2016 Election

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Originally Posted by BigV

I, too, would vote for Bernie Sanders.

On the larger question about religion and the Presidency, I was aghast at the comments by Ben Carson, campaigner for the Republican nomination for the office.



OMFG.

Personal views, sure, ok, you religious bigot. Please pardon me while I catch my breath from the shock of your ignorance of our Constitution, especially the part about no religious tests for holders of public office... Mr Carson, this is an example of a deal killer for me. You can't espouse this belief, and any other combination of other beliefs and still persuade me to vote for you. Nuh-uh, nope, nada, zip, no way.

I don't think he is saying we should legally prevent someone from running based on their religion, I think he is saying that we should consider someone's religious beliefs when deciding who to vote for, and that it's ok to choose not to vote for someone based on their religious beliefs.

IMO it isn't "wrong" so much as it misses the importance of looking for the context religious takes within the person's life and the role it takes in informing their ethics and ideology. There is an important difference between someone who is religious in their personal life and someone is running in the name of religion.

I have voted for both parties lead by Jewish and for parties lead by Muslim politicians in different elections here in Israel, depending on the state of the elections (I find that the need to pander to Arab parties helps keep the left in check), but they were also mostly secular liberal people.
On the opposite side of the context coin, we also have Jewish parties who are outright defined by their religion and would like nothing more then to turn keeping the shabat into law, biblical dress code into public decency requirements and kosher food into government regulations, and I would - and have in the past - voted for alternative small parties with the expressed intention to weaken the religious parties power. Likewise, I have friends in Egypt who were protesting against the Muslim brotherhood, and if I lived in Egypt I likely would have done the same. Much the same way, if I was living in the US as a citizen, I would probably not mind voting for a christian, but I would be quite reluctant to vote for someone who uses Christianity to inform their beliefs and policies that regard human sexuality.

(I admit though, it is very easy for me to say because I never actually had a choice of voting for someone who shares my beliefs - or lack thereof - in the first place. It's quite possible that if I had lived long enough with the option of voting for people who are openly agnostic or atheists, I would eventually come to look for that as a requirement. When you declare you would never eat the candy you never had access too, that's one very fragile high horse).