Quote of the Day: Kass McMahon on Trump as an Atheist

There were a lot of interesting quotes on my short piece on the idea of Trump being outed as an atheist and what ramification this would have. Kass McMahon, on the ATP Facebook page, said this, which I liked:

I think he is an atheist. Not in the traditional sense of someone who has philosophically thought out the inconsistencies of organized religion or deities and made a rational decision about it; he's an atheist because he has such a supreme ego sickness about him that it's impossible for him to contemplate that there is anything more powerful than he in the world. And that's the difference between himself and extreme theological Christian men: they, too, believe that they rank supreme and dominant over all other beings and animals, with the exception that there is one single entity that they are "subservient" to, and that is their fictitious Bigger Man in the sky.

Indeed, on the original post, there were some equally interesting comments. This, from Bruce Gorton, had a different conclusion:

I think actually, Trump is sincerely religious.

Okay, my first job was as an articled clerk for an auditing firm, and one of the things that we learned was more or less a form of profiling. Basically, if the book keeper was a born again Christian the risk of fraud went up.

The reason is that a lot of born agains seem to think that whatever they do, it is all part of God's plan, and thus all God's will. If they become rich, it is due to God smiling upon them, if they don't they've got to get right with God, not actually do their jobs better.

One example I know of actually defrauded her boss and gave ten percent of the proceeds to the church. Apparently thou shalt not steal - without giving the Lord his cut.

Now the theologically inclined will recognise what I'm talking about as the prosperity gospel, which is held to be heretical by most forms of mainline Christianity. The thing is, Trump isn't mainline, he's evangelical, and everything he's said and done fits within that particular theological mindset.

That said if Trump was an atheist I think his behaviour would be very different - instead of packing his cabinet and advisors with religious nuts, I think he'd go more for religious moderates. You'd see less influence from figures like Mike Pence, and more influence from the Republicans' Libertarian wing.

Sastra added:

My first reaction was to argue that it's unlikely that Trump is an atheist. He voluntarily spent a significant amount of time in Norman Vincent "the Power of Positive Thinking" Peale's church, which combined a God-loves-you light Christianity with New Thought spirituality ala The Secret. If you have confidence and faith, it will come true. Given that he surrounds himself with similar Prosperity Gospel preachers and even chose one of them as his personal spiritual adviser, the odds are heavy in favor of him believing in God. It's probably one in the form of a divine force or destiny which grants gifts to those who have strong, strong will to have them.

That said, the thought experiment is an interesting one. My understanding is that Republican Karl Rove was an atheist, but not out. If Trump came out atheist, my guess is that he'd be acceptable because he's the right kind -- the one who agrees that faith is important for the country and needs to be given as much power as possible. The religious will forgive a hell of a lot if someone who isn't religious expresses the idea that the religious are better than the non religious. Though I admittedly have trouble seeing Trump in that role. But among the conservatives, Trump coming out atheist might indeed normalize atheism.

Some conservatives, that is. Many religious conservatives are appaled by Trump, and this would only entrench their hatred of him and of atheists.

The interesting question is what it would do to the liberals' view of atheism. On the one hand, the association is deadly. But on the other hand, they're already geared up with the "don't judge someone's beliefs by looking at the bad ones" (Islam.) So I don't know. Could go either way, I think.

And there were many more. Good stuff, peoples.