General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIf you believed a Candidate was a Believing Christian, would you be more or less likely to vote
for that candidate? To be clear - your assessment of their statements and personal life is that they genuinely believe in a Christian faith.
Also this assumes all other things being equal - they generally had correct positions on the issues. They supported a woman's right to chose and they supported marriage equality specifically.
Bryant
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Coventina
(27,223 posts)When you say that ALL other things are equal, I can't imagine two candidates being equal except that one is Christian and one is not.
Is the other candidate a person of faith? That could possibly affect the choice.
I would say that when I vote, I usually do not care about the person's personal religious beliefs, only their stance on policies is at issue for me. It would be hard for me to choose if the two candidates were exactly alike on policies. I would probably base my choice on experience or education or other factors before considering religion, if ever.
el_bryanto
(11,804 posts)A thought experiment more or less.
And everybody is influenced by different thoughts and ideas, if two candidates seem very close together in positions (as sometimes happens in primaries) - you look at other things - their history for one but also how they make decisions. And the religion question could play into that.
Bryant
yurbud
(39,405 posts)There are a lot of progressive Christians who hold values similar to my own. Most don't take the Bible literally and they usually focus on the teachings of Jesus Christ rather than the punitive passages of the Old Testament. I have no problem voting for that kind of Christian.
yurbud
(39,405 posts)since then, we've gotten variations of Elmer Gantry Baby Bush at worst, and those who keep mostly quiet about it at best.
Whisp
(24,096 posts)Jesus Christ would not approve and we all know that.
Fake Christians are the bane of history.
think
(11,641 posts)mike_c
(36,281 posts)...so the first time a candidate starts babbling about their faith they've pretty much lost my support. I can imagine self professed christian candidates I might still support, but they would have to be fire breathing populist progressives with real leftist platforms. I don't see many of those emerging these days.
stevenleser
(32,886 posts)If I found out from researching, no big deal. If the candidate is mentioning it in their stump speeches, my preference is to choose someone else. All things being equal.
dilby
(2,273 posts)Tony Campolo once said, "Mixing religion and politics is like mixing ice cream and manure. It doesn't do much to the manure but it sure does ruin the ice cream" and I have to agree with him.
Bonx
(2,079 posts)NuclearDem
(16,184 posts)Orsino
(37,428 posts)...behind any candidate's invocation of the large umbrella of Christianity. I have to wonder what evidence or lack thereof s/he will act on.
I shouldn't necessarily feel this way, but in American politics far too many objective evils are carried out in the name of Christian faith. "Faith" and "values" are words so often tossed about that they have lost meaning.
Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)who is an atheist, and their positions are the same on the issues, I'd go for the atheist, because to me that shows a person who is invested in rationality and not in magical thinking.
Zorra
(27,670 posts)I'm sick of stupid ass people who believe in books and religions.
I would have no problem voting for someone who believes in some form of higher power, like Love, for instance.
NightWatcher
(39,343 posts)BainsBane
(53,112 posts)and while we might get a Jew as President, chances of electing an atheist anytime soon aren't great. Looks like you've left yourself with no one to vote for.
NightWatcher
(39,343 posts)what they thought people wanted to hear.
I do know that there have been many who were devout christians, Jimmy Carter for example, but I doubt that people like GHWB and GWB really believed in a higher power. The Bushes sure as Hell didn't live or preside as though they had the same values as Christ was purported to represent.
I don't claim to know (or want to know) what is in the politician's heart and mind.
BainsBane
(53,112 posts)and particularly relevant to Hillary Clinton's recent comment. Why people have decided that comment was anything but poltico-speak, I have no idea.
LeftyMom
(49,212 posts)He was raised in a religious home, was interested in religions and spoke in biblical allusions when it suited his rhetorical purposes, but nobody who knew him well thought of him as a believer in more than a vague, deistic sense. Most didn't go that far.
And most of the founders were deists (which was as close to irreligion as people generally got in those days.)
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)careers. So this is a huge hypothetical. I've never voted for a national candidate who had not insulted LGBT people and claimed his God wanted us insulted. Obama 'I'm a Christian, so one man, one woman. God is in the mix'.
So show me this political Christian who consistently supports equality and choice and we can talk. As it stands, your question might as well be 'would you vote for a flying beagle?' Maybe, if there was such a thing....