Will there be an Atheist, Female, or Homosexual President in our lifetime?

[King of Wei]

Female president - 20 years or less
Female homosexual president - 30 years or less
Atheist president - 60 years or less
Male homosexual president - probably not in my lifetime.

Seems like female homosexuality is tolerated more than male homosexuality, at least from what I see in my state, so I'd be thoroughly surprised if they got elected into the presidency in the next 100 years.

All the religious people I know seem to think that atheists want to "ban" religion outright, so if that notion is widespread amongst the religious community I doubt we'll see an atheist president for some time, at least an honest one. It would be kinda funny if an atheist pretended to be religious until elected and then BAM, atheist. I'd love to see how the country would react.

Kind of a shame that "the first -blank- president" thing is such a big deal, in a good or bad sense. Yeah it shows how much progress America is making toward tolerance, but them I'm reminded that the country with the label "land of the free" is still having civil rights issues 200+ years after it was founded. Annoys the hell out of me.

 

[HerrBobo]

Snip

People from the United States of America always seem to think the word "President" only applies to there own leader.

Will there be an Atheist, Female, or Homosexual President in our lifetime?

Yes to a female, for sure. In fact, there already has been, in several Nations around the World. My own country, The Republic of Ireland, has already had two female Presidents.

 

[Devil's Due]

Snip

People from the United States of America always seem to think the word "President" only applies to there own leader.

Will there be an Atheist, Female, or Homosexual President in our lifetime?

Yes to a female, for sure. In fact, there already has been, in several Nations around the World. My own country, The Republic of Ireland, has already had two female Presidents.

So you generalized people from the U.S. about... generalizing?

I did not claim there is only one President, I made the title that way because "Will there be an Atheist, Female, or Homosexual President of the United States of America In Our Lifetime?" is a stupidly long forum title. You can easily see later on I use the political term POTUS to confirm I am talking about the United States of America, and not just assuming there is only one president.

Why am I only talking about POTUS? Because our politics are hilariously tangled with religion, thus making it an amusing guessing game for how long till tolerance will finally rise past ignorance. Most countries have already made it there, so there's no point in wondering about them for this particular scenario.

Please don't make assumptions about my country, and I won't make any about yours. Thanks.

 

[XMark]

Female - quite likely. Hilary Clinton came pretty close to beating Obama in the leadup to the last election. And on the other side of the political spectrum, for a while there it looked like Sarah Palin might have given the next election a shot. Very few people oppose the idea of a female president so there will be one in the next couple of decades for sure.

Gay or Atheist presidents - much less likely. The huge religious voter base would be turned off by either one.

 

[dyre]

John F Kennedy "...taken a very fragile United States and handled it rather well given their circumstances?" Is that a joke??

As for your question, female president should be no problem, lots of nations have those now. Hillary Clinton probably would've been president had Obama not run such a good campaign in 2008. Might've been the better choice too.

Atheist president? If you mean openly atheist, I think people will get over the "needs to be religious to govern correctly" line of thought in a few decades. As for homosexuals, it might take awhile because even if no official stigma exists, I think straight guys would still feel a little bit weird being led by a gay guy.

 

[Shock and Awe]

Female: Not to long, maybe after this election or the one after that.

Public Atheist: Shit, maybe 50 years, seeing as about half the people will go against him regardless of policies it will be awhile. Though Jefferson came pretty damn close to being the first.

Homosexual: Not for a looooong time. Even if no one was prejudiced against homosexuals they are a small part of the population and therefore there aren't many in politics in the first place.

 

[Lilani]

Female? Probably. Atheist? Probably not, but it's still possible, and we'll probably get a few more prominent candidates in the next 20 years or so. Homosexual? I really don't think so. I think we're still a good two generations away from that. A lot of the high school/college age Christians in the church right now are more open to this sort of thing, but it'll still be a good while before they and their way of thinking have any sort of a majority in the church leadership.

 

[chadachada123]

Time for some straight facts: Atheists are the most-hated and least-trusted group in the United States, and are far, far less likely to be elected President. Period. All of these are different studies, with particular emphasis on the final two studies, where atheists are, by a large margin, less likely to be elected president than gays, Muslims, Jews, women, every other category, period.

http://blog.lib.umn.edu/edgell/home/Strib%20Atheist%20Faith%20and%20Values.html

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2011/11/09/would-you-be-comfortable-with-an-atheist-president-2011-survey-says/

http://digitaljournal.com/article/315425

http://atheism.about.com/od/atheistbigotryprejudice/a/AtheistSurveys.htm

http://www.gallup.com/poll/26611/some-americans-reluctant-vote-mormon-72yearold-presidential-candidates.aspx

Atheists are, as of now, by far the last group to be considered for the presidency. We've got some 3 or 4 openly gay congressman, and only, if I recall correctly, a single congressman that doesn't adhere to a religion, and even then is from the stereotypically "godless" San Fransisco.

 

[chadachada123]

Well, 2 of those 3 options can be considered oppressed minorities, so when we get a president that is either a woman or a homosexual it will probably be a big deal. Atheists aren't really oppressed, unless you count the fact that no non-atheist likes them (mostly because all famous atheists appear to be huge assholes) so it's unlikely anyone will vote for an atheist anytime soon.

