you, good night for me.

bush talked to god

1999

• I've heard the call. I believe God wants me to run for President.

"Gog and Magog are at work in the Middle East. The biblical prophecies are being fulfilled. This confrontation is willed by God who wants this conflict to erase his people's enemies before a new age begins."


"I trust God speaks through me. Without that, I couldn't do my job."


crazy fuck. No wonder this country was fucked

 

[davmat787]

bush talked to god

1999

• I've heard the call. I believe God wants me to run for President.

"Gog and Magog are at work in the Middle East. The biblical prophecies are being fulfilled. This confrontation is willed by God who wants this conflict to erase his people's enemies before a new age begins."


"I trust God speaks through me. Without that, I couldn't do my job."


crazy fuck. No wonder this country was fucked

The god he really heard was Ares, the god of war.

 

[HAL9000]

I did not know that of all the imagined voices, God was the most common.

Yeah, it's interesting, the most common hallucination is God or Angels or the Devil.

I think people wouldn't just accept Obama hearing voices, God or not, and just accept it. You are probably projecting.

Good morning to you, good night for me.

I don't know that I am, I was actually thinking about the bush god talk thing when I posted that.

bush talked to god

1999

• I've heard the call. I believe God wants me to run for President.

"Gog and Magog are at work in the Middle East. The biblical prophecies are being fulfilled. This confrontation is willed by God who wants this conflict to erase his people's enemies before a new age begins."


"I trust God speaks through me. Without that, I couldn't do my job."


crazy fuck. No wonder this country was fucked

This is the point I was making.

 

[Ausm]

Palin isn't a candidate.

Anyways, believing in God is less dangerous than believing in most views created by man.

If nothing else Christianity teaches tolerance, and forgiveness.

Also, believing in God and being wrong doesn't mean things are any worse.

Believing in a politician and being wrong can have huge affects on one's life.

LMAO

 

[J-Money]

Palin isn't a candidate.

Anyways, believing in God is less dangerous than believing in most views created by man.

Believing in God is a view created by man though.

 

[Fox5]

I'm old enough to remember when your tribe only included your sect.
There was a pretty big deal in some quarters about Kennedy being Catholic. My mother had a fit when she found out that a girl I had started dating was Catholic and made it clear that it could no longer continue. Lots of people believed Mormons were were not Christians. And those Seventh-day Adventists, keep your distance from them.

I guess "Christian" is a magic word to make your tribe bigger and more powerful.

Just wait until Muslim becomes incorporated into Christian as well. Perhaps Jewish too.

In the long run though, the fact that most Christians don't hate each other just because they're Christian is a good thing. But it's natural that people will look for the next thing to hate, once people are ok with Atheists, they'll probably just hate Steelers fans or people who work in IT or something.

 

[Jeff7]

Just wait until Muslim becomes incorporated into Christian as well. Perhaps Jewish too.

In the long run though, the fact that most Christians don't hate each other just because they're Christian is a good thing. But it's natural that people will look for the next thing to hate, once people are ok with Atheists, they'll probably just hate Steelers fans or people who work in IT or something.

I think "Abrahamic religions" is the term you're after.
Done.

 

[Cerb]

Well Jewish, Islamic, Atheist, etc. It baffles me that it appears if you identify your self as any of the above there's no being president for you.

That's true of many groups, not merely religious. Fiscal conservatives, FI, have had zero candidates make it in any major party (and thus, have had no chances to gain real power) in the last 30+ years. They have been suckered in by candidates who then turn out to not be fiscal conservatives, of course.

They are definitely changing, which is a great thing, It just surprises me in a country that has this whole "separation of church and state" thing that you have to be christian to be president.

Separation of Church and state does not dictate who the people will put in office, but that the U.S. government should not dabble even remotely in theocracy. The separation is actually very narrow, and one-way. You just hear a lot about it because egotists and hicks want to subvert it, and turn the U.S. into exactly what the Separation of Church and State is there to protect us from becoming.

Those that came up with and supported the idea were themselves primarily protestants, deists, and atheists. Their concern was not the spreading of godlessness, but keeping the government, who's job is to protect all the people, from swaying to the whims of one church or another. Do recall that the Anglican church's existence and nature was a big deal, way back then.

So my point still stands, it didn't really talk about any candidate except to acknowledge that they are all religious, and to rant about how his atheist view can't comprehend them.

More like he comprehends them better than many comprehend themselves. How is it consistent to believe in a miracle, by word of mouth, from 2000+ years ago, if you wouldn't believe in one today?