Australia's New Leader Is An Atheist: Americans, Don't Try This At Home!

[dbucfan]

And you wonder why she won - she is on the Right Side of Economics

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704898504575342183121009598.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

[dbucfan]

Ah - noticed there wasn't an election didn't ya. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/25/world/asia/25australia.html

[Nukepineisland]

Now dbuc I am not trying to be antagonistic, BUT on another thread you corrected a poster on not capitalizing GOD. Would you be okay with a leader whom did that on purpose?

Assuming said leader as you stated "Is on the right side of economics."

[John Galt?]

Well Americans just voted a muslim in for president. So I think your argument is dead.

http://ivarfjeld.wordpress.com/2010/06/08/egyptian-minister-obama-told-me-he-is-a-muslim/

FAIL! Try again.  http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/23510.html

As president, Barack Obama has mentioned Jesus Christ in a number of high-profile public speeches — something his predecessor George W. Bush rarely did in such settings, even though Bush’s Christian faith was at the core of his political identity.

In his speech Thursday in Cairo, Obama told the crowd that he is a Christian and mentioned the Islamic story of Isra, in which Moses, Jesus and Mohammed joined in prayer.

At the University of Notre Dame on May 17, Obama talked about the good works he’d seen done by Christian community groups in Chicago. “I found myself drawn — not just to work with the church but to be in the church,� Obama said. “It was through this service that I was brought to Christ.�

And a month before that, Obama mentioned Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount at Georgetown University to make the case for his economic policies. Obama retold the story of two men, one who built his house on a pile of sand and the other who built his on a rock: “We cannot rebuild this economy on the same pile of sand,� Obama said. “We must build our house upon a rock.�

More than four months into the Obama presidency, a picture is emerging of a chief executive who is comfortable with public displays of his religion — although he has also paid tribute to other faiths and those he called “nonbelievers� during his inaugural address.

Obama’s invocation of the Christian Messiah is more overt than Americans heard in the public rhetoric of Bush in his time in the White House — even though Bush’s victories were powered in part by evangelical voters.

“I don’t recall a single example of Bush as president ever saying, ‘Jesus’ or ‘Christ,’� said Tony Perkins, president of the conservative Christian group Family Research Council. “This is different.�

To Perkins, Obama’s overtly Christian rhetoric is a welcome development from an administration that he largely disagrees with on the issues, though Perkins sees a political motive behind it, as well.

“I applaud that. It gives people a sense of comfort,� Perkins said. “But I think it’s a veneer, a facade that covers over a lot of policies that are anti-Christian.� That includes, in his view, Obama’s stance in favor of abortion rights.

The Rev. Barry Lynn, the executive director of the group Americans United for Separation of Church and State, doesn’t like the trend with Obama: “I don’t need to hear politicians tell me how religious they are,� Lynn said. “Obama in a very overt way does what Bush tended to do in a more covert way.�...continued

[ufojoe]

You're right - that is why there is concern about folks leaving their religions.

Keep labeling - keep making stuff up. You will impress some folks. Your efforts to denigrate folks in general while elevating others will be appreciated. Keep targeting Americans - make them the foolish ones - that will get you far.

Making up stuff? LOL. Is that really the best you can do? You've entered into a state of denial. I guess every poll I throw out there
is wrong because you say so. Kind of like Cyber telling everybody that all the polls were wrong about Obama and McCain was going to be victorious. He was delusional.

[ufojoe]

Now dbuc I am not trying to be antagonistic, BUT on another thread you corrected a poster on not capitalizing GOD.

Yeah, he seems to have become the board police lately. Telling folks what to post and how to do it.

[ufojoe]

Ah - noticed there wasn't an election didn't ya. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/25/world/asia/25australia.html

Yep, I did. I guess we'll see if I have to make a retraction when the next election takes place. For now, I'll take back the credit I gave to the Aussie voters.

[dbucfan]

Ah - noticed there wasn't an election didn't ya. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/25/world/asia/25australia.html

Yep, I did. I guess we'll see if I have to make a retraction when the next election takes place. For now, I'll take back the credit I gave to the Aussie voters.

Good on ya

[ufojoe]

She's have to face an election in a few months so Aussies will have a chance to show what they're made of. However, it's not the same as if she would have been elected without serving in office. I really can't claim victory if she wins because she'll have a chance to impress (or disgust) the voters and by that time, her atheism will be moot. Americans would do the same thing. But if she was just running without the few months in office, no way she gets very far in the US, IMO.

One thing Aussies have progressed with more than us is they have elected close to one third women into their federal Parliament compared to here, where women hold only 16.8 percent of the seats in Congress. I think that's related to religion and the patriarchal system we have had for a long time.

[dbucfan]

She will run as a person with beliefs and one of them is her feeling toward religion - she will get elected or not based upon her principles and policies.  While Australia is 2/3s Christian - I suspect they are 90% objective - and the Prime Minister's job has nothing to do with religion. 

[JasonOfthetower]

Hmm, never knew Eisenhower was a Jehovah's Witness. Wonder if he went door-to-door?

[GameTime]

Who said her thoughts/beliefs were so important to me? What's impressive is the voters ignoring her Atheism and electing her. A female Atheist? Good for them.
Great to see people elect a non-Christian as their leader. Maybe one day, American thinking will progress enough to allow that to happen here.

here's my issue.  who cares about her religious beliefs?  who cares that she's a she? why is it "good for them" that they elected a female atheist?  that has ZERO to do with her political and leadership skills.  i think its more important to focus on the real matter at hand.

[TURBO]

Well Americans just voted a muslim in for president. So I think your argument is dead.

http://ivarfjeld.wordpress.com/2010/06/08/egyptian-minister-obama-told-me-he-is-a-muslim/

+1

[TURBO]

I am not bothered by her thoughts/beliefs. Why are they important to you? She is very clear on her respect towards the beliefs of others. She should be emulated by many on this board.

LOL. Leave it to you to get it wrong.

Who said her thoughts/beliefs were so important to me? What's impressive is the voters ignoring her Atheism and electing her. A female Atheist? Good for them.
Great to see people elect a non-Christian as their leader. Maybe one day, American thinking will progress enough to allow that to happen here.

LMAO - folks look past such issues regularly - did you notice who the current President is? Folks made a discussion - without basis - about a Catholic not being a President of the US - then Kennedy. Now Barak Hussein Obama - and you still want to make such a point - a black man, with a Muslim name - folks went out of their way to be fair and listen to him and his supporters. Doesn't matter whether the outcome was right or wrong to you or me - the fact is folks didn't have the issue you want hang on them. There is nothing to what you're saying - other than the obvious point you're making to support your own beliefs that the American people aren't as smart as you. FAIL in the point.

clap-clap-clap!

[white dragon]

Hmm, never knew Eisenhower was a Jehovah's Witness. Wonder if he went door-to-door?

whaaaaat? thats crazy how in the world was he a JW and in the Army. JW beliefs dont lend themselves to military service from what I've gathered. Bizarre. Wonder if he did door to door in his General's Uniform