Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

The Secular Spectrum

Home
Nonreligious
The Long Goodbye for an Atheist-Positive President

The Long Goodbye for an Atheist-Positive President

Last updated on: February 19, 2016 at 7:55 pm by Stephanie Savage

The Long Goodbye for an Atheist-Positive President 2016-02-19T19:55:14-05:00 Stephanie Savage

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I have long harbored a fantasy that President Barack Obama is not a Christian. No, I never believed the unfounded and revoltingly racist birther nonsense. They’re still waiting for him to lead that Islamic takeover of the US.

Any day now…

Not only isn’t President Obama a Muslim, neither was his father (not that there’s anything wrong with that, other than the whole religion thing). Barack Obama Sr. was raised a Muslim, but had become an atheist by the time of his marriage to Stanley Ann Dunham, Barack Jr ’s secular humanist mother, who has been labeled agnostic by Barack’s half-sister.

Yes, that’s right, my fantasy is that our president is a closet nonbeliever.

But just as Dan Linford argued in his post, Bernie Sanders, not yet an a/theist, we can only take President Obama at his words and deeds: He is, as he repeatedly says, a Christian.

Yet it’s undeniable that Barack Obama remains the only national political leader to regularly speak of nonbelievers in the same breath as people of faith. Indeed, his inaugural speech was the first to give a shout out to the faithless.

Ever.

It was a far cry from the what the Bush family dynasty paterfamilias famously said on the campaign trail for the presidency in 1987 in response to questions from Robert I. Sherman, a reporter for American Atheist:

No, I don’t know that atheists should be regarded as citizens, nor should they be regarded as patriotic. This is one nation under God.

And…

Yes, I support the separation of church and state. I’m just not very high on atheists.”

Well, I wasn’t that high on him, either, thank you very much. Though compared to his son, George W. Bush, he was practically Lincoln.

That was then; this is now. While Barack Obama looks like a Christian and acts like a Christian, he quacks like someone who was raised by a nonbeliever. His anthropologist mother instilled in him the values of humanism and taught him to respect all religious beliefs, including those of the godless.

That’s something we will lose when Barack Obama leaves office.

Unfortunately, soon after Dan Linford’s post came out in SecSpec, Bernie Sanders undermined the comments he made in his interview with the Washington Post, dashing atheist hopes that he was secretly one of us.

In a CNN town hall in preparation for the New Hampshire primary, Sen. Sanders said that faith, “is a guiding principle. Absolutely, it is.” He went on to say, “Everybody practices religion in a different way. I would not be here tonight; I would not be running for president, if I didn’t have very strong religious and spiritual feelings.”

As Lauren Nelson of the Friendly Atheist pointed out, his comments ignored the existence of the growing portion of the population with no religious beliefs at all. That means you and I aren’t in the equation.

It was probably an unintentional oversight, though one he’s made before.

Now, I believe I may have some insight into Sanders’ way of thinking, as a fellow cultural Jew. Actually, that’s not quite true, because I didn’t grow up with enough Jewish culture for that label. But I am a secular Jew, which is a step or two further from the religious heritage of our people. Cultural Judaism is what my mother grew up with before she raised me as a secular Jew.

Bernie Sander’s vague religious beliefs seem like a sundae of liberal, Deistic Judaism, with a humanistic cherry on top. Basically, we’re all in it together, so we have a responsibility to not turn our backs on our fellow human beings and their suffering. Though he may not be religious, his views about compassion are very Jewish.

Hillary Clinton is a Methodist who only rarely speaks of her sincere, but private faith.

Expect secular policies, but occasional rhetorical sops to religion from both candidates for the Democratic nomination.

Meanwhile, the Republican candidates are clambering over each other to claim the official endorsement of Jesus.

So while Barack Obama is almost certainly a Christian, he’s one who respects and acknowledges the nonbelieving community.

Though the level of venom unleashed on Barack Obama is unfathomable to progressives, I challenge atheists who oppose him to find a candidate in either party more sympathetic to their religious views.

I for one will miss him.

Activism

Atheism

Christianity

Church/State separation

compassionate humanism

Previous Post

February 14, 2016

A Valentine's Day Poem Massacre

Next Post

February 22, 2016 Distorting Darwin

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Ableism Activism Addiction and Recovery Agnosticism Anti-intellectualism Arts Atheism Beauty Catholicism Charles Darwin Children China Christianity Church/State separation churchgoing communication compassionate humanism Creationism critical thinking Culture death disaster response doubt education Egypt Entertainment Environment ethics evolution Existence of God Exploration fear Foundation Beyond Belief Free speech God Health History Human rights humanism identity India Interfaith Islam labels Language LGBT Love Meaning Media Medicine Middle East misconceptions mixed belief marriage Moral argument Morality Myths Near-Death Experience Nonreligious parenting Parody Persecution complex Philosophy Poetry Politics prayer Psychology Rationality Religion religious atheists Religious privilege Republican Party Satire Schools science secular parenting Spirituality The Unpigeonholeables Uncategorized United Kingdom Wonder

Select a Month March 2021 August 2020 March 2020 January 2020 September 2019 July 2019 June 2019 April 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 June 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does Proverbs say about quick-tempered people?

Select your answer to see how you score.

They are always respected They cause trouble They are wise They make peace