Korean Job Discussion Forums

[The Bobster]

A Godless Presidential Campaign.

How hard could it be? Why would it have to be hard at all? How about if we suddenly decided that what a candidate or officeholder does on Sunday morning is irrelevant to whether he or she will get our vote.

�I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute.�

And, �I believe in a president whose views on religion are his own private affair.�

That was John F. Kennedy, of course, sounding light years removed from Mitt Romney, who declared this year that �freedom requires religion,� and Mike Huckabee, who called himself a �Christian leader� and advocated amending the Constitution to follow Biblical principles. Both men are being touted as running mates for McCain[...]
At a meeting with prominent Christian leaders on Tuesday, Obama discussed his �personal journey of faith,� as one participant recounted. That, alone, goes against Kennedy�s dictum of keeping it private..

Obama's problems with his former pastor are an interesting case, especially as juxtaposed against the hurdles Kennedy had to face: JFK, as with other Catholics in public life had to face questions about what happens when public policy finds itself in conflict with church doctrine. Would the Leader of the Free World be on the phone in the morning, taking guidance from the Holy See?

As a voter, do I need to care about the political opinions of my candidate's cpiritual leaders? I think American politics is somewhat unique among democracies that this is at all a matter of public scrutiny.

�Say nothing of my religion,� said Thomas Jefferson. �It�s known to my God and myself alone.�.

Would you vote for a candidate whose religion was vastly different from your own? How about one who had no religion at all? And why do Americans seem to care more than other people?

[Ya-ta Boy]

[The Bobster]

Strangely enough, The Founding Fathers (the ones who wrote the Constitution) were nearly all Deists. That's about the equjivalent of being a Unitarian, and I've heard Unitarianism described as not so much a faith as a weekly book discussion group.

The Puritans are one stream, sure, but you go back before Reagan, and you seldom saw such preoccupation with God in politics. That's where this current batch of pious pols stems from.

[SirFink]

[cangel]

Religion has no place in politics! Morality, yes. Religion, no.

[mithridates]

Sure, I'd vote for an atheist. Not a 'religion is a disease blar blar' soapbox-type atheist of course, but if someone I liked the policies of just happened to be an atheist I wouldn't not vote for them because of that. I'm not American though.

[Khenan]

[djsmnc]