David Gould

I think that all politicians should be made to reveal their positions on any issue of potential controversy.

Only complete openess on these matters is true to democracy.

I would also add that if you have been voted in after decalring your position you should not be allowed to change your mind and vote against your declared position unless you dclared that change and stood for re-election.

Of course, this might be inpractical until Internet voting is made secure, cheap and reliable.

Stabby-

The Constitution demands elected officials to treat all classes equally, once elected they become a servant of the state. They actually lose some rights.

If someone can't take that role, they should not run for office.

Ivius
Right, for these very reasons Philosophical questions have been eliminated from the debate. They are poor reasons. These forums show that there is a population out there who would be very interested to know if their public official believed in creationism, evil spirits and vooduu dolls.

Writer:

Then it would be the secular reporter's job to communicate why religious foundations are ultimately disruptive to society. Right, the president did say he found Jesus to be his favorite philosopher-- yet no reporter took this information anywhere? It was too big of a story.

Public officials each have a methodology.
If a public official is going to use a religious Methodology to create secular laws, that methodology needs to be criticised. Otherwise we will continue to get laws like prayer in school, and 10 commandment postings, creationism in school, and evolution bannings.

Is there a niche for a secular reporter within the media community? Has anyone heard of one?

let me rephrase the quesiton:If you were given the means and a budget to be a secular reporter, with access to elected officials, what sorts of questions would you ask and why? What is the secularist political agenda and how would you promote it through the news media?

Stabby

[ January 29, 2002: Message edited by: Stabby- ]</p>

ex-idaho

I am going to suggest a utopian concept here. Imagine that the secularist in this country could organize to the point that we could produce voter guides. Questionairres could then be sent to every candidate asking just those questions as well as others. Then compiled and submitted to members of the organization as well as the media. This is our only real option for hoping to accomplish the outing of political/religious extremism.

If we could organize we could be a powerful force in politics. We have roughly the same numbers as the homosexuals in this country according to polls but we are not courted. Until we can come to a unified political position we will be marginalized and shouted down.

4th Generation Atheist

Bush's saying Jesus was his favorite "philosopher" actually helped him get votes!! Why? Because an awful lot of our people are shit-kicking rednecks, that's why!! And these are now found in many places other than their stereotypical domain in the rural South, increasing their influence everywhere!

(To the odd secularist "redneck" out there, I apologize.)

We keep right on getting the government we deserve. And right now large segments of our populace are influenced by Churches of Stupidity of one brand or another, so we keep getting stupid churchy politicians! What do you expect?!! Look at education in this country! We keep falling back further and further from the rest of the industrialized world, and poorly educated people are more open to the influence of other poorly educated people who get a bit clever at manipulation. As we slide into savagery we can only expect our situation---and those who preside over it---to get worse and worse.

I agree with idaho that it would be a good idea to get organized. That is, after all, how the fundies took over the world's oldest democracy. I don't think we'll ever agree on everything (the fundies don't either, though) but getting organized enough to put out voter guides and material on our issues (chuch/state being the primary one on which most of us agree) would be a good start.

[ January 29, 2002: Message edited by: 4th Generation Atheist ]</p>