Strengthening Constitutional Self-Government

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Pity the poor non-theist

Allegedly underrepresented in political office, with Pete Stark as their most prominent standard-bearer.

Discussions - 14 Comments

Allegedly??

A "Unitarian who does not believe in a supreme being." Why bother with the Unitarian part if he doesn’t believe, anyway?


Being so underrepresented in the political realm must mean that this is an unheard, voiceless minority. Poor things! Please. At least we know they have a safe seat in the San Francisco region, since Stark has been rep. from his district since 1972.

Sorry. 1973.

It is (too) easy to mock Unitarians. I have done so myself. For example, a friend likes to quote the First and Only New England Unitarian Commandment: Thou shalt not shoot a moose!

Still, given what we know about the value of "associations" in America, and given the corrosive effects of modernity, Unitarianism for some people preserves a flicker of traditional ways.

"Allegedly?"

I take it that Joe means to suggest that there are plenty of unbelievers in higher office, but Machiavellians that they are, they feign piety because we the masses want them to. (Or, if that’s too harsh, perhaps it would be better to say that many of our political leaders are "practical" atheists, in that even to the degree that they are religious believers they act "as if" they didn’t believe anything.)

Michael,

You’ve got it. In addition, I’ve just been reading this book, which has a very interesting chapter on the "faiths" of the Supreme Court justices. Our current Court is unusual in the religious seriousness of some of its members, something that troubles at least this guy.

Steve, I thought the point of being a Unitarian was that there was a belief in something. Praying "To whom it may concern." is still addressing someone. The Unitarians who I know conform to one variety of deism or another. Is Stark an atheist with penchant for hymns and sacramental wine? I don’t get it.

Unitarians give deists a bad rep, but, yes, if you are unitarian you believe in SOMEONE/THING "up there." A "unitarian who does not believe in a supreme being" is an oxymoron.

By all accounts there are non-deist oxymorons in Unitarian congregations. It is not, I think, polite to inquire too much into private beliefs. But isn’t it often the same in other congregations, at least "main-stream" ones?

Years ago I was for a time a member of a Unitarian church, made up of dissenting Christians, deist refugees from elsewhere, and agnostics. Too much clarity was divisive - as I found when, planning a Sunday service, I had us sing "A Mighty Fortress is Our God." Some people refused to rise; I had many complaints. The organist, however, thanked me.

Hmmm, that makes me ask what Unitarians do sing. Kumbaya?

There’s a hymnal containing Anglican and Protestant hymns, sometimes with the words changed. One traditional Easter hymn is about the coming of spring.

Unitarians think Kumbaya is Catholic.

They may be right about Kumbaya. I remember singing it at Mass when I was a kid.

I’m a Christian social conservative, and I’ll vote for a good athiest candidate any day, even for president; apparently, a majority of Americans won’t. That does seem narrow reasoning on their parts. But this boo-hoo about discrimination is hilarious:

"Atheists are the last group that a majority of Americans still think is OK to discriminate against," said Fred Edwords, director of communications for the American Humanist Association.


I can just hear it now--"Son, before I let you sit in the front of the bus, you’re gonna have to prove to me that you’re at the very least a theistic Unitarian."

We must differentiate between a Modern day Unitarian Universalit and a Classical Unitarian Christian or deist. The former may or may not have a belief in god. while the latter believes in one god and only one god. I put myself into the last camp.

I suggest looking up more on the History of Unitarianism and Deism for more info. I would vote for an atheist as long as they are good and they match most of my political beliefs.

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