DangerousTalk

In a debate between Sam Harris and Rabbi David Wolpe, Harris talked about how when people talk about their belief that Elvis is still alive in job interviews, etc. there is an immediate price to be paid. When politicians invoke religious terminology there should be a price they too should have to pay.

Let’s be honest here, if you write a letter to Rick Perry and tell him not to use religious language, he almost certainly won’t pay any attention to you. However, if enough of us wrote to Democratic politicians, we can probably get them to stop using religious language. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t write to Republican politicians, we should. It just means that we aren’t going to win that fight right now.

I also think we should start writing letters to the editor of various local newspapers and let them know that you find it unacceptable when local politicians invoke religion in order to appear more pious. You can even cite Matthew 6:5-6 to support your point.

The goal is to make politicians pay a price for their use of religious language. That price is our support and also in their public image. This isn’t going to happen overnight, but if we call our local politicians out on their use of religious language consistently, they will slowly stop using this language. Non-religious people are a growing demographic and they know this. We need to show them that this is actually the case and that they have to work to get our vote and support. By using religious language, they are intentionally alienating us and we will no longer accept that insult.

Related articles

• Tea Party Stupidity Infecting Democrats (dangeroustalk.net)
• Getting God-Talk Out of Politics (dangeroustalk.net)

Filed under: Alternative Worldview, atheism, church/state, culture war, Decline of Religion, Election, Government, Offensiveness, People of Reason, Political Activism