Gingrich says atheists can’t be trusted, disregards 50 million secular Americans

[cleanhippie]

The Secular Coalition for America condemns Newt Gingrich’s statements attacking secularists in government and public office. Gingrich made the anti-atheist statements October 18 at the Republican presidential debate in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Gingrich, a former U.S. Representative and 58th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, said an atheist has no business in the White House. “Does faith matter? Absolutely,” Gingrich said. “How can you have judgment if you have no faith? How can I trust you with power if you don’t pray?” He continued, “the notion that you are endowed by your creator sets a certain boundary of what we mean by America.” Gingrich said that Americans should value religion first, above morality and knowledge.

Gingrich’s statements encourage precisely the type of mingling of religion and politics that threatens the secular character of our government and is counter to the Constitution Gingrich has in the past pledged to uphold. Unfortunately, not a single one of the Republican candidates on stage dissented from Gingrich’s statements.

--snip--

Gingrich’s comments are egregiously offensive to those atheists, agnostics, secularists, humanists and freethinkers who guide their lives according to principles and morality that are not derived from religion. According to the American Religious Identification Survey as many as 15 percent of Americans do not believe in a deity and have no religious preference. These are citizens who deserve representation in the government they support with their tax dollars and should not be vilified by the politicians that are supposed to represent them.

http://www.secularnewsdaily.com/2011/10/26/gingrich-says-atheists-cant-be-trusted-disregards-50-million-secular-americans/


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If someone on the National stage were to say that about christians, muslims, or jews, they would be (rightfully) lambasted and run out on a rail. But because its ATHEISTS, everyone is pretty much ho-hum whatever about it. :puke:

Shame, shame, shame.

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Hey, Newt, I'm an atheist and I still pray that you and your fellow radical 'christians' never

get back into power. I certainly don't trust any of you.

[NMMNG]

2. But atheists don't face bigotry or discrimiation

We've been told so right here. :shrug:

[trotsky]

9. That's true, because I read it on DU! n/t

In fact, some posters take delight in mocking atheists for claiming that we face this kind of treatment in our lives.

[Scuba]

3. But we should trust a guy who believes in a talking snake?

[greenman3610]

4. so we should trust people that have been married three times

had multiple affairs and divorced their first wife when she was sick with cancer in the hospital?

[cordelia]

5. Not an atheist; I find Newt to be full of crap. n/t

[madrchsod]

6. people like him give religion a bad name....

[trotsky]

10. Religion itself gives religion a bad name. n/t

[madrchsod]

7. wait a minute...value religion above morality and knowledge?

that is one of the dumbest fucking things i have ever read.

[cleanhippie]

11. It's a headshaker, huh?

I don't get it either.

[ixion]

8. Yeah, because xians are so ethical

:rofl: :eyes:

[frylock]

12. atheists ditch their sick wives for new arm candy all the time..

ain't that right, newt?

[Sal316]

13. I heard him say that at the debate and was disgusted.

[humblebum]

14. Um. Atheists say things like that quite frequently in public. However,

that was an uncalled for and idiotic remark for him to make. Happens frequently. I can remember a comment he made back when Clinton was trying to get his badly needed healthcare plan passed. The Newt said, "What healthcare crisis?" He has no credibility. His personal life is a testament to that.

[Goblinmonger]

15. When was the last time an atheist running for national office

said anything near that....oh, yeah, that's right.

And "frequently"? Want to back that up?

[humblebum]

19. I give up, you tell me, some very public and very vocal atheists

do it often. I never said anything about atheist politicians. But, I agree for a public politician, it is a disgrace. A politician is in his position to serve all of the people.

[Goblinmonger]

25. So you've downgraded from "frequent" to "some"? n/t

[humblebum]

29. Huh? nt

[Goblinmonger]

32. Follow along

You initially said atheists said those things "frequently" in public. Now "some" of them do.

[humblebum]

36. How does one compare a portion of time to a portion of people?

Apples to oranges.

[cleanhippie]

17. Poe

[humblebum]

20. Poo.

[cleanhippie]

24. I see you have not given up the "I know you are but what am I?" response.

:rofl:

You stay classy.

[Pacifist Patriot]

41. Actually they don't.

The only openly atheist politician on the national stage is a humanist and extremely respectful of religious pluralism. Kudos to you if you can name him.

I would like you to give us one example of a prominent atheist publicly proclaiming that a theist has no business in the White House. Take your time, we'll wait.

