New poll

We have a new poll—do vote!

Of those who answered our most recent poll, 31% thought Abraham Lincoln was a great national hero, 17.2% a flawed giant and 44.8% a tyrant, with 6.9% choosing “other.” There were 58 votes in all.
Posted by Jim Kalb at October 14, 2002 12:35 PM | Send
    

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The negative effects of massive incompatible immigration haven’t yet been felt full-force but they will be, after it’s way too late to turn back. That’s why I checked massive incompatible immigration, though as of the present moment that hasn’t been as socially destructive as women’s lib — hasn’t had a chance to be … YET.

Posted by: Unadorned on October 14, 2002 1:40 PM

It may be possible to ‘unbecome’ a feminist or Change your views on immigration and resolve your humanist anxieties regarding the welfare state, but its not so easy to stop being an athiest. Just because I want to be a judge of things and not a subscriber to judeo-christian judgements does not make me a liberal or a commie or a self hater of my countries current christian tradition. If this poll was made in the post-jesus roman times, christianity would be there instead of non-belief.

Posted by: Stephen on October 17, 2002 10:00 PM

I agree you can’t simply decide not to be an atheist, it’s too fundamental an issue. Nonetheless, a change in fundamental understanding of what the world is like has consequences, and those consequences don’t depend on individual intentions.

The comparison with Rome is interesting. Certainly a lot of Romans thought rejection of the fundamental religious premises of Roman life would be the ruin of Rome. Still, in the end the question is what hope a new religious outlook holds out for the future of social order. It seems to me atheism doesn’t hold out much hope at all.

Posted by: Jim Kalb on October 18, 2002 9:24 AM

This is an interesting question. I once would have answered “immigration” without a second thought, but now I’m not so sure, at least as regards the damage that has been done up to this point. While the cultural destruction that has stemmed from immigration, the loss of the ability to affirm a concrete American identity, is very great, it seems to me that the cultural destruction that has occurred from within the white community is, as of this point, even greater. However, I don’t know if I can limit that intra-white cultural destruction to just atheism or just feminism, since each of those, while a major factor in the destruction, do not represent the whole of it. There are many other factors. So, given the way the question is phrased, I’ll probably vote for immigration.

Posted by: Lawrence Auster on October 18, 2002 10:40 AM

Perhaps ‘materialism’ would be a better category than atheism. Rejecting the belief in a personal God is not really the issue, believing that that material world is the only reality is the crux of the modern darkness and its consequest havoc.

Posted by: Rory Dickson on October 19, 2002 1:25 AM

A lot of the damage to Western societies has come from intellectuals who lost their faith, became atheists, and adopted radical forms of liberalism as a substitute meaning to life.

Nonetheless, even greater damage has come from liberal churchmen. So rather than blaming atheism the real issue is the loss of a certain understanding of the spiritual life, and how this is effectively organised within a society.

Posted by: Mark Richardson on October 20, 2002 4:31 AM
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