Will We Ever Have an Atheist President?

[Vlad the Imperial]

It seems faith is very important in elections, and polls have shown that people care about candidate's religion. Do you think America will ever elect in our lifetime an atheist president?

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Eventually, but I am convinced Obama is a closet agnostic.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

Eventually, but it will be far, far overdue by the time it happens. 

[Antonio the Sixth]

The day when an open atheist finally wins the Presidency will be as deserving of celebration and joy as November 4, 2008 was.

[Joe Biden 2020]

I sure hope not.  That's the last thing America needs.  I'm afraid an atheist president would advocate for getting rid of all Christian symbols from the country, such as the Nativity or the Cross, or the Ten Commandments and while he wouldn't shut churches down, he would actually discourage going to church.  He would probably take prayer out of the beginning of each Congressional session.

The day America has an atheist president is the day it begins its downfall.

That said, I don't think it will ever happen.  I think Christ will be coming back to earth very soon and if He tarries, He won't allow an atheist president.

[BluegrassBlueVote]

I sure hope not.  That's the last thing America needs.  I'm afraid an atheist president would advocate for getting rid of all Christian symbols from the country, such as the Nativity or the Cross, or the Ten Commandments and while he wouldn't shut churches down, he would actually discourage going to church.  He would probably take prayer out of the beginning of each Congressional session.

The day America has an atheist president is the day it begins its downfall.

That said, I don't think it will ever happen.  I think Christ will be coming back to earth very soon and if He tarries, He won't allow an atheist president.

Not really sure how to respond to this. Just gonna leave you a LOL and continue on with my night.

[DC Al Fine]

I sure hope not.  That's the last thing America needs.  I'm afraid an atheist president would advocate for getting rid of all Christian symbols from the country, such as the Nativity or the Cross, or the Ten Commandments and while he wouldn't shut churches down, he would actually discourage going to church.  He would probably take prayer out of the beginning of each Congressional session.

The day America has an atheist president is the day it begins its downfall.

That said, I don't think it will ever happen.  I think Christ will be coming back to earth very soon and if He tarries, He won't allow an atheist president.

Why? America isn't special.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Eventually, but it will be far, far overdue by the time it happens. 

[Joe Biden 2020]

I sure hope not.  That's the last thing America needs.  I'm afraid an atheist president would advocate for getting rid of all Christian symbols from the country, such as the Nativity or the Cross, or the Ten Commandments and while he wouldn't shut churches down, he would actually discourage going to church.  He would probably take prayer out of the beginning of each Congressional session.

The day America has an atheist president is the day it begins its downfall.

That said, I don't think it will ever happen.  I think Christ will be coming back to earth very soon and if He tarries, He won't allow an atheist president.

Why? America isn't special.

Just what I believe, whether it happens or not.

[Blue3]

The American public in polls are much more likely to vote for a Jewish President, a Gay President, and even a Muslim President.

It will happen eventually, but probably not for a couple decades.

[Comrade Funk]

A couple decades. By then, I doubt it will matter.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Not for another generation at least.

I sure hope not.  That's the last thing America needs.  I'm afraid an atheist president would advocate for getting rid of all Christian symbols from the country, such as the Nativity or the Cross, or the Ten Commandments

1-No President could ever get any type of bans through Congress.
2-Even if he somehow did, they wouldn't survive five minutes in court. Making it illegal to display a Nativity scene, cross or Ten Commandments tablet is so blatantly unconstitutional it's tough to describe all the ways. Also most communities in America would refuse to enforce these laws anyway just like Washington and Colorado (and plenty of other places de facto) have agreed to quit enforcing marijuana laws.

I should probably also note the PM of Australia has never even proposed anything even remotely close to what you described.

and while he wouldn't shut churches down, he would actually discourage going to church.

I don't think anyone who currently goes to church is going to quit because the President says not to (even ignoring just how fierce the blowback would be and the electoral price he would pay for such a thing.)

Also once again, the PM of Australia has never done this.

He would probably take prayer out of the beginning of each Congressional session.

That's not up to the President. That would require a change in the Congressional rules, which Congress would have to pass themselves.

That said, I don't think it will ever happen.  I think Christ will be coming back to earth very soon and if He tarries, He won't allow an atheist president.

Why would an atheist President be a bigger deal than all the other atheist world leaders we've had, including some far nastier than any US President could be (see Stalin and Mao for starters)?

[Maxwell]

Eventually, but I am convinced Obama is a closet agnostic.

I have thought that most Presidents aren't as religious as they put on, but I'm really not sure.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

I sure hope not.  That's the last thing America needs.  I'm afraid an atheist president would advocate for getting rid of all Christian symbols from the country, such as the Nativity or the Cross, or the Ten Commandments and while he wouldn't shut churches down, he would actually discourage going to church.  He would probably take prayer out of the beginning of each Congressional session.

