Article VI of the U.S. Constitution states “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”
But should someone’s religion be a consideration for voters? It is — and to paraphrase “Seinfeld,” not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Polls reveal that Americans would rather vote for a Jew or a Muslim (or a homosexual, though I don’t think that’s a religion) than an atheist. Here are the percentages of Americans who, according to this Pew Research Center survey, would refuse to vote for someone based on the relevant characteristic:
- Catholic: 8%
- Jewish: 10%
- Evangelical Christian: 15%
- Muslim: 38%
- Atheist: 50%
As a reluctant atheist, this is a bit dispiriting. But I’ll admit I put candidates through a religious test. If I knew a candidate really believed in the precepts of Mormonism, for instance, I’d have a hard time voting for him/her. That would mean they believe their prophets have been told by God that men need to take many wives (and then told to knock it off). Or that blacks were cursed and not worthy of the priesthood until 1978. Or that Native Americans are the descendants of a lost Hebrew tribe that somehow made it to America in 600 BC.
I’d find it impossible to vote for a Scientologist who believes in the nonsense dreamed up by L. Ron Hubbard. Or a radical Muslim. Or a Pentecostal who spoke in tongues. Or an evangelical who believed the Earth is only 6,000 years old (a miscalculation of maybe 50-million 4.5 billion years).
This isn’t a religious test. It’s a common sense test. If my candidate believes in some wacky stuff, I don’t vote for them.
If my new girlfriend, Gov. Sarah Palin, is from the wacky branch of the Assemblies of God (believes the Earth is young, the Prosperity Gospel — give to the church and be showered with riches — and faith healings), I don’t think I could vote for her ticket.
On the Obama side, I can’t get over the fact that he sat in that church for 20 years, listening to Rev. Jeremiah Wright. I’ve walked out of churches when the pastor said something outrageous or un-Biblical. I’m deeply suspicious of anyone who worshipped at Wright’s church for two decades with apparently no second doubts.
So while there’s no official religious test for presidential candidates, there certainly unofficial tests. And you know what? There should be.
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6 responses so far ↓
1 Kansas Bob // Sep 9, 2008 at 9:51 pm
Yes, the stinking moose on the table is the unoffical tests that people have as they consider the candidates this year. Unfortunately these tests are not limited to religion. As they vote in November many will play the age-card, the race-card, the gender-card and (the probably most played) ideology card.
This year I am trying my best to play the judgment-card. I am looking for the person who, despite those other cards, displays the kind of judgment needed to lead our country through its many problems. This is a hard card to play though because I (like many evangelicals) have been trained to only play one ideological card.
How about you? What card will you be playing this November?
2 Drew // Sep 10, 2008 at 1:49 am
50 million Bill? Try 4.5 billion, give or take a couple.
I am with you. There are a lot of wacky beliefs, and I think those on the fringe of sanity should be kept on the fringe of society. None are qualified to make decisions that affect other people’s lives.
There are still alot of people who think someone who is deeply religious must be a good person. Blinders. They refuse to see it. It would tear apart alot of what they think they know.
It is interesting that 50% would not vote for an athiest. About that same number of people live their lives as if there is no god to begin with. May as well just be honest about it.
3 Tim Stroud // Sep 10, 2008 at 2:36 am
I find it impossible to vote for anyone who believes the Earth is only 50 million years old.
lol
4 Tim Stroud // Sep 10, 2008 at 6:42 am
Years ago, right after college, my best friend’s fiance was startled to learn that there were no stars between the Earth and the Sun.
He married her anyway.
She currently teaches part-time in the public school system up around Sacramento.
5 Jenny // Sep 12, 2008 at 2:15 am
Evangelicals don’t believer the earth is only 6000 years old - where do you get that figure from?!
BTW I love Sarah, too. I wish she live in my neighborhood and we could train for Ironman and stuff.
Is it true that many of our laws on the books (and much of our constitution) are pretty much the same rules as the 10 Commandments? They’re all pretty good rules to live by if you don’t want to have a lot of conflict in your life…. Regardless if you think Moses was told them by God or not… they are still pretty good ideas.
As always I have to throw in my two cents that you have a problem with *people who use Jesus* to get rich, or get access to young boys to rape, or for a stage to pronounce their wicked opinions like racism, etc.
God is none of those things. Those things are done by people, not God.
6 Drew // Sep 12, 2008 at 5:25 am
You may want to revise that 10 Commandment statement a little. First, only like four or five (depending on your flavor how you count them) have anything to do with law, the rest refer to the god itself. In addition, some of those are fairly hard to figure into real life, so let us just stick with the few that actually make sense, don’t lie, don’t kill, don’t steal. I suppose that would then be the Three Commandments.
Second, I don’t think for a hot second that religion, whether it you believe in a god or just think that gods are a human construct had anything to do with those ideas. If you try to kill or steal from others you are not going to get along in any society. God need have nothing to do with it.
Yes, many, and I do mean pathetically many people believe the Earth is only as old as the Bible says it is. If you examine the timelines given for ages and count back you get about 6000 years give or take a few. This is the view of Young Earth Creationists, or YEC. These people believe Man and dinosaur lived together, much like the Flintstones. You also have Old Earth Creationists, these people have even more convoluted beliefs that make even less sense, they are a bastardization of both science and religion.
FWIW Intelligent Design is a spinoff of Creationism, using the same textbooks and teaching the same basic things. Or I should say preaching since none of it is science, testable, falsifiable, or evidence-based.
Finally, yes, there are lot of evil bastards out there using religion. This has ALWAYS been the case, and will continue into the future. The only way for us to advance is to relegate religion to a quiant old tradition, and nothing more.
If people could actually seperate their religious beliefs from the scumbags who prey on them, they would have put down the Catholic Church after all the pedophilia issues. Instead the sheeple keep on keeping on and allowing these f(*^ers to hurt more kids. It should be something for people to be ashamed of. Instead, they deny it.
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