
English: 
Is President Obama
and atheist?
I wish I could
say yes,
but he's not;
he hasn't said so.
And there's a lot of ways to think
about this that are really interesting.
It's funny because
conservative Christians
have gone off the rail about
saying how he's a Muslim, like,
"President Obama says
he's a Christian,"
but they don't want him. As in
they don't accept the fact that he is one of them.
Meanwhile, atheists like me would love it
if he said he was an atheist,
but he won't say that either,
because he's a Christian
and that's what he said.
There was an argument to be made that
he says he's a Christian for political reasons.
I mean, he's African-american and that's such
a big part of the African-american culture.
He was a community organizer and faith is
a big part about how communities organize.
So, there's a lot of
political reasons for him
to be heavily vested
in a Christian Church.
And we saw what happened
when, you know,
he started going to church
when he was running for office
or at least
his church history

Spanish: 
¿El presidente Obama es ateo?
Ojalá pudiera
decir que sí.
Pero no,
no lo ha dicho.
Hay varias maneras de enfocar este
asunto que son muy interesantes.
Es curioso, porque
los cristianos conservadores
han estado manga por hombro
diciendo que él es musulmán. Dicen:
"El presidente Obama alega
ser cristiano".
Pero no lo quieren. Como si no
aceptaran que es uno de ellos.
Mientras que a los ateos como yo,
nos encantaría que él dijera que es ateo,
pero tampoco dirá eso,
porque él es cristiano.
Eso ha dicho.
Hubo una discusión sobre si él decía
que era cristiano por razones políticas.
Él es afro-americano y esa es
una parte importante de esa cultura.
Él fue un activista y la fe es parte
importante del activismo político.
Hay muchas razones
políticas para
involucrarse fuertemente
con la iglesia cristiana.
Y vimos lo que
sucedió cuando
empezó a ir a la iglesia
siendo candidato,
o que su historial
con la iglesia

Spanish: 
empezara cuando comenzó a asistir a
una iglesia en Chicago, y eso salió a la luz.
Y supimos algunas de las cosas
que dijo su pastor, el reverendo Wright.
Él tuvo que apartarse.
No es el tipo de presidente
que va la iglesia cada semana. Nunca ves
el titular: "Obama fue a la iglesia este domingo",
y el domingo siguiente, y el siguiente.
Al parecer, él tiene mejores cosas que hacer con su tiempo.
Pero, al mismo tiempo,
siempre menciona su fe
en cada discurso.
A veces menciona a los ateos,
como en su primera inauguración.
Dijo: "Somos una nación de cristianos,
musulmanes, hindúes, y judíos,
y no creyentes."
Y eso fue... Hombre, nos echó flores.
"¡Vaya! Nos mencionó en la inauguración".
Desafortunadamente, es todo lo que conseguimos.
Un bocadito aquí y otro allá.
Sabes,
el Presidente Bush comenzó estas
iniciativas de gobierno basadas en la fe.
El Presidente Obama las expandió.
Y todavía habla de la fe,
todo el tiempo, como si
tuviera un Consejo Asesor
basado en la fe

English: 
starting from when he started attending
a church in Chicago came into light.
And we found out some of the things
his pastor Reverend Wright said.
And, you know, he had to distance himself.
And he's not the type of president
who goes to church every single week. You never see
those headlines like, "Obama went to church this Sunday,"
and the following Sunday, and the Sunday after.
It's kind of like he has better things to do with his time.
But, at the same time,
he's always talking about
his faith in every speech.
He'll sometimes give little shoutouts
to atheists, like his first inauguration.
he said, you know, "We're a nation of," like,
"Christians, and Muslims, and Hindus, and Jews,
and non-believers."
And that was-- Man, what a bone to throw at us.
Like, "Wow, he mentioned us in the inauguration."
Unfortunately, that's about all we get.
We get little morsels here and there.
You know,
President Bush started this
office of faith-based initiatives.
President Obama expanded it.
And he still talks about,
you know, faith all the time as if,
you know, he has a
faith-based Advisory Council

English: 
that, literally, they advise him
on how to handle situations
and he talks
to them periodically
for years now. All the years
he's been in office
there has not been a single
non-religious person on there.
And you might argue like,
"Well, why would an atheist be on a faith council?
Well, there are a lot humanists,
there are a lot of
chaplains who do
interfaith work,
who are not religious,
who would easily fit
into that sort of council.
And yet they haven't touched that
with like a 10-foot pole
-- the administration there.
So, you know,
as much as
I want Obama to say he's an atheist,
I have no reason to think he actually is one.
His mother was actually a secular humanist.
So, it's not like he's unaware of this stuff.
He was brought up in a
non-religious household, really.
So, he knows
what it's all about.
And I know-- This is very selfish for me to say,
but you'd think a guy as smart as he is, with the
college's and universitie's pedigree
that he comes from,
you would think he would have, you know,
maybe lost his faith by now?