[struggle4progress]

16. Gingrich is a nasty little man, whose political strategy was always to promote divisions to his own

benefit, but his general credibility finally fell so low that he immediately resigned from congress at the beginning of 1999 despite having won re-election to his seat in 1998

It's clear he misses the stage and will continue to try to stir up controversy for attention, but he's a has-been and won't be coming back to the bigtime

[trotsky]

30. But he's also not going to say anything that pisses off the Republican base

who are responsible for nominating their candidate for the general election.

You are sidestepping "an inconvenient truth" here, namely that many tens of millions of Americans (and even a few DUers, as we continue to observe) agree quite strongly with Newt's sentiments, or he wouldn't have stated them to ingratiate himself to those masses.

[struggle4progress]

37. Gingrich Approval Rating Down To 0% Among Gingrich Staffers (June 2011)

Jonathan Chait
June 9, 2011 | 4:29 pm
It's almost impossible to capture the hilarity of Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign, with his entire senior staff quitting, followed almost immediately by his entire Iowa staff quitting ... http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-chait/89742/gingrich-approval-rating-down-0-among-gingrich-staffers

Gingrich has trouble breaking into double digits for GOP voters in red states: in SC earlier this month he was polling 8%; see http://americanresearchgroup.com/

[trotsky]

39. A fascinating story, but totally unrelated to what I said.

If you have any kind of data showing that 0% of Americans think atheists are less moral than everyone else and should not be trusted, now that would shut me up real good.

[struggle4progress]

44. US voting age population is aroun 230 million, approximately evenly divided between

D-I-R, and it's an exceptional year when 60% votes. So right out of the gate, there's no more than about 46 million active R voters: if Newt's polling 8-11% in the GOP polls, there aren't more than 4 or 5 million Gingrich enthusiasts in the country

That's about the number of Americans, who are sure they've seen flying saucers -- and I might guess the two groups overlap considerably

[trotsky]

45. Another lovely red herring.

But I'm not in the mood for fish, sorry.

[laconicsax]

18. Rec'd to zero. Seems some people agree with Newt.

[struggle4progress]

21. DUers are unlikely support Gingrich. Some of us, however, may not want to call

any unnecessary attention to the fellow, as he tries to huff-n-puff himself back onto the national stage

[laconicsax]

23. Is that why you unrec'd it?

As for agreeing, you may have noticed a tendency for otherwise liberal DUers to link to or cite RW sources for attacks against atheists.

[struggle4progress]

26. I'm looking forward to DU3 and the demise of rec/unrec

[ChadwickHenryWard]

22. He isn't afraid of alienating them because he knows they are not going to vote for him

He knows this because nobody is going to vote for him.

[Pacifist Patriot]

40. LOL! Point taken.

[darkstar3]

27. So it's OK that Gingrich is a proven cheating bastard because he has faith?

Why am I not surprised...

[NMMNG]

28. I'm sure his god has forgiven him

Life's easy when all you have to do is ask your god for forgiveness, and ignore the humans you've harmed along the way.

[trotsky]

31. But it makes perfect sense - based on his own words!

Religion must be valued ABOVE such meaningless things as morality and knowledge. Who could possibly dispute that? It explains a whole hell of a lot about ol' Newtie!

[Deep13]

33. The Constitution prohibits religious tests for public office. nt

[NMMNG]

38. Technically it does

But we all know there's a de-facto religious test for it, particularly the presidency. If you're not Christian you won't be elected.

[Angry Dragon]

34. Yes we should follow a man that thinks because he can get an erection

that makes him patriotic

and he feels that faith is more important than morality and knowledge ......... he is walking proof of that in his own world

[LeftishBrit]

35. LeftishBrit says Newt Gingrich can't be trusted!

[Deep13]

42. Said the man who served divorce papers on his dying wife in the hospital. nt

[Deep13]

43. George Washington had no trouble dealing with atheists or members of minority religions.

"If they are good workmen, they may be of Asia, Africa, or Europe. They may be Mohometans, Jews or Christians of any Sect, or they may be Atheists."

-- George Washington, letter to Tench Tilghman asking him to secure a carpenter and a bricklayer for his Mount Vernon estate, March 24, 1784, in Paul F Boller, George Washington & Religion (1963) p. 118, quoted from Ed and Michael Buckner, "Quotations that Support the Separation of State and Church"

But I guess Gingrich knows better.