An Atheist’s Case For Religious Liberty

[rug]

April 1, 2014
By Robert Tracinski

I am an atheist, which puts me firmly on the secular right. There aren’t a whole lot of us, but we’re out here, in some surprising places.

Yet I consider the current campaign against religious liberty—the attempt to coerce Christians into providing service to gay weddings or to provide abortifacient drugs to their employees, against the dictates of their faith—to be a deep cultural crisis.

Why? Above all, because the sight of a bully using a club to force someone else to violate his conscience is inherently repugnant. As a humanist, what I regard as “sacred” is the power of the human mind to think and make judgments. To put this in terms borrowed from religion, when someone uses coercion to overrule the judgment of their victim’s mind, they are defiling my temple.

But there is another, more practical reason. History shows that the only way to fight for freedom of thought is to defend it early, when it comes under threat for others—even people you strongly disagree with, even people you despise. So I’m willing to fight for it for people who are much worse, by my standards, than your average Christian.

http://thefederalist.com/2014/04/01/atheists-case-religious-liberty/

Make no mistake. These people are out there, this one via the Ayn Rand Institute.

http://ariwatch.com/WhosWho.htm

http://ariwatch.com/index.htm

[edhopper]

1. What an asshole

He might want to read the Constitution. But since he's a right winger, he probably wouldn't understand it.

[Heddi]

2. I wonder why he says

"I'm an atheist, which firmly puts me on the secular right"?

that doesn't make any sense.

Since when did Atheism = stereotypical right wing?

Even when I wasn't an Atheist, the label "atheist" was generally used to further stereotpye lefty, democratic, progressive, birkenstock wearing, devil worshiping, granola eating seattle living blah blah blah.


Then again, when other articles on the site are titled

Just How Poorly Did Wendy Davis Do Last Night?
The Party Of Science Has Absolutely No Clue What It's Talking About
Why Do Liberals Want People To Stop Learning From Other Cultures?
Erickson, Sullivan, And What “Bigots” Deserve
No, Michael Tomasky, 'Conservatives' Aren't Always On The Wrong Side Of History
Sorry, America Isn't Destined To Be More Liberal

I have to question the reason for putting this article, from this source, on a democratic website. I thought that posting from garbagey right-wing sites was kind of tasteless

[rug]

3. He's distinguishing it from the religious right.

The political danger is from the right, religious or secular.

[Heddi]

5. Fuckin' libertarians

are the WORST. I'll take a mouth-breathing republican over a libertarian any day, even though I'd rather not deal with either of them. I find Libertarians to just be...slimy. It's sad that there is a sizeable number, at least on other Atheist forums, that are Libertarian Atheists. This forum looks like Candy Land Cupcake Time compared to ones where the Big L's are allowed to roam freely.

And you know, I've said this before and I swear I'm not being "no true scotsman" about it, but there is a subsect of Atheist Libertarians who don't believe in God not because they don't believe in a higher power, or God, but because they see THEMSELVES as the higher power, as the ultimate. They're anti-religion only because they see religion as a competitor of attention, money, worship. They're anti God for the same reason. They're almost nihilist in a sense, although I don't want to slander my good nihilist friends by even putting them in the same sentence as Libertarians. They're nauseating to be around.

[Dawson Leery]

9. Another part of the conservative entertainment complex.

[el_bryanto]

4. Is anybody arguing that right wing atheists don't exist? nt

[rug]

6. The issue is what they're saying.

[el_bryanto]

7. Well - some black conservatives have made a pretty good living telling White Christian Conservatives

what they want to hear. I guess it's not too surprising that some Atheists would go down the same route. Money is a powerful temptation. But I don't know if this is more a commentary and the validity of that argument in favor of "religious liberty" or if that is an argument that not all atheists are the same?

[rug]

8. See this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1218120985

It's about power not liberty. They will adopt any ideology necessary to keep it.

[MellowDem]

10. They always leave out that these are businesses...

No Christian ever has to put on a wedding or make a wedding cake for a gay person if they don't want to. But if you decide to incorporate, which is an entirely state-based invention, you have to follow the discrimination laws of the sate when acting as a business.

Businesses give people a lot of advantages, like no personal liability. The trade off is that, by voluntarily using a state tool, you have to abide by state regulations.

If you can't stand those regulations, get out of business. You can't have your cake and eat it too.