To add to that, does anyone come to mind that you think is lying? If so, what do you think gave them away?

One final question, if it turned out a president admitted to lying about being a Christian just to get elected, but they did a really good job whilst in office, how would you feel?

48 comments

  1. I think lying to the public is a problem. If they are will to lying about that what else would they lie about.

  2. I think it would be a bigger deal in local politics national politics are too tribalized but I could definitely see that being a scandal in like a mayor election

  5. I’m sure there are some, but I really don’t care. There are a lot of non-practicing Christians in the US in general with varying degrees of commitment to their faith.

  6. >To add to that, does anyone come to mind that you think is lying? If so, what do you think gave them away?

    Easily Trump. Literally everything about him gives it away.

  7. I think a lot of them exaggerate their religiosity knowing that most don’t care, but those who care, care a lot.

  10. There’s almost certainly a couple people in office who are atheist and pretend not to be, but I really doubt it’s any large portion

  11. Atheists/non religious are the biggest underrepresented minority group in politics, it’s almost a certainty that there would be closeted atheists in office

    Trump lied about being a Christian, he’s obviously not. Now his MAGA religious crowd are either fooled by his act or just playing along, but they’ll still vote for him

  12. A lot of them are almost certainly playing it up. Many people here are casually religious, as in they don’t go to a church but they still believe in god. I’d bet a lot of politicians are the same way. I do wish we’d get to the point where we can just drop any pretense and have openly atheist people elected, though. It’s 2023 ffs

  14. I’m sure some are. I really wish they weren’t though because I would like to see more open atheists in power in my country.

  15. I’m not so sure many are “atheist” and lying, but I don’t doubt a significant portion would be almost completely non-practicing if it were not for the optics they need in the public eye.

  16. Where I am, no one cares about a politician’s religion and local candidates don’t talk about it. It would hurt them more than help them here

  17. I always suspected Obama was more likely atheist than not.

    Lying about your religion is practically a requirement (if you’re an atheist) to be elected in America. Sad reality, but true. Unless they really leaned into the lie and made it a big part of their public image, I would have zero problems with someone lying about it.

  18. A decent portion of people identify with a religion for cultural/ancestral reasons while not really practicing it or necessarily believing in it. They’re not exactly *lying* when they say they’re X, but they also don’t necessarily mean they’re observant.

    ——–

    While ~30% of the country is religiously unaffiliated, ~20% are “nothing in particular” and ~5% each are atheist + agnostic.

    “atheist” in this country is typically taken as a statement of belief – “I believe there is/are no god(s)”

    That tends to court more controversy than “nothing/no religion” – which is viewed more just a statement of a lack of personally identifying with a religion.

    I’d expect to see far more aspiring politicians choose the “nothing in particular” choice than “atheist” for their religious identification.

  19. I think 99% of them play up their religion to appeal to sections of voters.

    If they are above the local level of politician, I don’t think most of them give a shit either way. They identify as whatever benefits them.

  20. There’s only a few I think are genuinely guided by their religious beliefs such as Pence, Cruz, and Desantis. Whether you believe they are interpreting the Bible correctly is another question but they act out of genuine religious belief.

    With people like MGT and Lauren Boebert I think they are just cultural evangelicals masquerading as religious for votes

  21. I trust a coyote in a hen house more then I trust politicians. I assume every word that comes out of their mouths is posturing rather then belief and that every American should treat every politician this way.

    I’d rather have a competent president who I know lied at least once then an incompetent one who has a 0.001% chance that he is telling the truth.

  24. It depends on what you mean by “atheism”. Do you mean “know it all obnoxious reddit atheists who can’t stop telling everyone how atheist they are”? If so, then no, because people like that are insufferable and would never advance in any organization that requires civility.

    Do you mean “functionally agnostic, but not labelled as such”, then yes there are probably a lot of people like that. For most people religious belief doesn’t have a big impact on day to day life, so there isn’t a need to clearly articulate those beliefs or even have a strong opinion. This ambiguity makes it easy to exaggerate on the campaign trail without outright lying.

  25. I’ve always been convinced that Obama is an atheist, but there is no way he could have publicly stated that and won any office.

  27. Not lying about being an atheist but I think some are religious/grew up religious but they aren’t in the front row every Sunday like they make it seem

  28. 1000% Specifically, I believe Trump plays up whatever trait he believes is valuable to him. Seeing him hug the American flag during CPAC made me want to puke, as well as his little stunt with that bible after gassing protesters.

