“How big a role does religion play in your selection of a presidential candidate?”

Only if the candidate throws reason out the window in favor of his/her religion and religious teachings does it affect my vote or support. That is at all levels of government, not just presidential politics.

Yes. I will NOT vote for a candidate who is an ordained minister or church elder in his/her denomination. (That Xs off two of the current Republicans, I think.) (I do not care what denomination it is.)

There is a far cry from Kennedy merely being Catholic, or Nixon Quaker or Carter being a Sunday School teacher (a lay position — heck, even my sister teaches Sunday School out of a book) or other church attendee to someone who has been or is in a position of ministry. Yes, Mormon elders/bishops are ‘positions of ministry’. I won’t even vote for a known minister for something as lowly as school board. (We had a Baptist minister on our local public school board once. The Gideons were passing out New Testaments in study hall during that era, law or no law; non-evangelical kids were leafletted in the hallways, and there was Bible Club after school, right along with Pep Club, Chess Club and sports. )

Why: something about a sermon once about rendering unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s and unto God the things which are God’s.

The best way to preserve the separation of church and state is to make sure the head of state doesn’t have any more than a normal affiliation with any sect.

I would rather be represented by a person who has and stands by her or his moral convictions, be they ascribed to a religion or not, than one who merely gives lip service to a church to get the votes of its members. In other words, you can be a Catholic, Protestant, a Mormon, Jew, Muslim, or atheist, just stand by your beliefs and don’t BS me.

I hope I can someday vote for the first secular US president since Teddy Roosevelt.

It seems the more Christian some people claim to be, the more pompous, smug and hypocritical they become. Who needs them in the government where there’s supposed to be separation of church and state, anyway? These so-called Christians would happily turn our Democracy into a Theocracy and burn the Constitution if they thought they could get away with it. Today’s Christians aren’t really Christians, they’re Church Nazis, not too unlike the religious fanatics our troops are fighting in Iraq. We sure don’t need them in the government. We have enough megalomaniacs as it is.

All organized religions are man made. Not one is “God” made. None were man made to do good. They were all created for the purpose of controlling their flock..the “believers”.

It is not even arguable that organnized religions have killed, maimed and created more destrustion than any visible living entity.

(Note: Rats, the long tailed kind, were running neck and neck with organized religions in creating death and destrution until the 20 th century when organized religions forged ahead.)

I guess you figured out that I will not vote in the upcoming “primary or general elctions” They are just an assortment of Bible thumopers.

John Middleton

For the love of God! (Pun only partially intended.) I wouldn’t vote for someone just because they were thumping the Bible, anymore than I’d shy away from voting for someone whose religion was different. There are so many other issues. To me, someone who thumps the Bible in a campaign is creating a smokescreen to cover their political liabilities. It’s just a step off creating a one-note campaign based on a single issue. Like a candidate going on and on and on about the war. The war, the war, the war. And you’re thinking, what about the economy and social security and healthcare?

I like what Jom #5 had to say because I fully agree with him. Our culture seems to have slid into some Christian (using the term loosely) version of the Taliban. Not that distrust of other groups is a new phenomenon. I remember the Kennedy campaign–even though I was too young to vote–and how some “Christian” folks were concerned because he was Catholic. Never mind that the last time I checked Catholics worshiped Jesus too. I kind of thought that when Americans were bright enough to put JFK’s Catholicism aside that we had moved beyond all this. But that was before the rise of the Christian Taliban.

Hey, Lew! Shouldn’t that question read, “Does religion play a role in whom you vote for?”

A candidate’s actual religion isn’t nearly as important to me as the degree to which a candidate indicates that their particular religion will influence their policies and general decision making. More specifically, a candidate who indicates a willingness or desire to codify their particular flavor of Christian morality into law is not going to get my vote.

Did the speech by the RomneyTron3000 allay any concerns? No, not really. Why? Because absolutely none of my concerns about Romney center on his religious beliefs. Prancing about in his magic underwear is orders of magnitude less important to me than his “evolution” on issues near and dear to the hearts of the values voters (and in the last presidential election cycle, I seem to recall changing one’s positions on issues being a bad thing — perhaps derisively referred to as “flip-flopping”). That he believes Jackson County was the home of the Garden of Eden doesn’t matter one lick when stacked against the political expediency that has defined his political career. No, Romney made this speech because he feels threatened by Huckabee’s rapidly increasing support in Iowa and South Carolina, and he needed to do something - anything - to help regain some momentum in those states because if he can’t pull off wins in more than one of the early primary states (or early caucus, in the case of Iowa), he’s got about zero chance against Rudy in the Feb. 5th primary. It’s just a calculated political maneuver — nothing more, nothing less (and I don’t use ‘calculated’ in the pejorative here).

As far as how large a role religion plays in my selection of a candidate, I’d have to say not much, if for no other reason than the fact that just about every single candidate for office at any level of government is one flavor of Christian or another. In fact, just about every elected or appointed official that’s served this country has practiced some form of Christianity, and most have served their role admirably. It hasn’t been until relatively recently that Christianity made the transformation from a type of common ground for all politicians and constituents to its current form as a political cudgel, championed by the ever-pious Right in their quest to beat back the excesses of the godless, secular Left.

Okay, pardon the hyperbole of the last sentence. My point, ultimately, is that religion shouldn’t be the issue that it is today. Most everyone in this country is Christian, or was raised as a Christian, or, at the very, very, very least, was influenced by generic Western morality (which is largely attributable to Christian influences). This should be common ground for all voters, not a mechanism for turning most matters into an Us versus Them confrontation.

I could support any candidate whose faith is based on Judeo-Christian values/beliefs. But at this point in my life, based on the events in Iraq, Iran and elsewhere, I honestly could not support a candidate who believes that Allah is the sole deity and in Muhammad as his prophet, or any other similar belief.

Ditto what #9 said.

I could vote for an atheist/agnostic so long as he/she had a history of supporting traditional moral values on the ballots. I believe in religious freedom and that the idea that we cannot say Merry Christmas or Happy Hannukah or One nation under God, is idiotic. People need to grow up and quit acting like a bunch of 4-year olds when it comes to religious expression.

The Constitution says that Congress shall pass no laws restricting the FREE EXERCISE of religion, and that it shall not create a national religion. No where does it say that there is a wall of separation. No one voted to pass a bill or any other document that refers to a wall of separation. Government is to STAY AWAY FROM messing with our religious freedoms. That doesn’t mean we can’t diplay a Nativity scene on the lawn or a Menorrah on the mantle in the public arena. On the contrary, I think it’s a person’s religious duty to celebrate and put on display their religious symbols. If I don’t like a crucifix or a star of David, then I should get over it, instead of complaining and being offended like a big baby. And so should the rest of America. Get a freakin’ life!

And Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah everybody! God bless us, everyone!