Libertarian Atheists: A Minority Within A Minority

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Permalink Reply by James Yount on August 11, 2012 at 9:25am

I think the problem is that being conservative implies that you buy the whole manifesto.  My experience is that conservative atheists may accept some of the social conservative values but they usually only consider themselves conservative on the fiscal and small government platforms.  Being a conservative implies, for instance, that you are against gay marriage.  Long story short, we are associated with the Christian Right.

Permalink Reply by Steph S. on August 11, 2012 at 10:11am

I agree with James. It's a misperception that you can be conservative on some issues but liberal on some social issues. Well,l I am glad the group is here. There is a Conservative Atheists group on the site as well Micah.

Permalink Reply by A. Noni Moose on October 17, 2012 at 10:36am

Very true statements. I always describe myself as "fiscally conservative, socially tolerant". I believe in less government and less taxes. Fiscal responsibility is my main voting goal. However, like you I do not believe in government trying to mandate their "morals" on others. I hate that I am associated with Christian Conservatives when I am not one..but, if I am speaking from Atheist point of view I am assumed to be a liberal..also NOT that. I really wish there was a viable 3rd party that represented my thoughts, but I guess there is never a 100% party that supports everything one person believes in..you just gotta decide which issues are more important to your life and try to get the best candidate for that microcasm of thought.

Permalink Reply by jay H on August 12, 2012 at 7:24pm

There are a number of us who feel that government manipulation of our private lives is no better than religious control. There does appear, however to be a substantial degree of government-love in the the atheist community, just as the religious try to use coercion to enforce their ideals, many of the liberal crowd are more than happy to use the force of government to control peoples' actions, even peoples' beliefs.

There are quite a few good basically secular libertarian websites out there but here are a couple of explicitly secular ones

An interesting atheist Canadian libertarian (no kidding)

http://planetatheism.com/author/allen-small/

also a conservative explicitly secular site:

www.secularright.org

Couple of other interesting sites

www.fff.org (libertarian; strongly pro freedom)

www.coyoteblog.com (laid back, entertaining, pro market, including anti corporate welfare)

and if you think of yourself as a conservative:

http://maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com/

Permalink Reply by jay H on August 12, 2012 at 7:54pm

Oh, I forgot this article

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/19/us/19beliefs.html

Permalink Reply by Tonya Wynn on September 10, 2012 at 10:40am

Micah, there IS a stigma and I felt recently that I had to no longer go to a certain atheist group because the women there disliked my not toeing the line of socialism.

Have you been to Facebook's Conservative Atheists or Libertarian Atheists?   Some members go to both of those groups.  I do.  There are over 250 members on one.  We'd love to see you there.

Permalink Reply by Marcelo A. on September 11, 2012 at 12:35am

I hear you, we are a minority within a minority. I am attempting to change that though. Check out my website.

http://moralalliance.ning.com/page/moralityplatform-1

Permalink Reply by bob bookouri on October 17, 2012 at 1:35pm

you bet, even atheists and freethinkers are subject to prejudices.

and theres the problem of the labels conservative and liberal

i dont think modern conservatives neo cons or whatever are the least bit "conservative" and certainly not libertarian in any sense, and liberals seem to be pretty dedicated to "law and order" coercive measures to force people to behave in the way THEY think they should, not particularly "liberal" or libertarian either

liberals and conservatives both seem to me to be dedicated to using the coercive power of govt to mold society into their particular chosen brand of "correct" thought and behavior

i think that may be why libertarians are not always welcome.

people " brand" themselves with one label or the other and then they are stuck rooting for their team... my team right or wrong and the other team is ALWAYS wrong

Permalink Reply by Tonya Wynn on October 18, 2012 at 5:31pm

My understanding of conservative is: no abortion, support Isra-el; next is no homo-rights or no homo's, women are less-than, warmongers, humans own the land so can destroy it if they wanna...then GOD, GOD, and more GOD.  I am not Conservative obviously.