What does CNN have against atheists?
Check out this clip from yesterday’s CNN. Some quick background: North Carolina Senator Elizabeth Dole (R) has been making a lot of hay out of the fact that Democratic challenger Kay Hagan attended a fundraiser organized by the Godless Americans PAC. Speaking purely politically, Hagan shoulda seen this one coming; still, given that she would take heat for it, her response should have been something along the lines of ”Look, atheists are citizens, too, and while I might not agree with them on religious issues, they have legitimate concerns and I make no apologies for attending their fundraiser.” Instead, Hagan issued a response that emphasizes that she’s just as Christian as Mrs. Dole. So much for debating their qualifications for office.
Anyway, back to CNN. Not only couldn’t they be bothered to find an atheist pundit to defend the fundraiser [Hey Wolf, shoot me an email, we’ll talk!], they got two pundits whose default positions are that atheists are bad/idiots but that Dole was hitting below the belt nontheless: Donna “Don’t Let the White Boys Win” Brazile and Bill “The Gambler” Bennett. See for yourself…
And this isn’t the first time CNN has pulled these kinds of shenanigans. After airing this report on Paula Zahn…
…Ms. Zahn brings in a panel of religious bigots (who stoop to open mockery!) and not a single non-believer:
So what it is with CNN? You’d think with their liberal rep they’d at least give non-believers a seat at the table when it comes to discussions that involve them directly. (They did bring Richard Dawkins in a day or two later, but it was too little too late.)
November 1st, 2008 at 10:04 am
CNN did not take this story seriously otherwise they would have taken the time to get a panel of people as apposed those standing off screen.
She needs to shut up, moron. We don’t attack Christianity, we attack all religions.
November 1st, 2008 at 5:08 pm
I really dont see any need to have an atheist on. This was just was short discussion of the politics of this controversy. They had both a republican and democrat. This wasnt really a discussion about atheism. And Im an athiest btw. I think youre overreacting. Thanks for posting the videos though.
November 1st, 2008 at 7:39 pm
The only true thing said in those videos was that Atheist needs a better spokesman. Dawkin’s usually addresses the matter but his overly aggressive attitude toward religion pisses many people off.
It’s disgraceful that the entire panel discussing the topic really didn’t differ in opinion. Also the idea that Atheists should just “shut up” is insensitive and, I hate to use the term, Un-American.
November 2nd, 2008 at 5:39 pm
I just love how the one guest on the show who actually “semi?” stood up for non-believers thinks that we can be converted! This country truly makes me sick sometimes!!
November 4th, 2008 at 11:05 am
The news media needs to challenge the fact this is a “Christian” country. God was left out of our constitution on purpose and Jefferson, Madison and others fought for the separation of church and government. The folks doing the interviews need to call “BS”. My other comment is that it is always interesting to see the idiots on the other side - if we can’t out debate those nimrods we’re in trouble.