Are atheists discriminated against in the US?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jared2 @ May 17 2006, 12:14 PM) [snapback]256907[/snapback]</div>

Q? Are atheists discriminated against?
A: Only God knows :lol:

 

I would say no, except if you MADE that issue part of your platform. Then it is not discrimination if I simply choose not to vote for someone who says there is no God.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jared2 @ May 17 2006, 12:30 PM) [snapback]256918[/snapback]</div>

Thanks - could not resist that one
Have a nice day

 

This depends on what kind of discrimination and how you perceive it. If you've been denied employment, housing, or any other thing that brings equal opportunity into play, than this is a legal issue.

If it means people won't talk to you or avoid inviting you to social affairs - than that is just social outcasting.

if you wear atheism (sp?) on your sleeve, it is bound to draw some sort of attention, both desired or undesired. Just as if wearing christianity on your sleeve. Those people I avoid. Is it discrimination?...nope,...just the avoidance of having to be preached to.

tolerance levels vary based on the projection of your belief / non-belief.

anyone understand that or does it just sound like I'm smokin crack?

 

I would ask if "social outcasting" was a Christian thing to do, but I bet there's always a way to justify evil.

Heck, social-outcasting-is-good is probably first-day stuff at divinity school...

 

I find Atheists just as scary as Right wing extremists. Basically, it comes down to certainty. How can either side be certain there is no God or certain that God talks to them directly?

The human condition is full of doubt. Only doubters grow stronger, mature, and well-rounded. If you are certain of something, and leave no option in your mind for another possibility, then you are probably wrong.

(But I can't say for sure!) ;-)

Nate

 

i am an athiest and have never remotely hidden the fact. other than some discrimination based on my ethnic background in the south years ago, i dont see it as a problem

 

Atheisism, like religion, is a very personal matter and should be kept to one's self. Because our Founding Fathers created a separation of Church and State, it really shouldn't matter one way or the other. In theory at least.

I've always wondered what would happen if an atheist ran for office, or more appropriate for 2006, a believer in Islam? It seems we as a nation like our candidates to be religious, as long as it is Christian.

 

One view of atheism is that they know even if science was to find a god, it would be far unlike any god in human religion since the thought process is that religion is a human invention... thus, any such god would not be anything close to "God as we know it." So atheism would still be legit in such a worst case was to happen (hypoethetically/philosophically speaking, of course).

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(naterprius @ May 17 2006, 01:08 PM) [snapback]256948[/snapback]</div>

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DaveinOlyWA @ May 17 2006, 11:12 AM) [snapback]256954[/snapback]</div>

But Dave, how do you know for sure? I can relate to people that are agnostic to the extreme, but how can you be CERTAIN there is no God?

Nate

 

There is no God "as we know it."

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(naterprius @ May 17 2006, 01:26 PM) [snapback]256961[/snapback]</div>

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(naterprius @ May 17 2006, 10:26 AM) [snapback]256961[/snapback]</div>

i cant be certain of what you think you know, but i am certain of what i know. do i think there is an all powerful being who determines good and bad and attempts to guide us in doing the right thing and rewards good deeds?? no i am certain there is no such person in my life like that

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DaveinOlyWA @ May 17 2006, 11:37 AM) [snapback]256973[/snapback]</div>

Well, when you put it like that, I too am certain that there is no Santa Claus.

Nate

 

There's a saying that goes something like this:

"If you never fight for your rights then you don't deserve them."

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TonyPSchaefer @ May 17 2006, 01:27 PM) [snapback]256962[/snapback]</div>

 

No matter who you are, what you believe, and even what you look like, there will be someplace, some group of people, that will discriminate against you for whatever reason.

I'll throw out in example though, in the small Connecticut country town I grew up in, the "Atheist" was the "weirdo" loner type, not to be taken seriously.