To what degree should someone's religious affiliation, or lack thereof, matter when voting for them? Please explain....
9 Answers to "To what degree should someone's religious affiliation, or lack thereof, matter when voting for them? Please explain...."
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I think in general that religion has run out of steam in our time. It has been exposed, time and time again, in one iteration after another, as an intellectual sham at best, and as utterly poisonous at worst. We don't need literalized mythology and organized indoctrination to know that we ought to manage the planet in a sustainable fashion and protect the weakest among us. So to hear a politician spouting out religious platitudes (a la Santorum, Perry, or Palin) is to me a gross insult to voters' intelligence, and flagrant disregard for the tolerance and sense of plurality that America is supposed to represent. The real problem is that there are still enough voters in America who demand some lip service to "God," so politicians summarily deliver it. As Richard Dawkins pointed out, individuals who profess belief statistically tend to have lower IQ's, so as long as American voters insist that their prospective leaders profess some type of religious belief, we will never have a leader who is both honest AND intelligent.
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As an outsider I have a different impression - that roughly half of you prefer the Biblical account of creation to evolution and the Religious Right has been gathering force since the days of the 'Moral Majority'. Christian fundamentalism seems to me to have some sway over domestic and foreign policy. With the latter in mind I find the prospect of the ultra right gaining the presidency to be of serious concern. Or have I the wrong impression?Like (1)
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I think you have it basically correct, except that the proportion of the country that prefers mythology to science is fortunately more like 1/3 rather than 1/2 of the electorate. However, what typically happens in the Presidential elections is that the right wing, the Republicans, play the religious right for suckers, and pander to their racist, homophobic, and nationalist claptrap to pull in their votes, and then pay minimal lip service to their agenda once in office. G.W. Bush, however, was frightening in that respect - - he seemed to be genuinely on board with them, and of course had this self righteous wartime President vision of himself. In this election, it's fortunate that Rick Perry is no longer viewed as a viable candidate, because I think he would have been even more dangerous than Bush. The best part of the Republican primaries is seeing the extremists get squeezed out of the running, one by one. Michelle Bachmann's gone this week, Rick Perry goes away next!
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Religious affiliation matters to the extent that a candidate proposes policies ba
sed upon religious convictions. Here in the UK we've seen in Northern Ireland - you can all see - just how tragically divisive these men of faith can be. There are other conflict zones around the world in which other faith-centred struggles demonstrate the same point. With that in mind I'd be most unlikely to vote for anyone promoting a faith-ba sed agenda for a whole nation. Happily that's not the way we do things in the UK - our politicians, when venturing too close to religion, tend be be seen as frauds. Like (2)
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While American politicians are believed hook, line, and sinker when they shamelessly prattle on about their faith - - hmm, I wonder what that says about the common sense of American voters vs. Brits? :-D
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We can't claim any virtue - at the moment we have a Conservative-led coalition government:( There's the old saying 'we get the politicians we deserve' and that doesn't say much for the UK :). The last UK politician to publicly tout his faith around was Blair - already an object of universal contempt his standing sunk even lower.
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I'd be less likely to vote for a fundamentalist or someone very devout, for fear they would reverse Roe vs Wade, or sustain Prop 8. Being a pro-choice, pro-marriage equality liberal, that would be important to me.
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Well of course, unless you know the candidate personally, you have to form an opinion of his capabilities and propensities from what info you can glean about him.
To me, religion / life philosophy doesn't matter greatly if they don't practice it; so you really can't form an accurate assessment unless you know the person for some time... A label means very little by itself!Like (2)
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I'm more spiritual then religious,religious affiliations mean nothing to me when picking a candidate.What matters to me are the issues and how consistent they are,someone who changes there stance on issues depending on what group there in at the time gets no respect from me.
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No it shouldn't matter at all, unless he/she shows a hatred toward other religion. I think.
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It shouldn't matter. I'm electing a leader of my community or nation....NOT my spiritual leader.
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The president must swear to uphold the Contstitution which ensures separation of Church and State, so his religious persuasion shouldn't matter. However, the reality is that with some people, they may push a legislative agenda which is in alignment with their religiously motivated beliefs...
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Best Answer (Chosen by Voting):
Posted by honeybit 1 Jan 4th, 2012 at 8:34AM
To the degree that you believe it influences their decision making.
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