My comment to you is that Cal Thomas is merely stating that you cannot say you are one thing and believe another. That is just not correct. No one is saying it makes a difference for a political candidate whether you are a Christian or not; just don’t claim to be something that you are not. That’s all. There is no comdeming; again just don’t say you are something when you do not believe in the basics of it.

Kat,

I totally agree with what you’re saying, but your statistics are way off as far as the religious backgrounds of Americans.

http://www.gc.cuny.edu/faculty/research_briefs/aris/key_findings.htm

Regardless of what Cal Thomas believes (I only pay attention to MSNBC and CNN) Barack Obama is a Christian. The “Know the Facts” section of http://www.barackobama.com has this article on his religion.

http://www.barackobama.com/factcheck/2007/11/12/obama_has_never_been_a_muslim_1.php

Actually…. most of the past Presidents of the United States haven’t been Christian. So I really don’t see why NOW they are talking about religion in a Presidential nomination, right?

It’s ok as long as it doesn’t affect your brain.

Unfortunately it has become a race to show who is the most pious. No campaign would be complete without a shot of the candidate emerging from a church on a Sunday.

I never thought this would happen in a million years, but my candidate is a conservative Christian. I’m voting for him because I strongly believe in his stand on all things governmental (Ron Paul).

It DOES matter to me when it comes to who will be running my country..good grief, are you kidding me?
It will matter in everything they DO and HOW they act !
Geez, this country is sure going to the DOGS!
I pray to GOD that John McCain wins this or we’re in BIG trouble…YIKES!

Abbey: I appreciate your comment, and respect your opinion. But with such a large population of this country NOT being Christians, I disagree that Christianity should be a requirement for our candidates. There is a law to ensure separation of Church and State, anyway.

Personally, I choose who I vote for based on personal stance, morals, records in politics, etc. I could care less what their sex, race OR religion is.

Kat,

By your own words, you demonstrated why someone’s religion matters. You replied to Abbey as follows: ” Personally, I choose who I vote for based on personal stance, morals, records in politics, etc. I could care less what their sex, race OR religion is.”

If a man or woman is living what they are learning as a Christian, then it will be reflected in their personal stance, their morals and their politics. Christianity is a life style and not something someone does on Sunday morning from 9 to 10. Unfortunately, far too many people who call themselves Christians don’t live out what the Bible teaches all week long — that may be the real problem for you. There is way to much hypocrisy in the Christian church.

I have not read Cal Thomas’ article but based on what you are saying, Mr. Thomas must be pointing out that Obama’s claims vs. his actions and words don’t match up. James, the half brother of Jesus, said it is much easier to spot a Christian by his actions than by his words (my paraphrase).

I think everyone has a God given right to accept or reject what the Bible teaches about what Christ has done for them. It is your choice while we are here on this earth. I try to follow what Christ did because I chose to believe what Jesus did for me (died on a cross to pay the penalties of my sin). However, as a Christian, I am called to love everybody just a God does…. even those who do not share my biblical view.

When it comes to politics, a person’s personal beliefs do matter. As a Christian, I try to find the candidate that best reflects my biblical views. Their party, their gender, or their skin color doesn’t matters to me. I vote for the person and what they stand for. Unfortunately, most of the time I have to vote for the lesser of two candidates because fewer and fewer are representing my views.

Sorry for the long response! You have a great blog. Keep those exchange of ideas coming!!

We often make judgements based on such things, and rightly so. A true Christian has certain shared beliefs, as do Jews, as do Hindus, and as do pagans.

If they are Republican or Democrat or Libertarian - they have a shared belief system with others sharing that label. It tells something about them and what they believe.

Message to Kat - there is no law regarding the seperation of church and state. It’s an judicial interpretation of intent. If you can find such a law - please let me know.

And good luck with that pagan thing.

I have no problem with any person of any religion holding government office. As long as that person’s religion belives in “Live and let Live”

That’s just the quandary we are in with regard to Islam. it is perfectly acceptable to their religion to lie to “Infidels”. So if he in Muslim, he could be lying through his teeth.

And I don’t trust anything he states on his web site. You want to find out about Islam, check out Jihad Watch. Kat, you’d be second in line (right behind the Jews) to be “dealt with” if the world is ever conquered by an Islamic Caliphate.

This guy has been wishy-washy on every subject he has been questioned on. He talks about “change” in very general terms, but never outlines what his plans are. I don’t want someone in the highest office in the land simply because he’s a smooth talker, looks great in a suit, and doesn’t like how things are currently. Things can and might get a lot worse in this country if we hand control over to the wrong person.

I hope I’m wrong and my fears are not founded. But electing someone and waiting to see what happens could be a hell of a way to find out that my fears have merit. And we no longer have a “New World’ that we can escape to if conditions get unbearable.

Kat,
Just a quick note - the law is that government shall not establish a religion, not that religion shall be no part of people in the government. In fact, at the time it was written there were official State-level religions. What this indicated was that there would not be a federal level religion. That famous “separation” quote was from Jefferson trying to tell some Christians that the government would not interfere with them, NOT that they should not be a part of the government. Please re-read the First Amendment to the US Constitution and you’ll note that it does not say anything, anywhere about a separation - just that the Federal Government will not establish a religion.

For the rest on your personal stance, I tend to agree. Where the person stands makes a much larger difference over who runs the country than their religion. However, that religion does influence a person and should be considered as a part of who he/she is. Ideally, they should be able to take the views from their faith and serve in the government with those views, but they still have to follow the law. For me, I don’t really like any of the candidates running, but I shudder at the idea of Mr. Obama more than the others just because I see my tax burden increasing even more for bigger, more wasteful government.

These blogs are addictive, and I should avoid them. But anyway, in the USA our Media determines whether Religion our anything else matters. They have been twisting everything to be as they see it for 6 years now, and in effect Brainwashing us.

I think this election was a great experiment for them! They chose the most unqualified man to be our next President and are going to ram him through even if he says he will have all your children put to death. And lots of brain dead TV watchers will go for it.

First, consider that the quote came from Cal Thomas. He was a big honcho in the (im)Moral Majority(HA!) during Reagan’s reign.

Although there are probably Christians out there who sincerely, if however errantly, believe that by instilling their belief system into everything that is American will create a stronger America, the actions and statements most of those at the top of that movement imply that they simply wish Christianity on all so that THEIR lives will be better. You see, if they didn’t have “those darn Muslims, Jews, devil-worshiping atheists (don’t laugh - I get accused of devil worship when I state I am an atheist), and other weirdos like gays and such”, their lives would be nirvana.

Most Christians I’ve met have been decent human beings who happen to believe differently than I do. But those fascists* who insist I believe THEIR WAY and only their way are wastes of good oxygen.

(*Yeah - I failed Goodwin’s Law, but after seeing what the Immoral Majority and their ilk, and the pseudo religious BS that runs through the current administration, I cannot but help equating those groups with fascists.)