Here is a comment that was left on my post yesterday, about Democrats changing course and putting God in their platform.
While many of us aren’t happy about this language in the platform, We have to remember that the majority of voters are religious, and that is true of Democrats as well. It is a nod to them, and it also might convince someone sitting on the fence that the Democrats aren’t the evil godless ones that Republicans would have you believe they are. The calculation is that this language attracts mote people than it repulses. That being the case, I can’t fault them too much. I don’t think they are trying to turn the country into a theocracy, but there are Republicans who would jump at the chance.
Well true to a point. It is obvious that this a symptom of a broader problem, which is the political left ignoring the secularists, a very reliable constituency.
This is how Ron Lindsay, head of Center for Inquiry, looks at it.
Look: there’s no doubt that the nonreligious are increasing in number in the US. But even if we take a high estimate of the number of nontheists (say 16 percent), that still makes us a very distinct minority. More importantly, we’re a minority that is not united regarding the importance of removing the trappings of ceremonial theism from our political process. We all know plenty of nonbelievers who just don’t give a damn about God-language. They don’t care whether God is mentioned in a party platform or public officials use the standard close for speeches: “and may God bless the United States of America.” I think they should care, but then I’m a humanist activist and the head of a secular organization. The reality is as a movement we still have a way to go in motivating people to work toward a truly secular society.
This lack of unity, this lack of motivation also explains a difference often noted by commentators in the secular community. Even though we’re a minority, our numbers surpass the number of Jews in the US. How is it that lobbying for Israel seems so effective but lobbying for secularism meets with only middling success? Many (not all, but many) Jews are very strongly motivated to push the US to provide Israel with unequivocal support. Moreover, they are not shy about throwing around their political weight and making it clear that their votes may depend on a candidate’s stance on Israel. Do we seculars have a comparable level of political influence? Get real.
He is mostly right, except for one thing. The support for Israel comes to a great extent from groups that are not even Jewish. I hope to write more on that soon. But indifference and lack of motivation for involvement on our part is certainly one reason this is still happening, and he has a very good point there.
And here is a question from American Atheists: which party represents us? The short answer is neither. Unless we get more involved, and learn to set aside our differences for the sake of common goals.
There have been more reactions from prominent secularists to the snob we got from Democrats. While historically and constitutionally accurate, these statements ultimately make little difference, as long as we are not seen as a voting block that needs to be taken into consideration. But there is a bit of amusement here:
While non-believers maintained that the Democrats had overstepped a boundary by re-inserting the language, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said the opposite. According to Romney, the initial removal “suggests a party which is increasingly out of touch with the mainstream of American people.”
Mitt Romney accusing someone else of being out of touch? Lol.
Lastly, no everything coming from the Democratic convention was bad news; I was happy to hear the President say climate change is not a hoax, that is something we need to hear more often. Even Richard Dawkins seems to have been pleased with the convention overall as he tweeted this:
Richard Dawkins @RichardDawkins
Obama, Biden and Clinton seem to have brilliantly made up for the disgraceful vote-rigging by which God was reinstated to the DNC platform.
