Is there such a thing? I hear a lot of folks around here claim to be “conservative” yet they don’t believe in a “God”. I’m kind-of confused by that. Is there a different kind of conservatism that doesn’t believe in God or the Constitution as written?

I don't see why you can't believe in whatever you want (as far as religion goes) and still be conservative.

The Constitution is written in plain English. And there are more Amendments than the 2nd.

US Constitution Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Seperation of Church and State.

AMEN ......errrr X2

If you do not believe in God - then how do you know you are not a liberal? What is your standard?

Probably no different that a person who says you aren't a Christian if you drink alcohol.

X3!

"Separation of church and state" is found nowhere in the constitution, that phrase comes from a letter written in 1802 by Thomas Jefferson. The amendment says "congress shall make no law...." If the founders wanted it to say "separation of church and state, they would have put that phrase in there. They didn't just willy-nilly write stuff down and hope people would get the idea. The plain text of the amendment says congress shall make no law, so if the action in question isn't a law made by congress, it doesn't violate the text. It seems they specifically intended it to apply to laws made by the legislative branch of government that would show preference to a religion, or prevent someone from exercising their religion. If the president for example got up and started a speech with "I'd love it if all Americans worshipped the flying spaghetti monster", or started the state of the union with a prayer to allah, it wouldn't violate the plain text of the amendment. I realize this doesn't fly with the current understanding of the document, this is just my own interpretation.

Well you have to have a “creator” for the Declaration of Independence to work. The Constitution and Bill of Right describe the function of the newly formed nation. The 3 together form the legal basis to exist as a nation, as they were presented. You can declare yourself an independent nation, but another country must acknowledge you as such. Like the US did for Israel not that long who.

One of the worse things that happened to the Republican party was the religious right

Agnostic Conservative here, ask me anything.

X5

Religion and politics are two different things.

In my mind the pillars of conservative thought include: Rights defined in constitution aren't infringed, Fairness in the application of law, Fiscal Responsibility, Robust Defense, to counter existential threats, and Personal Responsibility. I don't think that excludes atheists or agnostics. Somehow the democrat party has sold the notion that they are the welcoming "big tent" in the political spectrum. Their gain is republican loss.

X 6

I consider myself conservative agnostic, not atheist.

An atheist can still have many if not most of the same values (moral, fiscal and political) of a conservative believer, I see no conflict in that.

Our Countries founding philosophy is that God gave us our rights, therefore no man (or government) can take those rights from us. You don't have to believe in God to benefit from that philosophical doctrine, an atheist can still hold to that philosophy even though they don't believe in God.

What is dangerous are people who want to be able to decide what rights we should have regardless as to whether or not they believe in God. There have been plenty of people who claim to be believers who have wanted to trample on people's God given rights.

Great point.

Lucky #7.

Keith

You do have a creator no matter what you believe.Weather it was a God , the Universe or nature. It created you.

Spot on loosegoose. Most people don’t know that or want to know that.

Did you read the first 10 words in the 1st Amendment ?????? That right there seperated church and state !

I thought it was when didn't quote correctly and I'm not motivated enough to worry correction.

Do you want to know another implication of those 10 words ? Churches should be paying tax's ! It's Constitutionally illegal for them not to.

I used to know a guy who claimed he was an atheist but want to remain a virgin until he was married. That was certainly a head scratcher to by 21-year old brain...

Then why has the court disagreed with your analysis ?

If you look around the world,most if not all the religious fanatics are highly conservative in their politics-Taliban,Alcaida,Isis,etc,
I think there is a connection there.

Truer words have never been spoken, the "etc" may hit a bit too close to home for some.

Conservatism can mean fiscal conservationism, moral conservatism, or social conservatism. A true libertarian would probably be considered ultra-conservative by many although a true libertarian would be open to different moral opinions as long as they didn't infringe on the freedom of others.

Conservatism usually means a desire to keep things the same, or traditional, or to return to a previous way of thinking and living. For some it's about religion but everyone has their own definition.

I think words are just that or at least what definition the receiver puts on them. How many times does the bible mention liberal , and how many times does it mention conservative. I can see it now "Love one another, but very conservatively".

Its just a play on words and one word don't fit all circumstances.
Write the Name of God over the church door then have an ordained gay preacher marry gay couples. Being associated to a gathering of people doesn't mean Godly whether conservative or liberal.
I think I've seen Hillary in church a time or two on tv, so there is a godly person that believes in killing babies?
A magician likes to deceive and that's what we have in the church world today.
Many will say we are all the Children of God when really some are, and some are just God's creation.

And then many of us remember the great definition of what the word "is" is, lol.

Wow, I just realized this may be one of the first religion oriented threads to have not devolved into name calling and bashing by the second page.

How dare you! Ya rotten piece of crud!

I'm Atheist. I hate the term conservative and liberal. I would say I'm fiscally conservative, fairly liberal in my belief you should just leave people alone and not worry about what they do in their bedroom. Both sides are control freaks, and both sides are hypocrites. Live and let live.

