Pretty bazaar considering that the word conservative has nothing to do with God... (0.00 / 0)

neither does the word liberal. I'm sure you could find atheist with conservative ideologies and bible thumpers who are very liberal (especially when it comes to social programs).

I wouldn't waste a minute of my time reading a conservative rag like this that doesn't even seem to know what "conservative" means. If I'm going to read the conservative crap, I prefer the Newt Gingrich style halfway-intellectually-responsible type stuff.

End this war. Stop John McCain. Cindy McCain is filthy rich.

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by: wiretapp @ Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 04:19:20 AM UTC

atheists... (4.00 / 2)

are less liked and trusted then blacks and gays. According to Conservapedia, that's proof of its moral inaptitude. and this bit:

I would disapprove if my child wanted
to marry a member of this group:

   Atheist  47.6%
   Muslim  33.5%
   Homosexual >22.6% (?)
   Conservative Christian  6.9%
   Recent Immigrant >12.5% (?)
   Hispanic  18.5%
   Jew  11.8%
   Asian American  18.5%
   African American  27.2%
   White American  2.3%

Thank goodness fiance turned out to be a unitarian-universalist, otherwise I might just go unmarried and pelted with rocks the remainder of my life.

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by: alex @ Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 04:51:50 AM UTC

yes (4.00 / 1)

To conservatives, polling is useless when it comes to whether or not the nation should or should not go to war.  There the masses cannot be trusted to have opinions.

But when it comes to justifying bigotry, that many other people are similarly bigoted is good enough for them.

Actually, this does comport to authoritarian thinking.  They like above all to feel very normal.  So knowing a majority also detests atheists makes them feel better about doing so.  It's reinforcement more than justification.

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by: Daniel De Groot @ Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 13:35:13 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

PM Moral DePravitypants (4.00 / 3)

A rumored successor to Gordon Brown in the UK is Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who openly states he does not believe in God. I can only hope he gets to be PM some day because having a stone atheist as UK PM would do wonders for athiests around the world.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...

John McCain

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by: joejoejoe @ Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 05:09:00 AM UTC

Doesn't really matter to us (4.00 / 1)

The leader of the Lib Dems admitted that he was an atheist recently and nobody seemed to care. The UK is just not a particularly religious country (although Northern Ireland is a whole other matter and some of that spills over into Glasgow).

I think the really in-your-face religiousness is one of the reasons that Britons tend to be less than favourable towards Americans. There's a significant proportion of thought that views religion as a backward idea.

Of course, we do have our religious groups. There are our Indian and Pakistani minorities (and other smaller groups), there's a hardline wing to the Church of England (although most of that body is functionally agnostic) and a growing number of (occasionally devout) Catholics.

But it is notable that when in 2001 Martin Bell, the anti-sleaze candidate, was looking for a new MP to challenge, he picked a Tory with close links to a fundamentalist church.

Forgotten Countries - a foreign policy-focused blog

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by: Englishlefty @ Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 19:55:07 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Most viewed pages (4.00 / 1)

http://www.conservapedia.com/S...

This list used to be dominated by articles related to homosexuality, which was a pretty interesting insight into the mind of conservative web surfers. Less so now. I notice Hillary Clinton earned a spot on the list. And unicorns??

"Don't hate the media, become the media" -Jello Biafra

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by: LandStander @ Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 05:45:52 AM UTC

The site propagates the myth of Darwin's conversion.... (4.00 / 2)

Lies pass for information over there.  The site even goes as far to say that no one is really an atheist, because deep-down we all know God exists.  Ah, such scholarly rigor!

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by: Deadalus @ Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 06:08:44 AM UTC

to paraphrase Atrios (4.00 / 3)

I do not think that word means what they think it means...

Join the Iowa progressive community at Bleeding Heartland.

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by: desmoinesdem @ Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 06:31:51 AM UTC

Conservapedia's Idea "Reasonable" (4.00 / 4)

Now if only there were a reasonable explanation for Conservapedia.

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by: Paul Avery @ Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 09:00:51 AM UTC

Yes, but they're appealing to RWA's, right? (4.00 / 2)

Hey Daniel, I spent the weekend reading The Authoritarians following that link that you put up.  This is so completely in line with RWA behavior, isn't it?

It is both attacking the outgroup and an example of specious reasoning that is only supported by the conclusion.

Hooray for knowledge!

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by: Reece @ Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 12:18:23 PM UTC

Yes (0.00 / 0)

Conservapedia is about as RWA as you can get.  Complete with a high SDO founder leading the sheep into error.

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by: Daniel De Groot @ Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 13:32:25 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

They certainly have some intellectual giants there. (4.00 / 3)

I really hope they realize that it is stuff like this that is completely removing any sense of intellectual honesty from the conservative movement. This is why reasonable people don't want to be associated with conservatism any more. Tying themselves tightly to fundamentalist Christianity may have worked in the short run, but it is a long term loser. The general public does not want a Christian theocracy. Let them keep it up. It will only drive more people away.

The most reasonable explanation for atheism is that it is the default option. No child is born believing in gods. They have to be taught by their parents what gods to worship and in what ways.

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by: Jawis @ Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 12:49:25 PM UTC