Why hasn't America had an Atheist President?

Just goes to prove that our founders brought a Christian tradition with them to America as they went on to create our Constitution.

Only 3 presidents were accused of being atheist, but nothing of substance to back up those assertions. They were Tom Jefferson, Abe Linclon and William Howard Taft.

So religiously speaking no president was non-Christian, atheist, jew, Hindu, Buddhist or Sikh, or communist until we got obummer.

But my belief as to why our presidents weren't atheist is as simple as knowing that they all had a Christian background. I couldn't imagine the American people voting for a known atheist;....it just wouldn't happen as these people do not share any of the basic tenets of the American people at large.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_affiliations_of_Presidents_of_the_United_States

 

lol
"Goes to prove"? So you means to assert that correlation = causation? Base OP's on fallacies much?

Which tenants do atheists not share? I am curious about this as well.

 

Why do you think Obama isn't a Christian?

 

How about the first of the ten commandments?

 

What gods do we have before Yaweh? 0.

This may be a relevant point if US law was based on the Ten Commandment,s however it is not. You make an irrelevant point.

 

Your question "Which tenants do atheists not share? " Also is not based on nor does the question address "US law". The question in the OP also does not address US law but rather the "why" there have been no Atheist presidents in this government... US Law does not address that issue either. So, your comments relating to relevancy are irrelevant.

 

I am not the one who brought up the ten commandments in a discussion over why there have not been atheists presidents. Belief in the ten commandments is irrelevant, They are lacking anyways.

 

Did you even pay attention to what was written when I brought up the subject of the ten commandments? Here; look at it again: "How about the first of the ten commandments?

Gee that appears to be a question that was submitted for consideration as a probable answer to the former question 'Which tenants do atheists not share?'.

Instead of directly answering that question that I posed, you went off on a tangent when a more direct answer might have been more applicable and appropriate.

 

While our founders left religion out of the formation of our Constitution, it is still fact that 99% of them were deeply rooted in a Christian belief and in assuring their families were raised in a Christian tradition.

So the Ten Commandments were indeed a major factor in the development of our Constitution when Tom Jefferson and the boys developed America's blueprint going forward. So it comes as no surprise that an atheist has never nor will ever become president of these United States. Atheism per se is anathema to all of the tenets of America. Deal with it.

 

had a good laugh.
only 2 of the 10 are in US, and in all countries law btw.

 

We have. They're just afraid to admit it...because of people like you.

 

I'm sure we've had atheist presidents. I just don't think we've had professed atheists for president. That said, I wouldn't vote for an atheist for president, unless the alternative was pretty bad.

 

Ever heard of the Jefferson Bible? He took a set of the gospels, cut out all the supernatural parts, and kept the rest. He liked some of the ideas of Jesus, but he thought the miracles were bunk. How Christian is it to write your own Bible?

 

We have....they just lie about it.

 

we've certainly had Deist presidents and many of the notable founding fathers where Deist. Until the OP i wasnt aware anyone ever claimed they where atheist.

i'll also take the word of President John Adams, and Thomas Jeffersons Senate over you.

"As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion"

 

Any proof of this? Last I checked a great number of them were not theists.

Really? How are the ten commandments reflected in the Constitution?

If Jefferson was a Christian, why would he write a bible of his own? A bible minus all of the miraculous events?

 

I don't think they are saying Jefferson was Christian, but he certainly wasn't atheist either.

 

The stats in the following link actually put our Christian founders closer to 100%, rather than the 99% I had stated earlier. Notice there were zero atheists representing America at that time.

http://www.adherents.com/gov/Founding_Fathers_Religion.html

 

I am not interested in whether or not the founders were atheists, I am curious to see why you believe that so many were Christians. A good portion of them were deists and agnostics.

You still have not pointed out what parts of the Constitution were based on the Bible.

 

My point with that was only that ye olde "America was founded on Christian principles" is an exaggeration to say the least.

 

People wonder why I hide being an atheist in real life. Because I know I am surrounded by people with these horribly bigoted opinions

 

Which one of our founders as represented by the charts in the link I provided were deists or agnostics? Seems to me all of our founders had a Christian religion of one denomination or another.

The mere fact that we have never had an atheist as president should give you incentive to figure out why, while it should also give you reason enough to believe that our founders planned their lives around a Christian tradition, thus basing those ideals of christianity on being a large part of our Constitution. Don't overlook the morality factor either when sizing up the religious background of all of our presidents.

 

No. It proves that the majority of people in the US are Christians and have a dour view of atheists.

Thomas Jefferson was a deist, which is about as close to an atheist as you could get away with back then. By not believing in a "personal God", he is still the antithesis of the modern evangelical right who claim that belief in a personal God is necessary to have a cohesive moral philosophy. Deists believe in a distant God who is inconsequential in the lives of humans, a proxy for Nature basically.

The accusations of atheism just go to show the bigotry of many Americans against atheists.

Obama is none of the above.
But ofcourse the chances of an atheist being elected are low, even holding bigotry aside. It's 10% of the population.
It's a bigger wonder why we haven't had a Hispanic president or a black president before Obama... or a woman president for that matter.

Actually it's not much of a wonder at all, now that I think about it.
Though conservatives delude themselves on the reasons.

The fact that atheists in America have a Christian background refutes the idea that they share separate tenets. Shared background leads to similar tenets. Humanism is morally very much like Christianity because it was formed in Christian culture and emphasizes the same moral values (which are mostly from Greco-Roman secular philosophy anyway).
The only tenet that separates them is faith in God which has zip to do with governance but is unusually important to bigoted evangelicals and fundamentalists.