Atheists: The New Gays

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Dilbert creator, Scott Adams writes in his blog, Is it my imagination or have the atheists come out of the closet (in the United States) since 9/11?

Prior to 9/11, it would have been career suicide for a public figure to come right out and say God is a fairy tale. Now it’s a feature of popular culture. You can see it on cable of course, in shows such as BullSh*t, Real Time, The Daily Show, and Southpark. But it’s also a feature of network TV.

The main character on House is written as the most brilliant human on the planet, and he’s an atheist. The new show 3lbs has a similar character. I can’t remember anything like that ten years ago.

Famous atheist Richard Dawkins’ book The God Delusion is #5 on Amazon.com. Sam Harris is right up there with his books The End of Faith and Letters to a Christian Nation. They aren’t selling in numbers anywhere approaching the top religious books, but they are best sellers. When was the last time two books promoting atheism were best sellers at about the same time?

I think the hidden benefit of Islamic extremism is that it freed the atheists from their closets. The old mindset in the United States was that almost any religion was good, and atheism was bad. But since 9/11, atheism has moved above Islam in the rankings, at least in the minds of Christians and Jews in the United States.

Ask a deeply religious Christian if he’d rather live next to a bearded Muslim that may or may not be plotting a terror attack, or an atheist that may or may not show him how to set up a wireless network in his house. On the scale of prejudice, atheists don’t seem so bad lately.

I think that in an election cycle or two you will see an atheist business leader emerge as a legitimate candidate for president. And his name will be Bill Gates.

By then, Bill Gates will have done so much good for the world through his charitable works that combined with his business success he’ll appear more qualified than any other candidate. His early bachelor life and some of his business practices will come back to haunt him if he runs, but he can still win with this simple slogan: “Who would you rather have on your side?” He’ll confess to all of his past imperfections and say that presidents are poor choices for role models. He’ll advise you to look to your parents for role models while you let him run the country.

I doubt Bill Gates is considering a run for president right now, largely because it’s so hard to make a difference from that job. His charities will have more impact. But I think he’ll someday realize that the world needs a rational thinker in the top spot and no one else can win.

At least you’d know he wouldn’t be in it for the money or to speed up the Rapture. He has my vote.

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I worship god on my hikes
Posted by ito johnson on 2006-12-04 00:45:21
"By then, Bill Gates will have done so much good for the world through his charitable works that combined with his business success..."

If the stock market goes south, Bill Gates will be a flash in the pan.

The real donations are coming from desperate people who are paying way too much for his stock in their 401k plans.
Posted by ueberbill on 2006-12-04 08:06:43
Bill Gates is worth 25 billion dollars. Even if he loses ninety percent of his wealth in a stock market bottoming-out he'd still be worth 2.5 billion dollars. And that would be at a time when you and me would be worth about a buck fifty, so I think he's got some economic staying power.
Posted by Pile on 2006-12-04 11:45:11
I am enamored with the idea of an atheist president; one who might abandon dogma and focus on science, but I wouldn't put Bill Gates at the top of my list. Remember when the media called Bush senior a wimp? Gates would make Ross Perot look like the Marlboro Man. Then again, he could probably keep the rest of the world in order by threatening to release "XP Millennium Edition."

I always hoped that Jesse Ventura would seek the presidency. A steel cage and few breakable chairs and tables up at Camp David could be productive.
God made the world
Posted by Ed on 2006-12-06 22:21:01
God made the world. Bible is the holy book
Posted by ueberbill on 2006-12-07 10:00:22
Well stated
missing parts
Posted by NakedApe on 2006-12-17 22:23:32
what about the Tora, or the Quaran
 

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