Author and commentator C. J. Werleman
just came out with a book called "Atheists Can't Be Republicans."
And his thesis is essencially:
well, atheists can't be Republicans.
The basic gist of his argument goes like this:
When it comes to religion,
we know Republicans and atheists don't mix. They're overwhelmingly religious and they tend to oppose church-state separation.
Atheists really want nothing to do with that. Republicans want nothing to do with us.
We know that. That's not a surprise.
But often times, a lot of atheists who are Republicans, will say: "Well, I'm a Republican for all the other reasons."
And Werleman's point is: "Well, even those other reasons are really bad ones."
And he goes through them. For example, when it comes to things like gay marriage and abortion, those social issues,
well, if you're a vocal atheist, you probably overwhelmingly support marriage equality,
civil unions, you support a woman's right to choose,
and most of the Republican Party does not.
And they don't just, you know, say that they oppose it. They work on legislation to make it stop.
They want to make it really difficult for women to even get safe abortions.
So, when it comes to the social issues, there is just no good reason for most vocal atheists,
any vocal atheist, really,
to be a Republican.
What about economics, though? Because that's what a lot of people say, you know,
"I may be a liberal on a lot of things, but I'm physically conservative,"
or something like that.
Really, Werleman says: "Even when it comes to economics, there's no good reason to be a Republican."
"Because when you look at the things that they do, as a party,
they help the rich get richer with unnecessary tax breaks."
"They oppose things like minimum wage hikes."
We know trickle-down economics doesn't work.
You know? When you look at it from a purely numbers-based sort of thinking,
it doesn't makes sense to support their vision of the economy. So, for that reason, atheists shouldn't be Republicans, because
we're all about evidence and critical thinking. And
it turns out the economics is bad, no matter how you look at it.
What about gun issues?
I mean, sure, you may be an atheist who supports the Second Amendment.
But to what extent? I mean, the GOP tends to be for
almost no regulation at all.
They want virtually no regulations on guns. And even if you support having guns and
expanding the rights for people to own guns,
surely you agree on some common sense regulation laws.
So, even from a practical stand point, from a common sense stand point,
it really makes no sense to just kind of
be another wing of the NRA.
All that said,
we know there are atheists who claim to be Republicans, and who are Republicans. I mean, Edwina Rogers, the formal head of the Secular Coalition for America lobbying group,
not only was she a Republican, she worked with a lot of conservative Christian Republicans
before she took that SCA position.
Dave Silverman, the head of American Atheists,
even went to the CPAC, that convention where really the fringe right meets.
Because he said he wanted to try to reach out to conservative atheists.
Now, they kicked him out, that's a separate issue,
but he was trying to reach out to that demographic.
Even commentators like S. E. Cupp, who's now on CNN,
says she's an atheist, despite being conservative.
And, you know,
the annoying part is that she calls herself an atheist, really, because she
says she wishes she believed in God.
So, maybe atheists can't be Republicans, at least by name.
But, really, why would you want to be?
In this political climate?
With the Republicans in office that we have now? Why would you want to vote any of this people in office?
Even if you think, even if you say you support them for some reason or another,
by voting them into office, you're basically saying your atheist values, your humanist values, don't really matter.
You are hurting Humanism and church-state separation, and everything else that's good and unholy, if you're voting Republicans into office
in this political climate.
And by the way, let me be clear. I'm not saying you should all vote for Democrats.
You know, go ahead, vote for a third party candidate, if you think that'll help.
But in nearly every instance, in today's political climate,
if you are voting for a Republican candidate, whoever it is,
realize that you are voting for someone who is very likely
anti-gay, anti-poor, anti-science, anti-women,
and anti-YOU, if you're an atheist.
My name is Hemant Mehta and I write at FriendlyAtheist.com
Please, leave a comment below and we will be sure to check them out.