  29. Well OP, a legitimate question turned into another Trump bashing. Jfc FOCUS, people!

  30. They absolutely do. There was a politician (and current member of Congress) on my church’s membership rolls who never showed up or did anything, but claimed the membership when asked or on bios, etc. Most of us were OK with it, we’re a liberal church and the vast majority of us would vote for her in any case.

  31. I hope so. I really don’t like Christianity’s stranglehold on American politics.

  32. I don’t think most politicians are actually atheists. The default position in the US is that some kind of Christian god exists, so they just go along. That’s how people get elected in this country.

  34. As a Jew, this is a foreign concept to me. Firstly because you can be an atheist and still be Jewish. And second of all, because questioning God is traditional within many sects of Judaism, and encouraged.

  35. I’m a cynic, but I believe most people who claim to be religious don’t actually practice what they preach.. which means they’re not actually religious. That goes double for politicians.

  36. Probably, I mean at least on the conservative side there are, case in point Lindsey Graham.

    I think you’re under the faulty assumption that there aren’t atheists in political office because they aren’t as vocal about their atheism as Christians are about Christianity.

    Reddit has a long history of being very dogmatically atheistic, and very vocal about it. The real world is not like that. Nobody who is a rational atheist will ever proselytize their beliefs beyond in academia or private conversation. People who evangelize and proselytize typically do so with a motive, whether truly religious or ulterior, but there is no base to cater too among atheists, and there is no religious reason to do so either. One would gain nothing by announcing their atheism for all to see in the way a theist might, so why do that? Why waste energy debating the existence of God when you have legislation to pass?

  37. I think they almost all do and say whatever it is that they think will get them elected. Trump and Hillary chief among them.

  38. What I’m far more concerned about are the devout Christians that believe in the rapture and are actively working to bring it about, or impose their beliefs on everyone else (ie abortion). These are also the same people who believe their god created everything for humanity’s sole benefit and have no regard for the planet, extinction of species, or global warming.

  39. Some states still technically have religious tests even though they’re unconstitutional, so some politicians definitely are lying about it to either get the votes they need or to stay in office. I also do think that a number in the GOP aren’t as aggressively religious as they actually are. The GOP has been garnering the Evangelical vote since the 70’s and so they need to keep up appearances of family values, something that the GOP has proven time and time again to not actually care about.

    I wouldn’t care if a president turned out to be atheist. Atheism is so stigmatized in parts of the USA that I’d actually welcome it as proof that atheists aren’t amoral monsters the hyper-religious tends to make them out to be.

    As much as it might not seem like it right now, church attendance and Americans self-identifying as religious has been on the downturn since I think the 70’s. The Evangelical sector of the GOP will eventually grey and fade out.

  40. For sure there are more atheists and agnostics than you would think.

    If one were to “come out” as atheist/agnostic, I’d think much more highly of them.

  41. I think a decent part of out politicans are lying full stop. I’m sure religion is part of the lie.

  42. I think many religious individuals follow a social script more than they believe what they are saying. Many religious people say things that aren’t anywhere biblically. Like hatred for transgenderism and abortion for example. There is no biblical precedence for that. And alot of things people say from within the bible are cherry picked too. There’s one book, but somehow 6 major sects of Christianity and dozens of smaller denominations, none of which agree on what’s correct. Denominations that stick more literally to the bible are often seen as social pariah for what they eat and how they dress rather than something to aspire to by other denominations. Basically these religious entities are made to follow some status quo and the beliefs of some narcissistic pastor rather than making any true spiritual connection if such a thing exists.

    When politicians use religion in their platform it is 100% virtue signaling

  43. Yes. I watched a documentary about this one time and it called out the fact that it’s pretty statistically impossible that the politicians are as religious as they say they are because even in church pews there as a percent of people who aren’t religious at all. At the time of the documentary I think there was only one single openly atheist in the entire congress. So one single person out of over 400 people being non religious is pretty much guaranteed to be bullshit. Even in a group of 400 priests you are likely to find more than one who is no longer religious.

  44. I don’t think it’s just politicians. I think a large number of people from every walk of life pretend to be more religious than they are. I think the “true believers” are the exception.

    Mitt Romney and Mike Pence are the only two national level politicians that I can think of that I think really believe in their religion. Maybe Rafael Warnock. The rest are playing it up for social/cultural reasons.

  45. As a Christian, it appears many politicians know just enough of the caricatures of Christianity to give that appearance but also be an embarrassment to those who actually believe. Power seeking (elected or otherwise) isn’t actually a tenet.

  46. Yes, but I also think that most religious people are faking it because I simply cannot understand people actually believing in that stuff.

  48. Most of them aren’t actually “God fearing Christians”

    It’s all just pretty packaging.

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