How important is the religion of a political candidate?

Roxy: How important is the religion of a political candidate?
Would you ever vote 4 a president that was either of a different religion that yours or of no religion?
If not, why?

Answers and Views:

Answer by mo in the middle
I’m a Buddhist. If I weren’t willing to vote for a candidate who didn’t share my beliefs, I’d be completely disenfranchised.

I vote on the issues. Religion is only relevant to the extent that the candidate makes it relevant. I won’t vote for a candidate who wants to legislate his or her beliefs.

Answer by Meow.
I’d vote for a president of any religion, unless it’s a weirdo cult.

Sadly, in this country you almost need a religion to be elected. A gay man would be elected before an atheist.

Answer by Kevin A.R.T.
Completely irrelevant.

1st Amendment.

Answer by θραυστήρων
I would vote for any president that kept their religion out of our politics, education….and had the gonads to tell other politicians to do the same.

Answer by kinetochore
Religion is not important as long as the person can keep it separate from office.

Answer by Lando
I would hope that i had the choice to support a candidate that did not believe in childish fairy tales.

Answer by andy e
I would not want to vote for anybody who believed in an invisible sky daddy who watches over us and has a bunch of rules that even believers are not sure about.

Answer by Kristevon †SFECU† Evangelical
Yes, but I have to admit. After 9/11 I would be nervous voting for a Muslim president.

Answer by moondoggy
It depends on how their religion influences their political stance. I would vote for a Jehovah’s Witness, for example, as long as he didn’t plan to make blood transfusions illegal.

Answer by Cathy B
Article 6 section 5 of the constitution forbids a religious test for government positions. Either you care about religion policing or you care about the constitution, pick one. Now if the person’s religion lead to political positions you oppose, then it is okay to take it into account (ie, if the person’s religion makes them racist, you can oppose them on the grounds of their poor racial policy, not that they have religious beliefs).

Answer by janejane
I am much more concerned about whether or not he lives what he says he believes. A Christian who condones abortion or gay marriage, for example, is not living what he says he believes. A Muslim who preaches tolerance is not living what he says he believes. Therefore, I would not vote for either one.

Answer by emperor_allectus
Any religion they like as long as they get on with the job at hand and do it well. Religion should not in theory interfere with statesman/womanship unless their policy is dictated by it.

And if that were the case I’d be unlikely to vote for em!

Answer by the knowledge.
Yep. It’s called Barack Obama.

It is not important unless they start nixing the Separation of Church And State, which will never happen (hopefully).

Answer by jaqmarhouse
Very important. Church and Government have a lot in common. According to the Bible, both are servants of God. Both answer to the Authority of God, and both exist for the good of the world for which Christ died.
There has to be an acknowledgement of the Almighty God in all Government Constitutions.

“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord …” Psalm 33:12.

Answer by Jabberwock
No!

But that’s because I would never have the chance to vote for a president. If I voted for a party to get a particular Prime Minister, I don’t care what religion he has personally, as long as he doesn’t try to push its ideas on others.

Answer by Carlo T
I would vote for the best candidate no matter their religion.

Even if the best candidate belongs to like the Church of the Black Cabbage God or something, I’d still vote for that person as long as they don’t attempt to legislate their religious beliefs.

Answer by Melissa ☮
I believe people put the religion of the political candidate before they even judge the candidate. Remember when John F. Kennedy became President? He was the first Catholic in office. Many people didn’t vote for a previous Catholic in office because they thought that if they did then the Pope would run the Presidency and not the candidate which is obviously false. Now, it doesn’t matter what religion you are in order to become President. Take a look at our current President Obama. Most people are lashing out on his middle name and calling him a Terrorist. Most of which are the Conservatives. Sure he’s had practice of the Muslim religion but it doesn’t mean he’s opening a gate for Terrorism. He even said it himself that if anyone dares, we’ll get their ____ handed to them. I think it also costs the candidate their chances of being in office since a lot of people would like their president to match their religion so that they can run it through their religious beliefs and not from the logical mind which I think is absolutely foolish.

I would vote for a President who is not of my religion because I care about the issues being solved rather then the religion of the candidate.

Answer by pappy12a
If your religion dominates your decisions you should not enter politics

Answer by LoveTheSon
Their particular religious affiliation does not matter to me as much as their moral character.

Answer by VeggieTart (The Cranky Agnostic)
As an agnostic who grew up Jewish, every president I’ve voted for (and against, for that matter) was a different religion from mine. And if his/her political views were similar to mine, and I believed s/he was competent, I would be utterly delighted to vote for an atheist or agnostic president.