I don't know why someone would be an adamant atheist, why rule out the possibilities? Being an atheist doesn't preclude someone from being a conservative, it just ain't very smart.

Because there is NO possibility of the existence of a god. No need to mince words.

There’s lots of them. Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld says he’s an agnostic atheist.

That's a pretty dogmatic statement. Your proof?

He's ambiguously straight and I still like the guy.

Just the idea of "adamantly" disbelieving anything seems a little strange. I don't believe in trolls, gremlins or tooth fairies, but I wouldn't waste two seconds arguing for my position of disbelief.
It has always made me a little curious why many atheists seem to feel a need to argue their disbelief in God.

I've wondered that for a long time myself.

It's not analysis. It's in black,white and plain Engish

US Constitution Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion

A better question would be why doesn't the court follow the Constitution ?

One of the worse things that happened to the Republican party was the religious right


Why is that?,...a segment acknowledging its foundation?

No, it doesn't. The first ten words create a prohibition on legislative bodies passing laws that show preference to any religion or prohibit the free exercise of religion, just like it says. No more, no less. If the founders wanted a complete separation between church and state, a complete ban on religion in government, the could have said something like "no member of the government shall show preference or animosity to any religion in an official capacity, and all references to religion shall be banned. Congress shall pass no laws respecting or prohibbing religion. But they didn't. They said "Congress shall make no law....."

So let me see if I understand your reasoning.
Are you saying that by NOT taxing churches, that government is establishing religion ?

Can you expand on that a bit. ?

Here's what a Reverend Bill Wilson write about our founders in 1831. www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/4523883.Bird-Wilson . He did't praise them to good , oh yeah read the Treaty of Tripoli and read Article 11.

The United States almost had a State religion, I believe it would have been Congregationalist ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congregational_church ).
If it weren't for the objections of the Baptists from western Pennsylvania that's what we would have been stuck with. The "make no law respecting an establishment of religion"
clause was exactly that, Congress could make now law establishing a particular denomination. It did not mean the government could not recognize a particular faith it meant they couldn't establish one.

Salvation is for everyone! Doesn't matter your walk of life.

Then from the point in which you accept Christ you are changed and continue to change. Some more quickly than other. Some slower than others. Some don't change at all.

The US has been of a very strong "biblical or "Christian" in it's founding and intirety. Which produces a lot of Christian or ,"conservative" tendencies" in it's population. This is changing rapidly with the rejection of God in our society now. Which is why we are seeing this national spiral towards communism.

IMO congress is not choosing a religion by not taxing them. They dont tax any religion. Government is not choosing one over the other. Even the church of the flying spaghetti monster is tax exempt.

We as a nation recognised God as a whole and that God only has given us our rights and was the only intity that could take them from us. Govt is now taking God's place in America like most other nations. We will also see the complete loss of our inalienable rights due to this because we are putting man in God's place.

If man takes God's place!? Then man can take your rights!

Interesting, my parents were members of an Evangelical Congregational church when I was young. That made me a member, or at least an attendee, too.

Atheism takes the place of a more normal religion in the lives of many atheists.

Most Atheists are like vegans and saved Christians in that they feel an uncontrollable urge to tell you they are Atheists.

Keith

While most atheist according to polling are liberal, not all are. The smart ones are conservatives.

yeah, always makes me wonder why some spend so much time trying to prove God doesn't exist. If he don't, then what is the fuss about? I don't spend a great deal of time trying to convince people that Thor doesn't exist. If they want to believe in him, that's their business.

That's how I would interpret the constitution. The government wouldn't favor one Christian religion over another be it Catholic, Baptist, Lutheran, etc. Non-Christian religions would fall under the category of a church as well, so taxation wouldn't apply to them either.

Question is: "Who am I? Why am I here? What happens to me when I die?"

It always seems like the people that believe in nothing worry so much about the people that do believe in something I don’t get it. I care less who you pray to or don’t really, it’s just a personal choice nothing more. I have very close friends that I have no clue what religion they are and I don’t care if they pray to a giant peach.

What I see mostly is religious people shoving their beliefs off on rational people. I avoid the subject, but when some bible thumper starts ranting about nonsense I'm not going to stand there and let them waste my time. I'll pass on the fairly tales and magic please. And the praying.
So, my point is, don't expect us to sit quietly while you peddle your snake oil.

I see more non believers going on and on about this or that then people pushing to gain some advantage because of their religion. If you don’t like it don’t listen that’s what I do. I keep my beliefs to myself about religion. I care less about a Christmas display or where the 10 commandments are at, why it bothers seem so petty to me.

I'm willing to let anyone believe whatever they want. That means I have to take the bad with the good in recognition of that...

However that doesn't mean I have to agree, condone, or be party to their beliefs.

This country would be in a lot better shape if people would mind their own business and quit trying to legislate their version of morality on everyone else.

Mike

Yep should be a no go zone!