Spanish: 
que literalmente le aconseja
cómo manejar situaciones,
y él conversa con ellos
periódicamente
desde hace años. Los años
que ha estado en el cargo
nunca ha habido allí
alguien no religioso.
Y podrías alegar:
"¿Qué haría un ateo en un consejo de fe?
Bueno, hay muchos humanistas,
muchos
capellanes que hacen
un trabajo interreligioso,
y no son religiosos,
que fácilmente encajarían
en ese tipo de consejo.
Y sin embargo, la administración
no ha tocado eso
ni con una pértiga
de 10 pies.
Así que, por mucho
que anhele que Obama diga que es ateo,
no tengo razones para pensar que lo es.
Su madre era humanista secular.
Así que él conoce estas cosas.
Fue criado en un hogar
no religioso.
Entonces, él sabe
de qué se trata.
Es egoísta de mi parte decir esto, pero
¿creerías que un tipo tan inteligente como él, con todo
ese pedigree universitario
que ha logrado,
no crees que habría perdido
su fe a estas alturas?

Spanish: 
Pero es sólo un anhelo.
Él es cristiano. No voy a negarlo.
Sólo me gustaría que
hiciera más para promover
la separación entre iglesia y estado. Cuando hace cosas
asombrosas como decir: "apoyo el matrimonio gay",
él lo dice
a pesar de su fe.
Y alegará que lo hace por su fe. Pero no,
su fe es un obstáculo para hacer esas cosas.
Sería maravilloso tener
un presidente que diga:
"No creo en Dios."
"Voy a hacer cosas basándome en la evidencia.
No voy a consultar a Dios para tomar una gran decisión".
Eso me haría sentir
muy bien,
pero, por desgracia,
nunca ha sucedido.
Y desafortunadamente, no parece que va a suceder
pronto. Cada encuesta que pregunta:
"¿Por quién votarías
dentro de tu partido?"
"¿Votarías por una mujer
dentro de tu partido? ¿Votarías por
una persona negra, un judío, un hispano?"
La gran mayoría diría
que sí a todas ellas.
Ateísmo... Si hablaran de ateos,
nos matendríamos en el fondo de la lista.
Una persona gay es elegida
más fácilmente que un ateo.

English: 
But that's just wishful thinking. I mean, he is
a Christian. I'm not going to deny that at all.
I just wish he would
do more to promote
separation of church and state. When he does amazing
things like saying, you know, "I support gay marriage",
he does that
in spite of his faith.
And he'll argue he does it because of his faith.
But no, his faith is an obstacle to doing things like that.
It would be wonderful
to have a president who says:
"I don't believe in God."
"I'm gonna do things based on the evidence. I'm not
going to consult with God before I make a big decision out there."
That would make me
feel really good,
but that has happened
zero times unfortunately.
And unfortunately it also looks like that's not going to
happen anytime soon. Every poll where they say:
"Who would you vote for
fom your political party?"
"Would you vote for a woman
who is in your political party? Would you vote
for a black person, a Jewish person, a Hispanic person?"
Everyone says yes increasingly
to all of those things.
Atheism-- If they were atheist,
that's still at the bottom of the list.
A gay person will be elected
before an atheist will be elected.

Spanish: 
Y eso es grandioso
para los LGBT, pero
ojalá un ateo resultara
electo alguna vez.
Y ojalá fuera Barack Obama,
pero no es así.
Me llamo Hemant Mehta.
Escribo para FriendlyAtheist.com
y nos encantaría saber de ti.
Por favor, deja un comentario debajo y
forma parte
de esta discusión.

English: 
And that's awesome
for LGBT people, but
I kind of wish we would get
an elected atheist some time.
And I wish Barack Obama
were that person, but he's not.
My name is Hemant Mehta.
I write for FriendlyAtheist.com
and we'd love to hear from you.
Please, leave a comment below and
become part of this discussion.
