Will Republican Atheist baiting backfire?

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http://kaystreet.wordpress.com/2010/08/ ... ian-nation

Aside from the fact good ol' Fleming is pretty much insulting the US's major social and economic ally (the EU), is Fleming shooting himself in the foot with his anti-atheist bigotry? While, at the moment, atheists are a pretty marginal group,

The nonreligious population, though, has increased 300% in the last 20 years (LINK), and while only a fraction of them are atheists I'm sure they don't take as kindly to atheist baiting. As the young population grows increasingly secular, as right-libertarian independents represent a rightwing demographic with a large fraction of atheists, will their be a backlash against such GOP bigotry in the longrun?

I doubt it. The secular crowd doesn't herd around a leader and they don't vote in a bloc. The Religious Right™ does, and they are the base the Republicans need to energize in order to remain relevant. The GOP has already dug themselves into such a ditch that they need the fundie vote to even be in contention. Risking that by courting non-religious (or other-religious) voters would be a death sentence.

Maybe not this election, but scorning the nonreligious (who tend to be members of the professional class - which is pretty politically active) must eventually hurt the GOP in twelve years time or so. Becomming a rump party of evangelicals and plutocrats can't be good - at least in a two-party system.

That's what they already are. Well, plus the uneducated and easily misled lower middle classes, particularly in rural areas.

I think that changes in the political climate in the future will require the republican party to make overtures to atheists. It will be a delicate balance though.

Haven't read the article but I could see where something more like a libertarian-leaning conservative party might arise in the next few decades and do what Abraham Lincoln's Party did (sadly what its become is quite watered down from its real roots and what guys like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh typically rail on about is just that). I don't think most of the right has anything that strongly held against the religious right, just like I know that Republican atheist, like a lot of Republicans who are other than religious fundamentalists, will vote Republican so long as it remains the second worst thing based on their sense of economic and foreign policy issues. If a clear third-worst shows up though I'm sure they'll change their vote in a heartbeat, so long as that new party isn't displacing the old silver or gold medalist on the louge or slolem. Worst come to worst they may even be the founders of that new third party.

From what I understand, Tea Partisan challengers to the Republican incumbents, if they gain the Republican candidacy, will become a real competitive force against the Democrats. I'm very worried that dispossessed members of the (until now) non-ideological upper working class gravitating towards the Tea Partisans.

Well overwhelming majority of Americans are still religious and I don't see that changing. I don't think the democrats are too eager to pick up the moniker as the atheist party either. Despite that I think the religious right's power is waning since social issues just aren't as important as they use to be.

I really don't know what the future of the GOP will look like.I hope that it moves libertarian but the battle has not been waged yet.

While a lot of professional class netizens are (right) Libertarians, I think the ideology is less commun the irreligiousity. Still, even if the supermajority of Americans are religious, if in the right places minority groups can decided elections. Plus, others may be turned off of bigotry towards atheists.

But I'll admit that atheists are still a pretty (PR wise) marginal group and that won't change for at least a decade.

Well, religion seems to be declining in importance, even if the overwhelming majority are still nominally Christian. Certainly the younger generation is more and more inclined to atheism.

As to the Democrats, they pretty much are the party for atheists basically by default. All the atheists I know in person are staunch liberals.

That's because Obama's policies have polarized people and forced neutrals and third party voters to take sides.

No, it's because Obama hasn't articulated his policies or given a forceful enough diagnosis and narrative of what America's problems are soon enough. His first few weeks in office were full of talks that he wouldn't be focusing on reminding people of Bush's errors, but rather "moving forward, rather than looking backward". This stupid, nice guy first last, move is what's destroyed Democratic prospects in 2010 (the Republicans will win the House and Senate with majorities).

The fact that the Democrat's have yet to articulate a forceful, radical narrative on why America is in decline has - by default - ensured that the Right gets to. And given the Righwing media machine, that message is being echoed across the nation.

I remember reading part of an article on the demographic profile of atheists in Skeptic magazine that said the overwhelming majority of atheists are upper middle class, male, and liberal.

Nonreligious people don't really represent any specific values or issues so I think it's pretty hard for them to collectively be all that influential. Most probably don't even think of themselves as a group at all. Closet thing is maybe gay marriage.

Orwell Wrote:

Who is the leader that the Religious Right is all 'herding around' at present?

Speaking of which, what other prominent left-leaning leader(s) in America...... do liberals and democrats adhere to and follow around besides Obama?

Liberals are tied to Obama far more so than contemporary Rightists follow around any one demagogue.