Originally posted by I See You
I can say that if a presidential candidate had said that he did not believe in god that he would have no chance in hell of ever getting elected.
Let's say that we, like usual have two candidates running for leadership of our country and one believes in a god and the other doesn't. Lets also
say that the one that believes in a god has less than half the good qualites and does not have the right tools for the job as the man that doesn't
believe in god.
Which man would you vote for? My point here is that religion should not be played to the people as a reason for a vote. I vote for the better man
and not for religion. Why does the candidate have to be religious?
I would vote for the candidate who I thought was the best person for the job, regardless of their personal religious beliefs. The reason being, that
a person's religious beliefs, while they may influence some of their decisions, are no guarantee that a person can (or will) effectively, honorably
or competently lead our country as President.
If a person can show him/herself to be an honest, intelligent and effective leader, but he/she personally chooses to worship caterpillars as his/her
religion, I would still vote for them.
A candidate's personal choice of religion should not even be announced if they are running or elected to office, since we are not a Theocracy (yet).
"The proscribing any citizen as unworthy the public confidence by laying upon him an incapacity of being called to offices of trust and emolument
unless he profess or renounce this or that religious opinion
is depriving him injuriously of those privileges and advantages to which, in common
with his fellow citizens, he has a natural right." --Thomas Jefferson: Statute for Religious Freedom, 1779. ME 2:301, Papers 2:546
The only reason candidates draw media attention to their religious practices is because they know a large part of the population will vote based on
that info alone, and they can manipulate those voters into supporting them by showing themselves to be "God-fearing" men.
"Believing... that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship,
that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole
American people which declared that their Legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof,'
thus building a wall of separation between Church and State." --Thomas Jefferson to Danbury Baptists, 1802. ME 16:281