Why America will never elect an atheist president

By Felicia A. Petro/Staff writer

April 30, 2008 11:38 am

— Could an atheist be president in America?
That would be “disastrous,” said Michael Medved.
Medved gave his reasons at a luncheon at Grove City College on April 10 during its “Church & State 2008” conference.
There’s an “atheist movement” in America, with 15 percent of the population identifying themselves as non-religious, said Medved, who is a political commentator and movie critic on the popular, nationally syndicated “Michael Medved Show.”
“It’s a big group, with mostly a Democratic leaning,” he added.
However, 75 percent of Americans say they would never vote for an atheist, which Medved believes is due to the unique position of U.S. presidents and American ideals of faith.
A president is both a head of state and head of the nation.
In the former, they are required to attend American religious ceremonies and traditions. Many of those are Christian in nature.
Medved amused listeners by having them imagine an atheist president who would refrain from saying “one nation under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Or not entering sanctuaries for ceremonial events.
“You’d have to change all the patriot songs,” he added, since most mention God or Jesus.
Despite their flaws or popularity rating, “All presidents have a ‘mystical’ connection to the people,” Medved said.
To disconnect faith from the office alienates most Americans from that mysticism, he noted.
“Most presidents don’t win on platforms, but if he agrees with you on the universal idea of right and wrong; good and evil; and a powerful God who judges nations and individuals,” Medved said.
Past presidential hopefuls like Mitt Romney and Joe Lieberman weren’t rejected because they are Mormon and Jewish, respectively.
They believe in these universal ideals, Medved said. “They are not anti-Christian.” However, among Americans, “there’s a built-in contempt for an atheist,” he added, for not sharing this mysticism.
With radical Islam being the “monstrous ideology” it is today, Medved said a president without faith can’t “beat something with nothing.”
The secularization of Europe has created a huge problem with a radical Islam that Medved called “stone age” and “barbaric.”
“American Muslims are well integrated,” he added.
“Why are we different?” Medved said. “We have a religious culture of which to assimilate with a collection of songs and ideas that are critical to our character, that we are created equal.”
The current presidential election is evidence that “there are some barriers not meant to be broken” in terms of faith, he added.
Barack Obama styled himself as an African American “bargainer” instead of “challenger,” Medved said.
Bargainers are “distinguished, with an open hand, and assume you’re not a racist and ‘you are going to like me,’” he said, using actors like Sidney Poitier, Bill Cosby and Will Smith as examples.
Challengers like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton “play on white guilt and say ‘you owe me,’” he added.
Obama’s candidacy as a bargainer won him favor until comments from his former pastor of 20 years, Jeremiah Wright, were recently exposed, Medved said.
From the pulpit, Wright has given sermons perceived by many to be racist, anti-American and anti-Semitic.
Although black supremacy is the theme of his church, Obama was, ironically, raised by his white mother in a neighborhood and school with no “influence by people of color in any way,” Medved said.
“I don’t care if you are black, white or whatever. Wouldn’t it be nice to stop picking the scab of race?”
Medved broadcasted his show at GCC the afternoon of April 10. That evening he gave a talk on campus about the faith of presidents with Fred Barnes, of FOX News’ “The Beltway Boys.”
Medved is Jewish, but a friend to conservative Christians in America.
Don Feder, also an Orthodox Jew, supported Christian America during the luncheon speech on April 11 at GCC’s “Church & State” conference.
“The best friends of Israel aren’t American (non-religious) Jews but evangelical Christians,” Feder said. “Why I defend Christianity basically comes down to morality. It’s my morality.”
Medved believed Obama will take the Democratic vote for president, but he won’t take the presidency because of religious negativity surrounding his campaign.
“The reason why the Democrats will lose the presidential vote is because Americans are optimistic,” Medved said. “The Gospel is good news, and (practicing) Jewish people wake up and say, ‘Thank you, God, for this new day and giving me back my soul.’
“That’s the American approach.”

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