From: Woody Lipinski <[address removed]>
To: [address removed]
Sent: Friday, March 8,[masked]:09 AM
Subject: Re: [atheists-27] Snow Day! Let's talk politics

Gentlemen,

please do not attached to the Atheism forum a political agenda one or other party but National Atheist Party or Secular Coalition for America.

My  impression is that very liberal or conservative atheists unable to separate his/her political agenda with atheism.  I am from communist country where atheism was the regime method of repression by forcing atheism on religious people as well as political agenda of the communist regime. Both are not good for humanity.

I do not wish on atheists forum to promote any current political agenda not related directly to atheism per se. We have so may other groups,  meetups parties oriented, skeptics, philosophy etc. where atheists can discuss their political affiliations.

Woody

On Thu, Mar 7, 2013 at 11:27 PM, Zach Moore <[address removed]> wrote:

Just be careful we don't replace god with group ok?

On Mar 7,[masked]:58 PM, "Mathew Goldstein" <[address removed]> wrote:

I very much like the SCA, and I think they are correct to avoid taking positions on issues like voter ID and instead confine themselves to those issues that have a more direct connection to religious beliefs.  There is almost no controversial issue that cannot be associated with religious beliefs indirectly. Indeed, most issues that divide Democrats from Republicans are likely also an issue that divides secularists from anti-secularists simply because Republicans are more likely to be anti-secularist.  SCA will not take positions on most current issues, including greenhouse gases, the plight of wolves, government transparency, election districting, the minimum wage, unemployment, the budget, taxes, etc.  Voter ID, and most election related issues more generally, falls into this large group of issues that are outside the limited focus of SCA because it is not directly motivated by religious beliefs.  

The fact that there is (or may be) a cause and effect relationship between social dysfunction related to government policies, including maldistribution of wealth, and religious belief isn't a strong argument for SCA to change their agenda, but it is a good argument for us as individuals, or as a group, to engage those issues.

 

On Mar 7, 2013, at 2:53 PM, Don Wharton <[address removed]> wrote:

Someone successfully made the point that within the SCA that voter ID laws are not considered a secular issue. I was appalled by this since I am rather certain that support for those laws would come disproportionately from the religious. Moreover, I doubt that we would have even 5% of our members here which would support those laws.

 

As a matter of science it has been demonstrated that extreme societal inequality results in substantial increases societal dysfunction and the probability of complete collapse of the social order. The current American trajectory toward a future where the rich and super-rich take a vastly disproportionate percentage of the economic wealth of our nation is not good.  Voter ID laws are specifically designed to disenfranchise those on the low end of the income spectrum to make the world more comfortable for those who are already extremely comfortable.   How is this not a secular issue?

 

Don Wharton

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