You say that atheists aren't oppressed, and then say that they are absolutely oppressed? I'd like some of what you're smoking. The fact that, in many towns in the United States, you can lose all of your friends and family for coming out as an atheist, makes it pretty damn clear that atheists are oppressed hard. We may not have the legal troubles that homosexuals have, but to say that women are still oppressed, even in the US, today but that atheists somehow are not...is laughable at best, largely misinformed at worst.

That said, maybe you aren't from the US, or maybe you live in a far-north state/community where you're not surrounded by religious nuts, but much of the US is very much impossible to live in as an atheist. Socially, atheists have it the worst in normal society.

 

[JoJo]

I think America would accept a female president already, it's just a matter of finding the right candidate given that most politicians are men. The other two? Sooner than you might think I reckon, a president only needs 50% + 1 of the vote and so it doesn't matter if around four tenths of the population think they're evil for being atheist or gay if that four tenths all generally vote one way (i.e. Republican), the larger voter block can out-weight them.

 

[Kolby Jack]

Well, 2 of those 3 options can be considered oppressed minorities, so when we get a president that is either a woman or a homosexual it will probably be a big deal. Atheists aren't really oppressed, unless you count the fact that no non-atheist likes them (mostly because all famous atheists appear to be huge assholes) so it's unlikely anyone will vote for an atheist anytime soon.

You say that atheists aren't oppressed, and then say that they are absolutely oppressed? I'd like some of what you're smoking. The fact that, in many towns in the United States, you can lose all of your friends and family for coming out as an atheist, makes it pretty damn clear that atheists are oppressed hard. We may not have the legal troubles that homosexuals have, but to say that women are still oppressed, even in the US, today but that atheists somehow are not...is laughable at best, largely misinformed at worst.

That said, maybe you aren't from the US, or maybe you live in a far-north state/community where you're not surrounded by religious nuts, but much of the US is very much impossible to live in as an atheist. Socially, atheists have it the worst in normal society.

Not being liked =/= oppressed. Maybe tell your celebrity Atheists to stop being assholes and you'll get somewhere. Also:

That said, maybe you aren't from the US, or maybe you live in a far-north state/community where you're not surrounded by religious nuts, but much of the US is very much impossible to live in as an atheist. Socially, atheists have it the worst in normal society.

That, right there, is why people don't like Atheists. People like you who claim Atheists are these great victims? Yeah, that's so completely untrue I can't imagine YOU having written it with a straight face. My brother is an Atheist, as is my best friend, and many other people I know who aren't victimized by society for being Atheists. And I'm from Texas, in case you were wondering.

Never, EVER say your group has it "the worst" in society. Even ACTUAL oppressed minorities don't dare make that claim. It just makes you look blind to the real suffering of other groups and selfish for insinuating your group is somehow more oppressed than other groups. Don't go there, man. It ain't pretty.

 

[217not237]

I think I'd bet on a unicorn giving humans immortality by sprinkling rainbow dust over Earth before an Atheist/homosexual president in the next 50 years.

 

[Flailing Escapist]

A homosexual president would be fabulous! If we had a female president I think too many people would not shut the fuck about it. So the next logical step is an atheist president... I'll be waiting pensively.

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

Ellen DeGeneres for President... That's 2.5/3in one!! (She's pretty much agnostic, and definately not openly athiest!)

And she's pretty cool!

 

[Marik2]

Female one in the next 10-15 years
Atheist in the next 50-60

Probably wont be a homosexual one in my lifetime.

Yup I pretty much agree with you on that

Homosexuality is a touchy thing for politicians, but I think that an atheist would do better.

 

[LongAndShort]

Female, definitely, publicly Atheist (emphasis on the term publicly), probably, homosexual, I don't find as likely if for no other reason than a lack of numbers in the general population (homosexuals are a minority population, and their representation is further reduced by the fact that one of the two major parties -guess who- have not shown themselves particularly fond of the group).

 

[3 legged goat]

Female President will probably be in the next 20-30 years.
Openly atheist and openly gay presidents will probably take a while. We have probably already had a atheist president at one point, but they weren't open about it. Gay will probably take the longest to see the position.

 

[cerealnmuffin]

I can see a female president soon as there have been more and more female candidates. I wouldn't be surprised if we had already had an atheist president though they didn't openly state it. There might have even been a gay one, but once again not one that was open. It will be a long while before we have an openly gay or atheist president which I think is a shame.

 

[Mcupobob]

There's prolly already been an Atheist and or homosexual prez. Not a openly one. As for a openly one, and or Female prez, yeah prolly.

 

[Von Strimmer]

Looks like Australia is ahead of the curve with our current atheist Prime Minister... Trust me guys an atheist leader is not all its cracked up to be.

O/T It shouldnt matter about their personal beliefs, only on whether they can do the job well enough. Any other job you would be dragged through a lifetime of litigation and fair work choices if you hired people only on religious grounds or gender grounds. Why does it matter so much for head of state?