Behind Enemy Lines
One of the things I love about being the Minority Election Inspector in a heavily Catholic Republican district on Primary Day is that I get a glimpse inside “enemy lines.” Not to say that I consider the people I work with enemies, I don’t. However, I do consider their affiliations to be enemy affiliations.
First, I should point out that while my district is heavily Catholic and Republican, it seems that most of the Catholics don’t really have high regard for Catholicism and tend to be mainly secular. They also tend to vote Republican locally, but on the federal and in some cases state level many are actually pretty liberal. Of course some are not.
For example, while I didn’t really talk much about being an atheist activist and blogger, I didn’t make my lack of belief in god any secret. I talked about taxing the Church and how I can’t understand how any Catholic could still give money to the Church to be used to defend pedophile priests. I also talked about Humanist communities and how we don’t need God to have a community. It seems that these ideas were all pretty well received and one Catholic I talked to even told me that she no longer gives money to the Church for that reason (although she is still active in the Church).
When talking politics, I asked a lot of the traditional Republicans about a few things. I asked for example who they liked for the 2012 Presidential race. None of them liked the current candidate field and so I had to ask who their dream candidates would be. Topping the list was New Jersey Governor Chris Christi. Most liked how he gutted education (including both of the candidates for school board).
The next person who topped the list was Herman Cain of Godfather Pizza. The reason… so Republicans can’t be accused of racism. Yes, a Republican actually said that out loud. The funny part was that I had conversation with a different Republican about Obama that was pretty telling. He said that he though Obama was “divisive.” I asked in what way since he seems to cave into Republicans on almost every issue and has continued much of the Bush Administration’s policies. He told me that he doesn’t like his tone. He then started to imitate a cross between gospel preacher speak and rap. In other words, Obama is divisive because he is black.
I also learned an interesting fact that I think the atheist community should challenge. It seems that the county Register of Wills demands that married couples swear on the Bible in order to get their marriage licenses.
Filed under: Catholics, Church, church/state, conversation, culture war, Obama, Personal, Politics
