Atheists & Agnostics

NeoGreen

(4,031 posts) Tue Jun 27, 2017, 09:05 AM Jun 2017

Canadians Would Rather See an Atheist Prime Minister Than an Evangelical One

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2017/06/27/canadians-would-rather-see-an-atheist-prime-minister-than-an-evangelical-one/

Canadians Would Rather See an Atheist Prime Minister Than an Evangelical One
June 27, 2017 by Hemant Mehta

Canadians. You have to stop making those of us in the U.S. feel even worse than we already do. You get Justin Trudeau. We have… Christ, it’s sad to finish that sentence. You have a Cabinet that’s diverse and full of experts in their fields. We have a bunch of evangelicals who deny science and have no business running their departments.

And now, a new poll suggests that Canadian citizens wouldn’t let someone’s atheism, sexual orientation, or gender identity get in the way of their voting habits.

The Angus Reid Institute found that an astonishing 80% of the population would have no problem voting for a party led by someone who’s an atheist. (By comparison, Gallup found in 2015 that only 58% of U.S. voters were comfortable supporting an atheist from their own party for President.)

(snip)

The difference in support for an atheist leader in the U.S. and Canada was larger in than any other category. And I suspect it’s not that Canadians have an urge to see an atheist in office so much as they just wouldn’t care. Why would it matter? It’s not like atheist leaders would push their non-beliefs on everybody. They know full well, however, than evangelical Christians in power would do everything they could to use the government to promote awful faith-based policies. Hell, all they have to do is look to the south to see how that’s working out.