Politics and Religion

As the presidential field heats up we are more and more hearing about the religious affiliation of the Republican candidates.  We happen to already know it for our current president even though there are some that take it as a grain of salt and believe it to be something else.

Should the religious affiliation of the candidate really matter that much?  Does it matter that the person is a Jew, Mormon, or a Catholic?

The religious background of a person will drive certain areas of a opinion such as abortion, assisted-suicide, death penalty and the like.  But, when one considers the overall responsibilities of a candidate will these play into the day to day things they are responsible for?

Take a President of the United States.  Does he really deal with the issue of abortion on a daily basis.  More likely he's looking at some spending bill, or helping decide whether to draw down troops in a specific region of the world.  So why do we make such a stink about what religion a person affiliates with?


I've got a few ideas in this regard.  There are several major religions or faiths in the world.  Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Muslim etc.   Sadly, within each of these there are various churches.  There is no central head in most cases even though for the Christian we are all following the teaching of Christ.
Thus it is OK to be a christian and hold to the basic teachings - 10 commandments, love thy neighbor etc.  But, when it comes to central church based leadership people spook.   Holds true for the Catholics and the Mormons.  People are afraid that the supreme leader of the church will dictate policy.  Yes, if you hold to the faith properly you believe the Pope or the President of the LDS church is the mouth piece for God.

So are the people afraid that if Mitt Romney were President that he would always be on the phone with prophet Thomas S. Monson before he makes any decisions?  Or that a catholic candidate would be constantly in contact with the Vatican and if the they tell him to do something he would without question?  Maybe.  Some just like the idea you can have a spiritual advisor you contact but, that this person is not the final word, the definitive voice of God.  Maybe they like the ideas that you switch religions/churches like you switch your underwear.  That when one is convenient you go that way and when another is more readily at hand you go that route.  Always looking to one person or location causes a riff especial when we hold so true to the belief in separation of church and state.

Take England for example.  The queen is the head of the church there.  How would that go over here?  We have had ministers run for the presidency before, and likely at all levels of government for various positions.  But, is having a Baptist minister as a mayor of a city any different then having say an Asian?  You could claim favoritism in both cases.  Would the Mayor favor the Baptists more then another religion or the Asian his tribe more then another?  That is were things get to the ridiculous!

But, we also have to watch out for that kind of stuff.  The people in Germany in the 1930's started to let those types of things enter into the political realm.  One tribe favored over another, one element more then another.  And we know that this lead to things like the rise of the Nazi Party, persecution of not just the Jews, but other ethnic groups considered inferior like the Poles, Russians, Slavs, and the list goes on.  They so bent on this "religion" they even began exterminating people. It started slowing with the mentally and physically handicapped, and then progressed to mass deportations to the concentration camps generally ending in a trip to the gas chamber.


So could that be the fear of the people when it comes to religion?  An indirect dictatorship or theocracy?  I hope not.  Since what I want in a presidential candidate is someone that is honest, forthright, and has the capacity to make decisions that will be for the good of the country.  Basically, a morally upright person that will follow their convictions and do the right thing at the right time and not just in the hopes of being reelected.

Buaidh -  NO  - Bas