Claim: unbelief “opens the way to progressive social and political ideas”

But now it seems those dreadful secular right types are spoiling everything [Richard Congress, who it appears has also discovered that religious enthusiasm often fuels social movements agreeable to the left]

About Walter Olson

Fellow at a think tank in the Northeast specializing in law. Websites include overlawyered.com. Former columnist for Reason and Times Online (U.K.), contributor to National Review, etc.
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7 Responses to Claim: unbelief “opens the way to progressive social and political ideas”

  1. Mark English says:

    Apart from the fact that his own set of beliefs and attitudes, especially in respect of social ethics and egalitarianism, owes much to Biblical sources, it’s also clear (to us but not to him) that those beliefs and attitudes function just like a religion. They make him a part of an influential in-group and offer comforting fantasies.

  2. WmarkW says:

    To me, secularism is an antidote to the acceptance of received dogma, like those of demographic identity politics, which is today’s most obvious example of how intelligent people have closed their minds to evidence.

    Racism is real; it just isn’t 1% as large a problem as unwed parenthood. Gender pay gaps have about 5% as much to workplace barriers as they do women’s preference for clean, safe, pleasant working conditions and work/life balance demands.

    And one doesn’t have to be black or female to see these issues clearly.

  3. cynthia curran says:

    Apart from the fact that his own set of beliefs and attitudes, especially in respect of social ethics and egalitarianism, owes much to Biblical sources, it’s also clear (to us but not to him) that those beliefs and attitudes function just like a religion. They make him a part of an influential in-group and offer comforting fantasi
    This is true the Christian New Testament without other cultural influence can make you on the left of things. Evangelicals are not as to the left on economics because of influence in the South which is a society that want people less on the dole but has trouble doing this since it has a higher percentage of blacks in the South or Hispanics in Texas. In fact Texas has a lower white poverty rate than either New York or California at only 8 percent but the Hispanic poverty rate is 24 percent but politicians like Rick Perry think that only tax policy and not ethnic background effective economic development. Granted, the Rio Grande area of Texas and the Country of Mexico are developing as a result of cheap labor.

  4. cynthia curran says:

    This explains Tea Party opposition to the legalization of Hispanics from the gang of 8. The Tea Party is basically libertarian on economics with the exceptions of some of the social issues. However, reading stats from Heather McDonald that Hispanics more kids out of wedlock which usually equals more welfare and 2nd and 3rd have higher crime rates than whites, except for dope which is more of a white problem, the Tea Party has gone against the amnesty. The Tea Party in their heart of hearts knows that economic success is not all low taxes and regulation if that were the cased them Puerto Rico which gets a lot of Tax breaks for having US Companies would be an economic power house.

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  6. Polichinello says:

    When you have a writer that insists Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris are “far right”, you can stop reading right there. I mean, they both voted for Obama in 2008, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Harris voted for President Precious in 2012.

  7. Mark Plus says:

    In my case, atheism led me to empiricist views of human nature, regardless of political correctness. For example, I oppose more Hispanic immigration because the evidence shows that Mexicans, especially, lack the cognitive goods to function in a modern economy, even after several generations. If anything, the U.S. needs policies to maintain, and even try to increase, the nation’s IQ levels.

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