Why do atheists demand that Christians stay out of legislation?

Many Atheists say Christians are forcing them to accept the Christian standards for living and forget to realize that Humanists are forcing Christians to accept their standards for living. Humanists are forcing Christians to accept many things as now being "good and proper" behavior. Humanists are forcing Christians to accept that abortions, homosexuality, etc are normal behavior patterns, they claim that these things are in fact mankind's natural instincts, and should be encouraged and promoted. In the end, humanism completely removes the ability of people to act upon their free-will, it prompts people to act upon instinct (that which feels good, regardless of it being good or evil) rather than discerning between good and bad, between the truth and the lie, and then acting appropriately. Humanism threatens to quench the voice of Christians, it is trying desperately to control Christians, to force them to not criticize other people's behavior. Hypocrisy indeed!

Another straw-man argument. When are you logically-challenged believers going to learn some new tactics?

No atheists demand that *christians* stay out of legislation. We we -- and many christians -- do is uphold the constitution, which states that religions stay out of government. All religions. Yours and everybody else's.

There is no set of "morals" defined in atheism: atheism is ONLY lack of belief in a god. Nothing else. No dogma, no agenda, no rules, no "beliefs" of any kind.

As for "majority rule:" our constitution was made to protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority. It establishes basic rights that *cannot* be voted on by majority rule. And in all cases, any minority (even if it's christians) has its rights protected the same as any majority.

See, the big problem is that you want to legislate your so-called "morality." If your "morality" is NOT law, you can still practice it on your own, and nobody will care. But if you make your "morality" into law, then people who don't agree with it MUST do it or they go to jail.

Seriously, you don't see the difference? You're free to practice your moral standards or not, it's up to you. Others deserve that same right, even if you don't agree with them.

Go read the constitution.

Peace.

The churches own figures show only 28% ever attend church in a year. Indeed if 28% ever tried to attend church on the same day, even working shifts, there is simply not enough churches!!

But count the bars - in many places there is more space In the bars than the churches!!

So we can ignore your wild claims!!

Have you looked at countries that are theocracies? Iran would look like Disney world against a christian dominated America!!

Now look at the truth of so called christian desires for America!!

Homeland Security is having to put more and more time and resources into tracking christians who seek to tear up the constitution, destroy democracy and foment a second civil war to install a christian dictatorship!!

A chilling warning has been issued to US police forces about the threat of a rise in violent right wing and christian extremist groups fueled by recession and hostility over the election of the first black president!!

Seems these people are not just a bigger threat to American freedoms than external terrorists but completely anti American!!!

They say that the NSA monitors all the internet for such posts as yours and passes them to Homeland security!!

I do hope that is true!!!

Majority rule ends at minority rights.

Supposedly, America is a republic built on the principle of "separation of Church and State" meaning that the government cannot endorse one religion over another or over no religion. There is no hypocrisy within their demands; the Constitution of the United States was written by intellectual, free thinking deists (not Christians) who saw the perils of forging a country that used religious doctrine as the foundation. For proof of how poisonous religion is to the fostering of democracy, look at Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria and even Turkey.

Because we live in a democracy where freedom of religion is paramount! That's what this country is based on. Atheists aren't bashing on Christians, they are just trying to uphold the constitution. Christianity is not the only religion in America, if you can comprehend that... And it's important to consider ALL religions and that is why it's important not to have a heavy Christian focus. Atheists have morals believe it or not! And so do Jews! and Muslims! You just have to open your mind and realize that morality is NOT synonymous with Christianity. It's possible to promote morals without religious context, and that is why we have freedom of religion.

No, Christians can make legislation, Christianity should be the one to stay out. Religion has no place in politics but I have no problem with a religious person as congressmen (women), senate, or president as long as their decisions are not based on what their religion dictates.

In a Republic (yes the United States is a republic not a democracy) they represent the whole USA and even the little guy deserves his say.

Nobody is demanding that Christians stop voting. Most only ask that Christians avoid enacting legislation which promotes Christiantiy to the exclusion of other religious or non-religious beliefs. In other words, atheists just want Christians to obey the Constitution, which does not say that the majority rule can create any laws they want, no matter how discriminatory or unconstitutional. What's hypocritical about that?

It's not that Christians need to stay out of legislation, but that Christian beliefs stay out of legislation.

For example, it's perfectly ok for a Christian to pass legislation saying that murder should be illegal given that the murderer has no right to take the life of another human being and that he would possibly be a danger to others. It is not ok to argue that murder should be illegal because it says so in the bible.

EDIT: No one is suggesting that you can't promote your own beliefs. You can hold meetings, print literature, broadcast radio or television programming, use the Internet, and even stand on a street corner. What you can't do, is try to pass laws or inject specific religious beliefs into public education based on nothing more than passages in a 2000 year old book that has little to no supporting documentation.

No. I don't demand that Christians not vote.

I insist that they vote on the issue, not their religion. If the only reason they vote a certain way is, "because God said..." or "because Allah said..." or "because Zeus said..." then they should reconsider their vote. This is a secularly founded nation, not a religiously founded one.

If they can defend their position, however, without recourse to their deity, then they should feel free to vote according to their conscience.

PS: the USA is not a democracy, it's a federalist representative republic. Majority does not necessarily rule in the USA. In fact, the reason for the representatiive nature is because the founding fathers didn't consider the common man fit to rule himself.

Go back to high school civics and pay attention this time.

There's this thing in the US called "separation of church and state." You should read about it some time. christians don't have any right to force others to adhere to their narrow belief system or to determine what is and isn't taught in a public school.

Want to live in a state where religion dominates the society? Then try living in Iran! You wouldn't last a second.

Atheists do no such thing.

An Individual Christian has a natural right to express their beliefs.

It is when a Christian who hold office or some leadership position in government stands up and espouses those beliefs as if he (or she) is speaking for the people - the constituents or for the government itself.

This is and should be illegal. Thats the only thing that we object to.

There is no hypocracy in this. It is the law of the land. Its called separation of church and state. get over it.