I hope that this thread isn't just a 'spill over' from another thread but anyway..
I remember TF one time told me 'he would never vote for someone who wasn't religious'. His reason was, he thinks they lack a 'moral compass', which implies that he thinks that our wide spectrum of morals is transmitted supernaturally or something like that.
First off, I don't care one way or the other about your lack of faith, or anyone else's, including elected officials. In this, I look to the founders, and follow Jefferson's position:
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=+1]Say nothing of my religion. It is known to my god and myself alone.
[SIZE=-1]-- Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to John Adams, 11 January 1817, in Lester Cappon, ed. The Adams-Jefferson Letters, (1959) p. 506, quoted from Jeremy Koselak,
"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. "[/SIZE][/SIZE][/FONT]
Why should
you care about someone's faith?
People are not rational, no matter how much they try-what seems to be a rational position to one can seem completely irrational to another.
We generally want to elect people "like us," which, like it or not, for most in this country means Christian or Jewish, at the very least.
With that said, there are people who voted for Bush because he said he was a "born-again Christian." There are people who voted for him because they thought he'd be a great guy to ahve a beer with. There are people who voted for him on the issues, or, in some cases, their issue, like abortion.
So I was thinking about how if there was an official running for president and he/she identified as an Agnostic or Atheist or whatever, I would vote for them simply on those terms.
Is that any moe rational than voting for someone because of their faith?
My thought process for this? Well, while Billcihak finds my lack of faith disturbing, I think I find if someone is in a position of power and they have a 'faith', I find that disturbing.
Why? They don't generally make decisions on "faith."
Most people are aware that if they have a religious belief, they 'take it on faith'. What I am wondering is, what else will they 'take on faith'?
In my experience, not much else, except when it comes to poeple.
Evidence and reason is how we make sense of the world around us.
There is no making sense of the world around us. We are irrational creatures-naked apes, really-and the world is one of chaos. The things we do to make sense of our lives are individual to each life, and, for some, it's religion. Or art. Or evidence and reason.
Law Enforcement, Teachers, Politicians etc. It's important that these people will be educated in how to do their job and will make rational decisions while doing it.
None of which are precluded by "faith."
If I remember correctly, GW Bush 'took it on faith' when we went to war with Iraq. Something which I take personally, as I had to watch a lot of people die.
Not exactly, though he's been quoted by others as believing himself to be chosen by God to do so. Remember he's a politician, though, and a capitalist-there were deeper motivations to the invasion of Iraq that will never be completely ignored, as they are obscured by stuff like this.
I don't want a president that 'relies on their gut.........'.
Don't think we've ever had one that didn't. They relied on other things, like evidence, reason and their advisors, but, in the end, leadership is often about making gut decisions.
I want people in power ( cops, leaders....) that can rationally evaluate all evidence and make reasonable decisions. This is why I just can't vote for someone like Rick Perry. What else will he 'take on faith'?
It's fair to say that whatever your elective choices, a professional politician in this country is going to also appear to be a person of some faith, if only marginally. He'll be photographed going to church-even if he's at best a Christmas and Easter Christian.
Hell, the Republican candidate for President is likely to be a Mormon this election cycle-an adherent to a religion founded by a con-man from New York named "Joe Smith." Talk about taking things "on faith...." :lfao: