I Am a Conservative and an Atheist
Yes, there is such a thing as a conservative atheist. I know because I am one. I believe and support most of the agenda of conservative politics. I am pro-life. I believe in a strong military. I believe in low taxes and a limited government. I believe in capitalism, equal rights, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and a wall on our southern border. I support law enforcement and the right to bear arms. I do not believe a God exists.
According to the Pew Research Center, 19 percent of conservatives are unaffiliated with any religion, and 14 percent of atheists identify as conservative, and both of those categories are growing.
There is no exact definition of a conservative because you get slightly different answers depending on who you ask. In researching the article, I came across the definition I agreed with the most. That definition is given by studentdailynews.com, which says conservatives believe in personal responsibility, limited government, free markets, individual liberty, traditional American values, and a strong national defense. Conservatives believe the role of government should be to provide people the freedom necessary to pursue their own goals.
I think that is close to what most conservatives would agree with. What is not said in that definition is hidden in the traditional American values for conservatives. I believe most conservatives would agree that two of those values not listed but included with traditional American values are the belief in a God, specifically the Christian God, and pro-life. Obviously, as an atheist, I do not agree with conservatives concerning God. However, I am pro-life.
Atheism is not a political entity, but most atheists are liberals, and I am at odds with most atheists because of their liberalism and their liberal agenda. It is extremely hard to listen to atheists who are great at pointing out the problems with a God and religion but make it hard to watch when they start trashing conservatives and our values (except for the God value). It is also hard to watch conservatives, who I otherwise admire and respect when they bring God and religion into conservative agenda items.
I enjoy watching videos of atheists who debate with Christians and others about God and religion. Atheist activists generally do a great job explaining the reasons for being an atheist and debunking Christianity, the Bible, and God. The problem I have is when an atheist who I agree with religiously about God and religion starts thrashing conservative ideologies.
One atheist I enjoy watching when he debates Christians is atheist activist Matt Dillahunty. Matt is really God at debating Christians and other religious followers. He usually shreds their arguments to pieces. But sometimes Matt goes off on an angry rant about conservatives, conservative ideologies, and trashing Donald Trump. That is when I must turn Matt off and go to another video. Matt is an ultra-liberal. I do not know how he can be so right about God and religion and be so wrong about what is best for America.
I really do not understand why most atheists are liberal. Perhaps it is because, like me, they were not raised going to church and being indoctrinated into the religious cults of their families. Religion and Christianity teach and practice a lot of conservative values.
But that does not explain why most atheists support the right to kill (abort) a live unborn child, seek unconstitutional gun control, detest capitalism, and look to turn America into a socialist nation. Most atheists believe the rich should pay more in taxes when the top 5 percent of income earners already pay almost 60 percent of income taxes while earning almost 34 percent of all personal income.
There are also times when it is hard for me to watch or listen to conservative political leaders, conservative pundits, and conservative talk show hosts, all of whom I usually agree with, start talking about God and country and, at times, befouls atheists and atheism as if that is a threat to our nation. Atheism is not a political entity. It is nothing more than a non-belief in a God. Period!
I get why conservatives are less likely to be atheists because of the culture and social environment most conservatives live in. Most conservatives were indoctrinated as a child to believe in God by going to church or, at the very least, raised by parents who were holiday Christians.
As an American conservative, it is extremely difficult to shake the binds of God and religion. To do so often alienates one's friends and family. That is hard to deal with. Conservatives are so entangled with the ideology of God and country. That is a mainstay of American conservatism.
I believe there are a lot of Christians and conservatives who profess to believe but do not. They stay silent about their atheism because the adverse social and family consequences would become too great to bear.
But I am what I am, a conservative atheist. I close with a quote from Thomas Payne, "But it is necessary to the happiness of man, that he be mentally faithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist in believing or in disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what he does not believe."