The day America has an atheist president is the day it begins its downfall.

That said, I don't think it will ever happen.  I think Christ will be coming back to earth very soon and if He tarries, He won't allow an atheist president.

Um, I don't know how to respond to something this absurd.

[Negusa Nagast 🚀]

Eventually, but I am convinced Obama is a closet agnostic.

We can only hope.

[TNF]

We've probably already had one.

[John Dibble]

I sure hope not.  That's the last thing America needs.  I'm afraid an atheist president would advocate for getting rid of all Christian symbols from the country, such as the Nativity or the Cross, or the Ten Commandments and while he wouldn't shut churches down, he would actually discourage going to church.  He would probably take prayer out of the beginning of each Congressional session.

The day America has an atheist president is the day it begins its downfall.

That said, I don't think it will ever happen.  I think Christ will be coming back to earth very soon and if He tarries, He won't allow an atheist president.

Um, I don't know how to respond to something this absurd.

Calling it absurd might be appropriate.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Calling it absurd might be appropriate.

Except this goes beyond the normal bounds of absurdity.

[Mr. Morden]

That said, I don't think it will ever happen.  I think Christ will be coming back to earth very soon and if He tarries, He won't allow an atheist president.

Hopefully He holds off on his return until after the Australian general election in September, or else this fine land might be damned for having an atheist Prime Minister.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

The day when an open atheist finally wins the Presidency will be as deserving of celebration and joy as November 4, 2008 was.

The Constitution forbade religious tests for office at a time when Africans were still coming over in slave ships.  I have a hard time seeing these as having the same historical significance.

It's interesting how Bushie's comment mirrors the opponents of Jefferson's election in 1800.

[TJ in Oregon]

I sure hope not.  That's the last thing America needs.  I'm afraid an atheist president would advocate for getting rid of all Christian symbols from the country, such as the Nativity or the Cross, or the Ten Commandments and while he wouldn't shut churches down, he would actually discourage going to church.  He would probably take prayer out of the beginning of each Congressional session.

The day America has an atheist president is the day it begins its downfall.

That said, I don't think it will ever happen.  I think Christ will be coming back to earth very soon and if He tarries, He won't allow an atheist president.

Bushie in 19 years:

As strange as it sounds coming from me, I applaud Ben_____ for changing his views.  Views can change over time, especially when we're young.  My own views are slowly evolving in that direction.  I'm not, yet, fully on board due to my conservative, religious upbringing, but I'm to the point where I'm no longer going to fight against it.  Give it probably 6 months or a year or sooner and I might be a full supporter of same sex marriage myself an atheist president.

Let's put it this way, I basically support SSM now an atheist president, I just still have to put down the occasional thoughts of going against how I was raised.  I realize, now, and the SSM atheist president thread just a week or so ago helped me see that it is not affecting my faith and walk in Jesus Christ and that is the first and foremost priority.

[TJ in Oregon]

I would have no problem voting for an atheist for president if I agreed with him or her on the issues of the day and he or she was qualified. It seems unlikely given our political division and the make-up of American culture that the situation would arise relatively soon, especially given the make-up of the Republican primary. But if it did, I would have no problem with it. I take seriously this:

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For when we could have an atheist president? Maybe sometime in the late 2020s, the Democrats could elect one. I don't think we could have an atheist Republican elected for a while still though.

The other possible route to having an atheist elected would be to elect a non-atheist who then openly declares himself as an atheist while in office and is then re-elected. Yet doing so would also be unlikely since he'd probably wait until after re-election for political reasons.

[Dave from Michigan]

I think we will in the next 50 years. Also I don't think Christians should worry about it. I doubt any atheist president would try to remove religion or do anything anti Christian, it would probably backfire if they did. Also I don't see why God wouldn't allow a atheist president. I would think a atheist president would actually be careful not to upset christians and make it known they don't want to ban Christianity, the fact that they would have to say this is unfortunate. Unfortunately you would have some Christians who would claim that if elected he would ban christianity.

[BluegrassBlueVote]

We've probably already had one.

It's very, very likely.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

I sure hope not.  That's the last thing America needs.  I'm afraid an atheist president would advocate for getting rid of all Christian symbols from the country, such as the Nativity or the Cross, or the Ten Commandments and while he wouldn't shut churches down, he would actually discourage going to church.  He would probably take prayer out of the beginning of each Congressional session.

The day America has an atheist president is the day it begins its downfall.

That said, I don't think it will ever happen.  I think Christ will be coming back to earth very soon and if He tarries, He won't allow an atheist president.

Shut up you dingbat