Answer by Elsie Treize
I would like to vote for an Atheist, agnostic or Secular Humanist, as those are my beliefs. However, either there are no politicians of those beliefs, (except Svend Robinson, NDP, Canada), or none are willing to admit Atheism.

Then there are stories like the mayor of Saguenay, Quebec, who wants to promote Catholicism. If someone is going to run as president, mayor, member of Parliament or whatever, in a democratic society, that person must be willing to represent all constituents, whether the citizens are theist or atheist.

So the religion or atheism of the candidate doesn’t matter so much – what matters is the candidate’s openness to various beliefs and life philosophies.

Answer by 70 7’s
I truly value freedom…

I’d vote for those who respect others rights & beliefs & would be skeptical of those who want to take away rights & freedoms…

If a non-religious president would work to remove religion & values from our society & culture… this is a removal of individual freedoms & rights to pursue happiness, & freedom of choice & the next level towards communism & taxation without any meaning or representation… yet there are those who advocate such actions…

& If a religious president tried to make religion a requirement in society (1st, whichever religion?) this would also be a removal of individual’s freedoms & rights…

The people should have the right to choose their religious preferences individually.

However, as we’ve seen in CA, those in political & judicial power / office often use these positions to work against the sentiments of the majority, as was the case in the gay marriage situation… the people voted by majority opposing gay marriage, yet the judges decided to make it legal anyways… then there was a proposition to stop the judges ability to do this… & again the people voted for marriage to be defined as between a man & a woman…
There might be those who have very strong sentiments on the matter opposing the majority… however, the democratic way of dealing with this is to give the mass majority of voters their clear choice…
Yet those in office, who do not want to do so (based on their values), are a good example of why the people vote for those who have similar values & beliefs as themselves.

Another example is that there have been many attempts to promote things such as stem cell research, late term abortions, removal of freedom of speech on talk radio stations, etc. which every person’s tax dollars have gone towards promoting because of those officials in high official office having values & desires to pursue such bills… & clearly there are majorities which oppose such bills, & both their own tax dollars & personal funds have been exhausted on such trivial & dastardly issues.

Therefore, for such reasons, voters have concerns with the values of who they vote into office.

Yet, if those in office respected the majority consensus, then the issue wouldn’t have so much to do with who to vote for, as much as simply societal values, which is all it should be in a free & democratic society… as America is meant to be & what the voting system is all about.

So, to answer your questions, it’s as important as the extremity of pushiness of those running for a particular office & the party they represent… if they are extremely pushy with their values, then whether they are religious or not or whether they share my values or not becomes an important issue, & if they are divisive & secretive about their values & pushiness then they are even worse in my book…

Yet, if they’re willing to listen to the people & do what the people want, then they’re someone I’d vote for, even if they don’t share the same beliefs as mine.

Yet, such is a rare thing these days, since there’s so many special interest groups lending their support & financial backing to those running for presidency these days… Even with the current president who supposedly didn’t lend his candidacy to such, yet when he got into office, he did many things immediately revealing who his backers were, & for the credibility to the democratic party for future backing purposes… yet the way it was done, he was able to even take opposing backers & raise much more money than any past candidates through subtlety. All of which clearly helped his campaign & helped him to win popularity & ultimately votes… very wisely & divisively.
Yet, the topics he’s affected the most, weren’t even brought up as much of an issue in the campaign trail… while in the past, the majority of peoples consensus on those issues have clearly been opposite what he’s imposed… such as late term abortions & such… & especially US dollars going over seas to fund such practices over seas! (& this at a time when US is in economic crises & he is supposedly making cutbacks where money is being spent where is shouldn’t be.)

So in conclusion, whether you support a candidate or not, really should have something to do with their values or else you will be supporting policies you will not be able to do anything about except complain about later, while your the reason those policies are in place to begin with.

Answer by Lynn
Well Im jewish, and Im pretty sure we have never had a jewish president before! I dont think religion should be an issue at all. Church and state should be kept separate. I would vote for any religion or lack of religion, it just gets in the way

Answer by Ustun Inan Insurance
How do you define your religion? Does it teach you love and human compassion? Or does it tell you to hate and harm anyone who is not a member?
Religion is a tool to make you a better person.It can also be a terrorist weapon to attack the enemies of the religious leaders, taking advantage of their members ignorance.
Example, Obama is a true Christian. when his church leader wanted to use him to attack white people,he knew when to quit. That is the reason why most Americans support him.God gave him one of the best brains and soul he ever created,and he is using it for the good of all Americans.
I feel sorry for people who becomes a slave to their religion.

Ustun Inan Insurance