How "Left" are you? Is it related to your Atheism?

[JanMichael]

Including myself, I've know a whole lot of non-believers and there are few conservatives besides the Rand lovers in my experience. That experience includes forming a weekly debate group back in Florida a couple of years ago. People that I had never met before came to discuss issues of interest to Humanists/Atheist/non-believers and, perhaps not a surprise, most were tilted heavily to the Left.

One thing that I know about myself is that my move to the Left really started (I was already a Progressive Dem) as my understanding of my Atheism grew. On top of that I began to realize, or acknowledge, how many of my favorite authors were Atheists or Socialists of some stripe. London, Sinclair, Orwell and Garcia Marquez, among others. It wasn't an argument by authority, only a realization of similar beliefs and values.

So do we trend to the Left? If so why the relationship? Is it a natural aversion to the Divine Right of Kings and all of the shit that poured from it including much of our own Plutocracy?

[leftofthedial]

1. both are artifacts of intelligence

and rationality

[JanMichael]

2. "Both"?

Could you turn off the brevity filter for a moment?

[leftofthedial]

3. both my "liberalness" and my atheism

are the result of being intelligent, inquisitive, open minded, analytical, rational and critical by nature.

[Tafiti]

4. Yes.

Personally, yes. But that's because I am a secular humanist and animist - I care about people, and other living things. It becomes crystal clear very quickly that the right doesn't give a fucking shit about anything but making money and appearing righteous. Other people? Fuck 'em. Animals, the environment? Are you kidding me?

I can envision a sect of libertarian atheists. In short, people who, for whatever reason, just don't give a shit about the plight of other people and the destruction of the planet. A friend of mine is basically this, even though he identifies himself as a Democrat. He is not. He is basically a social darwinist. If you can't cut it, sorry about your luck. And an atheist in this capacity might think, fuck it, there's no God, what'll happen to me? I might as well get rich, live the good life, and go out with a bang. And what of destroying the planet? Oh well, I won't be here. This is also basically said friend's philosophy in life.

Sometimes I think I should dislike him for this, but in a way, I respect him because at least he's honest about it, instead of trying to shroud it in a religious cloak, or Orwellian cloak, or a moral politics cloak. And he respects me for who I am. Plus, he's a funny motherfucker.

[GOPFighter]

16. Interesting point

I know a lot of people who assume atheist's have no morals, no love for their fellow man, must be self-centered and only concerned with getting ahead. Not so. The atheists I know are more compassionate than most Christians I know. I've often said the best Christians I know are atheists.

[fshrink]

5. I am a supporter of Marx, so

I'd say that, yes, my being "left" is directly related to my being atheist and reciprocally.

[Cobalt Violet]

6. I don't remember ever being anything other than an atheist and extremely..

Left.

[lazarus]

7. As someone else has said

it's only natural, as one learns to think critically, to cast aside nonsense. That leads one to be a skeptic, atheist, and liberal.

[progressoid]

8. I tend to think that more non-believers will leave the conservative wing

when it embraces the fundi dogma as a political doctrine. Of course the religious emphasis may not be a big issue to them - it could be something they can overlook. Perhaps other aspects of the 'right' appeals to them. But, since Democrats are proving more fiscally responsible than the GOP, what other main issues does the GOP stand for that they are appealing?

[trotsky]

9. From my personal experience,

atheists are much more likely to be liberal. My local atheist group is right there on the forefront fighting for abortion rights, gay rights, etc. All areas where religious dogma is encroaching on our fundamental rights as human beings.

[YankeyMCC]

10. In my case

There may be a link. But I don't think it's right to make the assumption that this is the general rule.

One of my best friends is Atheist and a very conservative registered republican.

And I know other atheists who are essentially apolitical.

[JanMichael]

11. Alan Greenspan is a good example of a rightwing atheist.

He sat obediently at the feet, literally, of Ayn Rand back in the day. They do exist, like I mentioned I've come across a few here and there.

However I think that the predominent political leanings of Atheist/Secular Humanists is indeed to the Left as a "general rule".

I'll try to find some links later but just about every survey/poll out there that I've seen shows a super-majority of Liberals/Progressives/Lefties in the acknowledged non-believer camp.

There are guys like Tabash and Greenspan, perhaps even Ventura, that are either Center or Center Right but they're a rather small minority in our rather small minority belief group.

[Philostopher]

12. I don't know -- you made a good point about Randroids below.

But having thought about it a lot over the years, I've come to the conclusion that for all they're so snide and disdainful about Christianity, Randroids actually worship money and prestige, or at least many of them do, and Ayn's texts certainly would indicate she thinks worshiping money is superior to either worshiping God or caring about the well-being of humanity. In my thinking, they're not really atheists if they drink enough of her particularly sour brand of Kool-Aid -- they worship money and eugenics. If you read her stuff, her reverence and bigotry are clear -- and they're parallel, if not the same, to the reverence for God and the bigotry against anybody who believes differently that many religions practice. These things are endemic to many religions, Christianity doesn't get a pass with me.

If old sour-puss were writing today, she probably would have found a way to rationalize the uneasy marriage of her much-loved economic and political philosophies with religion -- religion itself has evolved away from helping the oppressed and helpless, in part because of its pandering to the right-wingers who've ridden it like a birthday party pony to gain office so that it might have more control over culture and social mores. I could be wrong, maybe she wouldn't ... but I bet she would. I bet religion would be A-OK with ol' Ayn if she were writing the same screeds in the current social and political climate.

That being said, I haven't known all that many agnostics/humanists/atheists over the years, anyway -- most of the ones I've known, I've met through liberal political organizations, though I did work with a guy several years ago who considered himself a big-l 'Libertarian' who was an atheist. He was, as I've often said, a 'dope smoking Republican' -- he wanted to be left alone to live with his girlfriends in peace and smoke dope, that's the only thing that separated him from most mainstream modern Republicans and from Christians. Other than that, he loved to make moralistic remarkes about Bill Clinton, and thought GW was great. He was one of those people who doubtless couldn't enjoy music because there had to have been a constant clamor of cognitive dissonance in his head.

I think being raised by progressives, encouraged to think for myself and educate myself, and never being told outright 'don't read/look at/ think about' any particular idea or philosophy enabled me to make a rational evaluation of my involvement with religion when I was ready to admit I didn't believe what I'd been told anymore. I don't know, though, if it's the fact that the left has, historically, tried to be a 'big tent' political philosophy that has made non-believers more comfortable with that affiliation, or if it's that liberal economic philosophy makes more sense in a logical perspective (and it does, especially from the sociological viewpoint). In my case, I started out Christian with liberal parents, and have only gone farther left politically since I ceased to believe because I was willing to accept factual information about social issues that my parents (who never got past high school) wouldn't have known.

[Is It Fascism Yet]

13. left of the left of the left, yes, connected, n/t

[RebelOne]

14. I have always been on the left.

And turned to atheism in the 1980s. But being a Democrat had nothing to do with my non-belief.

[GOPFighter]

15. I was a liberal long before I became an atheist

Ironically, it was my Baptist upbringing that made me a liberal.

[stevebreeze]

17. no link .... pretty far left by todays standards

I used to think of myself as fiscal conservative, then I did the math. I was agnostic while I was still a republican. I still think it is better for government in times of general prosperity(which does not include todays false prosperity) to live within it's means. I however realize how much the balance of power has tilted to the bosses. While I am agnostic I think the separation of church and state is good not just for government but also for religious institutions. Religion acts as a break for some people who would not otherwise be responsible. I view religious extremists with the same distaste I find most extremism.