I was thinking a bit about what to write and of course, more than one topic came to mind, but over the past few hours, I decided on this one topic that I find curious. Actually, I find it funny, and you’ll see why in a moment, but it also sort of amazed me to discover what I did. In the last couple of weeks, two people I have followed, and followed me on Twitter have both reference me as an atheist that is conservative. Consider that for a second. Do you get it yet? Neither of these two can name any other atheist they know that is conservative.

I’m not making fun of them, well maybe a little, but I find it curious that when in a Twitter conversation where someone is claiming that all atheists are liberal use me as a counter to that argument. They no no other conservatives? I don;t know one way or the other but I did find it interesting that both, within a week or so of each other, used me as an example of a non-liberal atheist. Why do I get along with these two liberals? We actually agree on some things! How can that be?

I think that if people from different sides of the political/social spectrum actually had a conversation, instead of screaming at each other, they might find there  are some areas of agreement. It seems impossible, but then most of us are lead by what we’re told rather than talking to someone and discovering that, no, this person is not evil.  So where do we agree? I’ve chosen three topics that I’ve written about before: Death penalty, abortion, and same sex marriage.

I’ve written about my objection to the death penalty here more than once. Here’s what it comes down to: The state, in my opinion, doesn’t have the right to decide who lives or dies. Pretty simple, and maybe overly simple so a little more. Does invoking the death penalty on an offender lessen the chance that someone else, committing a crime, will not kill someone? No. Does sentencing those same people to Death Row eliminate the problem?> Look at California, who have many on Death Row and have not executed anyone in fifty years, compared to Texas, my home state, that regularly executes offenders. Any difference, normalizing for population, in the murder rate? Of course, we hear prosecutors talk about closure for the family. Does that exist? Think about it,. The person that killed your family member is put to death and yet, yearly, there are those memories of birth, a hight school or college graduation, maybe even the birth of a grandchild that you see everyday.  There’s no closure. We can’t end evil by becoming what we hate. I really believe this to be a conservative position although I think there will be others that disagree. All I ask is that whoever it is, provide the necessary data to show how the death penalty prevents violent crime. Of course, no one is able because those data don’t show any correlation.

So according to conservatives I know, that’s a liberal poistion. But look closely and you’ll discover that, taking out the “eye for an eye” biblical interpretation, that it is entirely  conservative.  And so isa the issue of abortion, again, that I’ve previously written about. I a pro-choice, What? That’s not conservative! And yet, in fact, it is. What it isn’t is Evangelical,.  Many of those that are against the idea that a woman should have the right to choose to carry a pregnancy to term or not are just that. My personal view?  I am anti-abortion but I would never impose my views upon another person because I don;t know their circumstance. ?That’a what makes me peo-choice, and oh, by the way, choice means exactly that: . The right to carry to tern or not. Of course, in a 1973 decision, by a vote of 7-2, the US Supreme Court validated the right for a woman to abort, but they decided this on something that doesn’t exist anywhere in the Constitution: The Right to Privacy. No where in that document is there any hint to that right. The court just conjured it up out of whole cloth. By the way, those seven? Men,

That decision should be overturned simply because the court created a right that doesn’t exists in the Constitution. But wait! There is a remedy, which the court in 1973 should have considered. It’s the 13th Amendment, passed and adopted at the end of the Civil War which forbids involuntary servitude. . Of course that was meant to prohibit slavery, Isn’t forcing a woman to carry a pregnancy to term the same? But what about the mans rights? They don’t exist in current law. If my partner wants to carry to term, and I don’t, I’m still responsible, by law to provide for that child. Is that fair? There are so many perturbations that will appear fair or unfair that the state needs to exit the argument. Simply stated, the state should have no voice in this matter. That’s being a conservative.

Being a conservative is difficult for some. Not because I know what I believe and will argue for as conservative view, and I do all the time, that doesn’t involve religion. That’s what’s killed conservatism in so many eyes: We’re all Evangelical. We’re not. Want to know what being a conservative is? It’s about personal responsibility and that the government should stay out of your personal life. Yes, the Government needs to stay out of your life, no latter your political or social persuasion. How difficult is that? Is that evil? Conservatives, as a whole, are no different than liberals: there’s a place for government. We differ on how much government should be involved in our lives. Maybe. I think that if we actually spoke to one another rather than scream, we may find areas of agreement.

We have people, on both sides, that would divide us rather than make the smallest attempt to unite us. That there are many, again on both sides, that won’t recognize this fact, is disappointing. We’re doomed if we are unable to be silent, for just a moment, long enough to hear another person.