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Religion influences my political choices insofar as I am a staunch advocate of the separation between church and state. Therefore, I would in no way support anyone who chooses to repudiate that facet of our government (i.e. Mike Huckabee). Religion has no place in politics (ideally), and as long as it does not interfere with the tenets and platforms of the individual in question, I couldn't care less what their spiritual convictions are. I'd vote for a Buddhist, Muslim, Christian, or atheist without giving it a second thought as long as their policies comported with my own thoroughly progressive leanings. One does not have to have faith to be qualified. If anything, I consider it superfluous and potentially damaging.
If you are black, Catholic, or Presbyterian, odds are you have politics preached from your pulpit. This by no means includes all people of those groups so don't be kicking back at me if your congregation doesn't. It also means that if your group wasn't named, your congregation is necessarily excluded from my generalization.
Would America vote for a Buddhist, an atheist, an agnostic, a Baha'i, a Unitarian, a Muslim or a Jew? Is it terrorism or religous bigotry that fuels the fear in this election?
No impact. Religious/spiritual matters do not belong in the material world. Leave the material world to the materialists, give yourself over to a Higher Power.
Religion influences my political choices insofar as I am a staunch advocate of the separation between church and state. Therefore, I would in no way support anyone who chooses to repudiate that facet of our government (i.e. Mike Huckabee). Religion has no place in politics (ideally), and as long as it does not interfere with the tenets and platforms of the individual in question, I couldn't care less what their spiritual convictions are. I'd vote for a Buddhist, Muslim, Christian, or atheist without giving it a second thought as long as their policies comported with my own thoroughly progressive leanings. One does not have to have faith to be qualified. If anything, I consider it superfluous and potentially damaging.
If you are black, Catholic, or Presbyterian, odds are you have politics preached from your pulpit. This by no means includes all people of those groups so don't be kicking back at me if your congregation doesn't. It also means that if your group wasn't named, your congregation is necessarily excluded from my generalization.
What are you talking about? I don't have a congregation.
Location: Jonquil City (aka Smyrna) Georgia- by Atlanta
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Religion belongs in you and your home and your church. No where else. Not in government, not in the schools. And before religious zealots start trying to tell us how to live, they should do a bit of clean up on their own!
Religion belongs in you and your home and your church. No where else. Not in government, not in the schools. And before religious zealots start trying to tell us how to live, they should do a bit of clean up on their own!
The MORE religious a candidate is, the LESS I would think about voting for him.
I found Bushs Christmas card from the white house that was EXTREMELY religious, completely innappropriate. He sent it out to everyone, even people he KNEW were Jewish for instance. I don't believe churches have the right to scream FOR seperation of church and state in order to justify no taxation of them, or involvement of the government AND then turn around and muddy the waters by turning the President into an American Pope like figure.
I would say that since every president seems to confirm his christian beliefs that runs ;I really can't tell.In fact looking at what JFK went thru and the candidates confessions of belief it seems very impotant in this country. Certainly politcans at the national level believe it is a litmus test like abortion to be a democratic candidate.
I am not religious really at all (haven't been to a service in years) and I basically would define myself as agnostic. If there is a God (of Gods), I think it almost certainly will be different from what traditional religion has conceived. So, I guess generally I don't have any kind of religious litmus test for who I vote for.
That being said, I also understand that to some people their religion is important to them (I have some people like this in my family). So it is impossible to completely separate religion from public policy anymore than you can separate any other philosophical view from policy. To many people, their religion or religious views influence their political stance on certain issues, from support for the poor, to abortion, to aid to Africa. Frankly, I try to judge these policies on their merits apart from the religious underpinnings. For example, I am pro-choice simply because I don't think the government has any business in intimate family issues. The fact that religious people support abortion or not or agnostics or atheists feel one way or another is irrelevant. With most issues I think this is the best way to approach it.
The problem is when certain specific religions attempt to pressure others to accept their own particular form of religious faith or have the government sanction or support their beliefs through official recognition. In this situation it's a different story. Like it or not Christians, when you have a school, court house, government building or other official government institution display, proclaim, or otherwise support something as simple as the 10 Commandments, that does constitute an official support by the government of Christianity and an implied rejection of other religions (or philosophies) that don't honor this particular religious doctrine. Of course this is just one potential example of a wider phenomenon.
In this case, if a religious person of whatever stripe supports policies that attempt to have government in any way sanction or support their religion, then I will specifically vote against that person and a large part of the reason will be because of their religious belief.
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