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Thread: Australia's New Leader Is An Atheist: Americans, Don't Try This At Home!

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    New Zealand Avalon Member Studeo's Avatar
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    Default Australia's New Leader Is An Atheist: Americans, Don't Try This At Home!

    Australia's New Leader Is An Atheist: Americans, Don't Try This At Home!
    http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/06...dont-try-this/
    17 hours ago

    When Julia Gillard became Australia's first female prime minister last
    week she quickly earned international headlines and received a
    congratulatory call from President Obama for her accomplishment.

    Now it turns out she's broken another barrier that, for American
    voters at least, would be far more daunting than her gender: She
    doesn't believe in God.

    "No, I don't," she told an interviewer at Australia's national radio,
    ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corp.) who asked her point blank if she
    believed in God. "I'm not a religious person."

    "I was brought up in the Baptist Church, but during my adult life
    I've, you know, found a different path. I'm of course a great
    respecter of religious beliefs, but they're not my beliefs."

    Gillard was a studious Christian as a child, winning prizes for
    catechism lessons and for memorizing Bible verses. But, she noted,
    "I've made decisions in my adult life about my own views."

    The new Australian P.M. is known for her razor-sharp debating skills
    and direct answers to direct questions, and that was also evident in
    her interview with ABC radio in Melbourne about her religion, or lack
    of it.

    "I am not going to pretend a faith I don't feel," she said, according
    to the audio. "And for people of faith the greatest compliment I could
    pay to them is to respect their genuinely held beliefs and not to
    engage in some pretense about mine. I think it's not the right thing."

    It's hard to imagine any U.S. politician saying such a thing about
    religion, or being so straightforward about most anything.

    Our pols have their reasons, of course. Polls consistently show that
    even as Americans grow increasingly comfortable with voting for women,
    racial or religious minorities, or a homosexual, they are still not
    likely to back an atheist.

    The latest Gallup poll on that question, posed in 2007, showed that 53
    percent of American voters said they would not vote for an atheist for
    president -- the highest negatives of any of the categories. (Gallup
    has not asked about a Muslim candidate, and odds are that would score
    even lower. Cold comfort for atheists.) Some 43 percent said they
    would not vote for a homosexual candidate, and 55 percent said they
    would be willing to back a gay or lesbian for president.

    In 2007, the Secular Coalition for America offered a $1,000 prize to
    anyone who could guess the name the "highest level atheist, agnostic,
    humanist or any other kind of non-theist currently holding elected
    public office in the United States." California's Pete Stark, a
    19-term Democratic House member from the Bay Area, proved to be the
    correct answer, as he acknowledged he is "a Unitarian who does not
    believe in a Supreme Being."

    But it's not like he created a rush on atheist candidates, and of
    course in the next year the victorious contender for president was
    Barack Obama, probably the most overtly religious Democratic candidate
    in years.

    Julia Gillard, on the other hand, was able to say that she shared the
    values of her fellow Australians, if not their religious beliefs.

    "What I can say to Australians broadly of course is that I believe you
    can be a person of strong principle and values from a variety of
    perspectives. And I've outlined mine to you."

    And that seems to be working. An online poll at The Australian
    newspaper showed that two-thirds of the nearly 15,000 readers who
    responded to a question about Gillard's beliefs said they didn't care
    about her "lack of a religious faith."

    Filed Under: Barack Obama, Religion, Polls, 2012 President, Culture,
    Disputations, 2010 Elections

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    Default Re: Australia's New Leader Is An Atheist: Americans, Don't Try This At Home!

    So long as her morals are sound, who cares?

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    United States Slurpy goodness conk's Avatar
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    Default Re: Australia's New Leader Is An Atheist: Americans, Don't Try This At Home!

    Can you imagine any politician being elected in this country without slobbering over religion? The Bible Belt would explode.

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    Canada Uninvited
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    Default Re: Australia's New Leader Is An Atheist: Americans, Don't Try This At Home!

    Religion... Politics...

    Same game..different face. IMHO

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    United States Avalon Member Humble Janitor's Avatar
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    Default Re: Australia's New Leader Is An Atheist: Americans, Don't Try This At Home!

    A simple request to politicians: Keep your religion off of my body and out of my bedroom and I'll respect your right to baa like sheep.

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    Avalon Member unplugged's Avatar
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    Default Re: Australia's New Leader Is An Atheist: Americans, Don't Try This At Home!

    Quote Posted by conk (here)
    Can you imagine any politician being elected in this country without slobbering over religion? The Bible Belt would explode.
    Actually, to be completely accurate "Can you imagine any politician being elected in this country without slobbering over WHITE ANGLO SAXON PROTESTANT versions of the CHRISTIAN religion." Full-throated, narrow-minded, mean-spirited, vitriolic bigotry light-years beyond anything practiced in Victorian England precludes such an aberrant possibility any time soon.

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    Default Re: Australia's New Leader Is An Atheist: Americans, Don't Try This At Home!

    she is at least honest in her non faith

    unlike most of the lip serving tops


    do you really think your leaders are Christians and confess to Christ

    now that's a laugh
    Last edited by RedeZra; 6th July 2010 at 23:37.

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    Avalon Retired Member Ross's Avatar
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    Default Re: Australia's New Leader Is An Atheist: Americans, Don't Try This At Home!

    she was not voted in by the people but by her party, not that it makes much difference...

    ¤=[Post Update]=¤

    Quote Posted by Lost Soul (here)
    So long as her morals are sound, who cares?
    she's a politician
    Last edited by Ross; 7th July 2010 at 06:21.

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    Default Re: Australia's New Leader Is An Atheist: Americans, Don't Try This At Home!

    The founding concept of America's democracy was to keep religion out of politics was it not. Why not try it at home ? As for australias histroy of religion and goverments religious policy of converting (taking children from the birth parents) murdering 100.000's of so called heathen aborigines and wipeing out an entire culture didnt work out to good for them did it with all the socalled religious leaders australia had previously. not very religious at all if you ask me.

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