That’s the topic of this week’s Point of Inquiry, hosted by Chris Mooney. Obviously the answer is no from my perspective, though some Leftist atheists and Rightists religionists would disagree strongly. That being said, from poking around American social science data sets, one can make the following assertions:
– Liberals are more likely to be atheists
– Libertarians are much more likely to be atheists
– Social conservatives are much less likely to be atheists
– Conservatives are less likely to be atheists
– The majority of liberals are not atheists
– The vast majority of conservatives are not atheists
– The majority of atheists are liberals
– The vast majority of atheists are social liberals
Started out as a liberal. Flirted with being an anarchist. Moved towards the GOP during the Reagan years. Ended up as a libertarian. Atheist throughout.
Fellow Twitterer here. While I see fundamentalist Christianity as being somewhat linked with being conservative, those types of conservatives are mainly looking to preserve a type of social or moral order. However, there’s no reason that someone who is fiscally conservative should be religious. Thus, if someone is Christian, they may be more likely to be conservative, but I don’t know that it goes the other way.
Me, I see no link between my atheism and being a fiscal and educational conservative. My opposition to Obamacare has nothing to do with religious beliefs. I do see a link between my atheism and being liberal from a social perspective, as it’s more of a “live and let live approach”. However, I should note that I am a classic liberal in that sense, not one who worships at the altar of multiculturalism and political correctness. Many “liberals” who claim to be atheists merely worship different gods in different guises, and are more than willing to tolerate awful behavior on the parts of some while putting all the blame on Christians.
Hey I have a question :
I’m a Western civilization social conservative
This website would be a good addition to the SecularRight since it represents that — http://www.brusselsjournal.com/
Other socially conservative websites that are suitable for seculars
http://www.thinkinghousewife.com/wp/
http://ozconservative.blogspot.com/
http://www.christianitytoday.com/
Western civilization = Graeco-Roman + Judeo-Christian
4 pillars of Western culture
I have a question … can atheists be Graeco-Roman social conservatives ?
I’m willing to believe that “the vast majority of conservatives are not atheists”–at least not for public consumption–but it would be interesting to see the geographic breakdown. I suspect it’s far more likely you’d find a conservative atheist/agnostic in the northeast. The southeast probably has the largest concentration of those who claim you can’t be a conservative without being a fundamentalist Christian.
My theory behind most of this is that since religion is a method of enforcing group solidarity and social mores, the types of people least concerned with group solidarity and social mores are going to end up as atheists: libertarians and social liberals tend to fit the bill.
I have read that people who try to organize atheists have a tough time. We just aren’t joiners.
When it comes to electoral politics, I believe thoughtful people make their decisions not on what they like, but on what they hate least. I’m atheist and libertarian, but inevitabll vote Democratic because the religious right freaks me out (I grew up in the South and saw that crap up close). Many others with similar belief systens vote Republican because they hate taxes, or redistribution or what-have-you, not becaue they love Sarah Palin.