Stereotypes be damned: A Liberal Atheist Supports Mitt

I’m a proud non-believer and a socially liberal person. Because of this, many people are surprised to find out I’m a Republican. Most people assume that all Republicans or Democrats must be one way or another. This is ignorant and ill-informed. Society has fed these stereotypes and many people fail to research beyond the talking heads on Fox, MSNBC and Comedy Central. Not all Republicans are fundamentalists and not all Democrats are socialist. There are loud fringe groups perpetuating a typecast. Placing diametrically politically-opposed individuals face-to-face on a news talk show makes for interesting television and keeps ratings high. This is the current state of politics today—emotionally charged debates broken into to sound bites for consumption by the masses. “Democrats stand for the working man and love people. Republicans are greedy and hate people.” False and cannot be further from truth.

In reality, the Democrat Party has a long history of bigotry and hatred while the Republican Party has a prestigious history as being forward-thinking and progressive. For nearly 200 years, the Democrat Party was known as the party of the rich white landowner. It was a party that always had a close tie to industry and big business. Through decades long control in Congress, Democrats shaped laws to benefit the industrialists, corporations, and themselves—a practice that continues today. As America grew and became more diverse, the party tried to adapt and maintain power. To accomplish this, it had to consolidate various special interests: urban blacks, blue collar works, unions, and others. In order to maintain power over these groups, the party propagandized and manipulated them into thinking certain liberties were being infringed upon when in reality they were not. Enemies were manufactured and maintained to this day. Because of the ignorance of these groups, they bought and continue to buy into these lies.

Republicans on the other hand are the party of low taxes, minimal government and individual liberty. This is the party of Abraham Lincoln, Robert Green Ingersoll, Teddy Roosevelt, Barry Goldwater and even Martin Luther King, Sr. It wasn’t until the 1980s that the conservative, fundamentalist Christians became extremely vocal within the GOP. Many leaders felt it necessary to appeal to this particular constituency to consolidate power as the Democrats had with blacks et al. Yes, conservative Christians have tried to impose socially conservative restrictions on abortion and marriage, but to no avail. Although extremely vocal, they have become more and more impotent throughout the past 20 years. Despite this outspoken minority, the party is still home to those with the core principals espoused by its most prominent leads throughout the past.

I support the Republican Party and Mitt Romney, because I’m liberal in a classical sense. I believe individuals should be free to do as they please without infringing on the natural rights of others. From all I’ve seen and read of Romney and based on my reading of the party platform, the GOP believes individuals have a right to be free from government intrusion into their businesses and their bedrooms. Sure, there are some who vocally express disdain for homosexuality or abortion, but neither is illegal and there is no concerted Republican effort to end either. These are mere distractions manufactured by Democrats to instill fear in their pathetic, fractured coalition. Most Republicans stand for individual liberty as do I.

I’m a Republican because I’m an atheist. The GOP has a long history of appealing to atheists. Why? Because it is the Big Tent Party. It was the party that embraced religious and non-religious diversity. Where the Democrat party sees groups, the Republican party sees individuals with varying beliefs and perspectives. It is the party of the freethinker. Robert Green Ingersoll was a vocal agnostic/atheist Republican in the 1800s. He was opposed to slavery and any sort of oppression by individuals or government. He, Ayn Rand, Milton Freidman, and other atheists are held in high regard among Republicans to this day.

Mitt Romney has demonstrated through his work as governor of Massachusetts that he is a capable businessman who understands the importance of individual liberty. He’s familiar with the hard work that goes into starting and running a successful business. Sure, he’s a Mormon, but there are plenty of good men throughout history who were indoctrinated into a religion at a young age. Based his history of government service, it seems it has had zero affect on his ability to govern. Mitt is a Republican in the vein of all the other great ones before him.

The Republican Party welcomes all nonbelievers, liberals and freethinkers. It’s the party of liberty and limited government. It always has and will continue to be the mainstream party for me.

The Purpose of this Blog

The purpose of this blog is to demonstrate and analyze religious/political indoctrination techniques of Christians, Jews, and Muslims, as well as address religious dogma. What qualifies me to attack these head-on and why am I passionate?
I know the INs-and-OUTs of the Christian publishing industry because I was actively involved in producing Christian propaganda for the world’s largest Protestant denomination for nearly thirteen years. Additionally, I have a graduate degree in Political Communication where my primary focus was political advertising and communication. Religious communication is in many ways nothing more than a form of political communication. Church leaders utilize indoctrination techniques that are common in the political realm.
To demonstrate this, I will provide an example. In 2002 or so, the Southern Baptist organization where I worked was hosting an event for state convention leaders. We invited the communication directors from various other Southern Baptist entities to participate. During a break in between sessions, I was mingling with these individuals. Their work intrigued me. One of the men, a director from the International Mission Board (IMB), divulged some interesting information. He said that they had been examining the communication techniques of the Ayatollah Khomeini during and after the 1979 Iranian Revolution in which the Ayatollah successfully overthrew the secular government and installed a theocratic dictatorship.
I certainly do not judge the IMB for this. It is a perfectly legitimate endeavor. If you are running a large religious organization and your mission is to indoctrinate as many people as possible throughout the world, you learn from the best.
This is but one example of the correlation between religion and politics and indoctrination and propaganda. I will provide more in future posts. I hope this blog is instrumental in causing people to think about what they are taught and how to recognize subtle religious dogma in all formats.

A Letter to All Pastors, Youth Ministers, and SS Teachers

Dear Christian Leader:

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Daniel Brown. I was raised as a Southern Baptist and "saved" when I was five. Both of my grandfathers were preachers. My parents were active in the church, as well. I attended a private Baptist school in Memphis until fifth grade. I was active in my youth group and went on many mission trips at home and abroad. I enrolled at Union University to become a preacher and was a member of the Ministerial Association. Additionally, I worked as a youth minister for four years. Into my third year at Union, I decided to change my major to design communication and moved to middle TN to work for the Tennessee Baptist Convention. I was their graphic designer for almost four years. During this time, I finished up my degree at Belmont.

While working for the TBC, I met a couple of guys from the Cooperative Program Development division of the SBC Executive Committee in 1999 and went to work for them soon after. I was production manager for CP for almost four years. I traveled the country helping to promote CP and interacted with all state conventions and worked at all the annual meetings. All along I was attending church and teaching Sunday school.

From age fifteen, I felt this nagging feeling inside that persisted until I was 30. The Bible seemed ridiculous, but I MUST believe for fear of being disconnected from God and the afterlife. My pursuit of knowledge and desire to understand the origins of Scripture led me to the place where I am today. It is fact that the Bible is simply a hodge-podge of ramblings from a number of unverifiable sources. Because of this fact, the foundation of Judaism and Christianity is critically damaged. Additionally, the wild claims in the Bible, such as raising the dead, a talking donkey, a talking, burning bush, and walking on water are all ridiculous and simply are not true.

I’ve been on a two-year long quest to find preachers, evangelists, and church leaders to engage me in an on-going dialogue about their faith. As of late, I have found no one who can debate on an intellectual level and present solid evidence to support their position. Most of what is presented is cliché and trite. My desire is to appeal to the intellect and beg Christians to reconsider their delusional beliefs and join me in building lives based in reason and pursuit of knowledge rather than obsessing about pleasing a celestial dictator.

I would appreciate a dialogue with you to see the depth of your knowledge of Scripture and Christianity and to present a perspective from someone who has come from a place similar to where you are.

Sincerely,
Daniel Brown