Hate to say this, but alot of religious people aren't so squeaky clean either. It's worst actually especially when you claim to have access to an absolute standard of morals and dictates from the Creator himself.

Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are atheists and neither had any problem pledging away 95% of their respective wealth to aid mankind. And here's the kicker btw, neither of them believes that their acts of generosity are going to earn them brownie points in the afterlife, which makes what they did more praiseworthy than any equivalent (not that there are many examples ironically) act done by some joe who believes in karma or that he's being watched from on high.

I would vote for an atheist as well as a religious man. I don't care.

"But only if he promises to eliminate ALL the church priviledges and give all that (WASTED!!) cash to workers."

I disagree on that. I do think some religions earned the right to exist, if only for cultural reasons. UNESCO protects buildings, sites, impertant natural habitats and cultural events. I think they should consider to add religious rituals (like the friday prayers in Islam and so on) to that list.
The cultural significance of these rituals obliges us to fund them, as well as to maintain the religious buildings we hold them in.
The group of people that's still going to church etc is getting smaller, they shouldn't be paying for all the church's costs. They simply can not finance it. And the cultural significance of religion applies to all anyway

@Khaz
Richard Dawkins annoys me as he has gone a step further then the God delusion argument where he now states that religion is the only force to make good people do bad things - I think the millions of "good" germans who went along with the Nazi party would beg to differ on that issue.

Yes, in the way religion invented the sins, so you are a good person until you comit a sin, and religions choose the sins at their convenience, while, if you forget about religions and focuse on basic moral, selfrespect and respect for the others (humans, animals and the planet we live on), you dont need a list of sins to know wether you're good or bad, so you dont need religion at all.
about the "good" germans burning people with flamethrowers and massively killing jews, well, that was a war, a cruel one, and like any other war, once you are into it you know you gonna kill or be killed, that makes you a bad person for the rest of your life, and the moral limits in those cases are exceeded.

@East
what's your point? I have been known to watch porn, but that doesn't mean I treat women as sluts by definition

yes but you wish to find one that likes to be treated as a slut   lol, that's called the 'basic instincts', there are women who watch that porn too, you only have to find them

"Also Stephen Hawking's position is not relevant. Obviously the existence of a divine being can be neither proven nor disproven. It would be unscientific to claim that god doesn't exist. We can only say for sure that we haven't seen any conclusive evidence of him existing. What we do know is that many claims of religions are either false or inconclusive when you apply scientific methods to them."

When did humanity start wondering about a divine being?? I'll tell you, our ancestors in the caves, the first time they stared at the stars in a clear night, so, in this way, Hawkings have a point.

The fact is you feel compassion for others irregardless of religion, it is in our nature. They will be exceptions but religion has no more effect on compassion than other environmental factors.

And I hate abuse, abuse of power is bad enough. But abuse of power under the name of a Almighty is much worse as you cannot reason with faith as faith does not have anything to do with fact.

I think you could get an Atheist elected under the right conditions. If there was a time of great peril, with everyone's careers and families on the line, and an Atheist was the only one qualified for the task, I have no doubt they would be elected.

Personal convictions are too expensive in adversity.

"And I agree with it, Cathedrals are part of our culture and we must keep them, but when I see all the luxury at Vaticano and how good bishops and deacons live, while their religion clearly says a man of god has to meet vows of poverty to be closer to Jesuschrist, and when I see most people at church are there to show their new fur coats, ... things like that turn me fool about church and religions in general.
Because there are real 'sons of god' helping the homeless and unfortunate with the few they got to live, sacrificing their life for the others in distant countries, and they, the real christians, arent reflected in that shameful court of richmen."

True that, but that's not what I meant by preserving religious tradition