Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Kenny Howse on January 4, 2012 at 2:08pm

I agree, trouble is I'm on the UK side of the pond as well.  Can you imagine a British Politician espousing religion like the candidates in the GOP race?  Brits would be a bit scared of that and would probably write them off as religious weirdo nutters!

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Permalink Reply by Greg Gorey on January 4, 2012 at 2:13pm

You have never seen the British National Party or the English Defence League then. They are literally NAZIS.

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Permalink Reply by Kenny Howse on January 4, 2012 at 2:21pm

Yeah I know, I meant mainstream politicians even Blair didn't do god until after he left the premiership!

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Permalink Reply by Greg Gorey on January 4, 2012 at 2:12pm

Hey Bob,

The best thing you can do is support skeptic and humanist groups in the UK. Since we share the same language, any material or conferences you have can trickle down to the USA. Not only that, but supporting these groups can help them fight against creationists on your side of the pond as well.

Cheers!

Greg

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Permalink Reply by bob spencer on January 4, 2012 at 2:48pm

Thanks Greg I'm very naive .its like whoever is the most amoral (pro guns,pro war,pro life, anti gay etc) is going to secure them the most votes. If this were happening in the UK it would be the opposite. I'm just staggered that belief in creationism is seen as a vote winner. what is going on the American psyche? *bewildered* 

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Permalink Reply by Stutz on January 5, 2012 at 1:51am

It's a mistake to think that this is the "American psyche". What it is, is that there are a lot of people here, and it's not a homogeneous society. There is a large contingent of every imaginable group. And there is an exceptionally large number of religious and conservative people in rural and suburban areas.

Imagine that the UK, Turkey, Italy, Ukraine, and Spain were one country. That would approach the population of the US. There are 70 million Turks, and they would represent a very large voting block of conservative Muslims, compared to the rest of the nation. Plus you'd have all the Italian and Spanish Catholics, and the relatively under-educated Ukrainians. Now try to get them to elect a single President. Sure, you'd have millions of educated, non-religious people in the large cities and throughout the UK region, but would it overcome the millions of others? Sometimes it would, sometimes not. You'd end up with a political party to cater to the home-grown, simple wisdom of the common folks and demonize the "elite" liberals. That's America.

By the way, I'm a liberal atheist who would take issue with you lumping "pro guns" in with amoral things. It's a freedom issue. The millions of legal gun owners here may be, in general, conservative, but they aren't the ones shooting each other in the streets.

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Permalink Reply by justin gold on January 6, 2012 at 3:28am

That's the best analogy I've read in a long time.Thanks stutz.

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Permalink Reply by Kairan Nierde on January 6, 2012 at 10:52pm

I was impressed.

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Permalink Reply by Steven Poe on January 4, 2012 at 2:49pm

As an American, I'm not sure there is anything that can be done. The GOP does not have a valid platform or any worthy candidates. Their only hope is prey on the religious beliefs in our country to win elections. It's a pretty amazing and disturbing trend that has been escalating. As long as there are people in this country who will vote on religious beliefs alone, candidates will continue to pander to them.

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Permalink Reply by Kir Komrik on January 4, 2012 at 7:11pm

Hey Bob (and @Kenny),

 

This might sound cryptic but do you know anyone who has, or who knows someone who has, written for the British Council or attended its meetings?

 

You can ask your friends about it by giving them this link to their site:

http://www.britishcouncil.org/new/

 

You never know what two or three levels of indirection will yield ... and if you do know someone like this I'll explain.

 

- kk

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Permalink Reply by Unseen on January 4, 2012 at 8:48pm

Don't lose sleep over the US. 1) For every fundamentalist voter, there is a voter who votes more based on nonreligious issues; 2) most Americans, even the religious, are a bit put off by extreme fundamentalism; 3) I don't see any Republicans, even Mitt Romney, as electable. However, let's pray it's a nut job like Santorum or Paul. They are REALLY unelectable.

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Permalink Reply by Kenny Howse on January 6, 2012 at 4:51pm

Hi Unseen,

You better hope they are unelectable, I'd hate to see what would happen if a nutjob like Santorum was elected president of the most powerful country in the world!

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