In the uk there are several atheist politicians, most prominently Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition. Religion really isn’t a major factor here - if someone starts talking a lot about their faith we tend to politely edge away.
4 Likes
One of Sadiq Khan’s better stories is about how he was sworn in as a Privy Councillor and took along a Koran. When they tried to return it afterwards he said “Keep it for the next one.”
I think the thing our small-minded citizens forget is that by the conquest of India and what are now Bangladesh and Pakistan, Britain inevitably involved itself deeply with those countries and changed dramatically itself. We didn’t have slavery, but we had low paid cloth workers. This is something like our Civil Rights movement coming to fruition. The failure of three Old Etonians - Cameron, Johnson and Goldsmith - to derail Khan, the desperation of their attacks, shows that the Establishment is getting worried. Personally, I’m delighted. I know some Jews are worried about the rise of Islam in London, but a little thought shows that the answer is to get ordinary Muslims involved so that the area for extremists shrinks. There are plenty of Jewish MPs, but no Hassidic ones.
5 Likes
I agree. Boris Johnson is like a more PR-friendly Trump (photos of them at the same age are very similar, too.) Goldsmith was simply wet; he went with what the Lynton Crosby 
political PR agency told him to do. Londoners, however, are not Australians. What I can’t forgive Goldsmith for is going along with it. It’s not as if he needed the money.
He could have distanced himself from Cameron, Johnson, Fallon and co., and I am sure if he had done the result would have been much closer. As it was, the election turned partly into a vote on the Conservative Party as a whole. Down 5%…not widely reported in the papers.
2 Likes
Exactly, as a member of a prominent jewish dynasty, married to a member of the most prominent jewish family on the globe, he should have know better, than to play that card [quote=“kupfernigk, post:22, topic:77948”]
I know some Jews are worried about the rise of Islam in London, but a little thought shows that the answer is to get ordinary Muslims involved so that the area for extremists shrinks.
[/quote]
I also know such people and I wish their historical memory would reach back a generation–reminding them how Jews, especially scary East End socialist / working class Jews (like their parents / grandparents) were portrayed by the press in say 1930s and 40s.
What utterly puzzles me about well off Jews in London is their firm belief that the Eaton Elite has accepted them in their fold to an extent where they have nothing to fear from those in power… This is the greatest historical fallacy–and anyone who knows anything about 20th century history should be crystal clear that the powers to fear are the powers there are not some (minority who have a single elected politician in high office). Instead we obsess about the anti-zionist left, rather than recognise that the issue is and always will be power–semitic or other wise. And while Jews have a lot of it in the deserts of Israel they have very little real power, here in the UK. So solidarity should be the name of the game.
Between 80 and 120 nuc lear warheads on IRBMs says you’re wrong. The ability to turn Eastern Europe and Germany to a sea of glass is an extremely good bargaining chip.
1 Like
I’m very glad people are so interested in London’s elections but I do find the focus on Khan’s religion a bit weird. Given how many other hangups we have, religion is probably the least important.
For me, and maybe most people living in London, it’s really about transportation policies. That may sound mundane but I think the phrase clash of civilisations should really only be applied to station interchanges.
2 Likes
Here in the U.S. we still have religious tests in order to hold office. They don’t specify what religion of course, but we still have the test. Oh, and yes, having a religious test to hold office violates Article VI, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution. In my state, our bill of rights article 1 section 4 reads
RELIGIOUS TESTS. No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office, or public trust, in this State; nor shall any one be excluded from holding office on account of his religious sentiments, provided he acknowledge the existence of a Supreme Being.
Bonus for us, it’s also sexist!
6 Likes
I like this guy!
3 Likes
I certainly do acknowledge his existence. Me.
(In seriousness that is a fucked up religious test)
7 Likes
you are the one that makes the grass grow green 
3 Likes
Transport, housing and schools, surely?
Currently being in the catchment area for an Ofsted outstanding school can be worth £200k or more on house prices, and part of the reason for the transport problems is simply that people cannot afford to live near their jobs. Another is the sheer difficulty of moving house in the UK. The whole thing is a fustercluck, and Johnson (and his party) have made it worse. Then there’s the whole issue of the Green Belt. It would have been better to let London expand organically and avoid the over-concentration of jobs in narrow transport corridors.
It’s ridiculous, for instance, that more land is devoted to golf courses in Surrey than housing.
1 Like
I’d guess that the majority of Daesh’s victims are Muslims who don’t conform to their interpretation of the faith. I’m not surprised they’d target Rep. Ellison, who seems like an awesome guy.
3 Likes
This kind of guilt by association is not just limited Muslims. Atheists have to put up with bullshit arguments from people claiming that they are no different from Stalin, Pol Pot or Mao.
Never mind that communists had more in common with religious fundamentalism and theocracy than the simple notion of atheism. Replacing cultish worship of a deity with cultish worship of the state or leader. One can’t look at North Korea and claim it is an atheist state. Their leadership dynasty is worshiped in a religious fashion.
Atheists in a modern sense worship nobody in particular and avoid the habit altogether.
2 Likes
I dunno… I’ve met some that were pretty worshipful of Doctor Who.
4 Likes
5 Likes
Someone once described religious types as the original geeks; obsessed with minutia of imaginary worlds, obsessed with what is canon and what is not. As always, the merits of a joke are in the telling, so I regret butchering it.
4 Likes
Was it this:
3 Likes
Stalin’s self-cult was such that he sidelined Marshal Zhukov after WW2 due to his popularity, even trying to get him to lead the victory parade on a horse that had thrown Stalin in the hope Zhukov would fall off in public.
But where communism differs from atheism is its explicitly religious basis - ideas like “historical inevitability”. Marx was the grandson of a rabbi, and it shows in his thinking. Communism can be considered to be just another schism of the Abrahamic religions - one in which the Kingdom of Heaven is called “communism”, the apocalypse is the destruction of capitalism via socialism, and though God takes a back seat, he appears as teleology.
3 Likes
Point well taken! I consider myself an adherent to that particular faith.
Tom Baker and Elizabeth Sladen being the best Doctor/companion pairings of all time*.
*Truth be told, everyone’s “favorite Doctor” is the one they grew up with.
3 Likes
Agree with you completely.
Try telling all of that to Bible thumpers who are just looking to sling a little ad hominem at atheists. 
1 Like
