Should religion in any form be a part of politics, even in Presidential inaugurations?

[mtnsnake]

[lligrd]

1. Never. Think Of How Much Nicer A Place DU Would Be If

it wasn't.

[mtnsnake]

2. Agreed and think of how much better off the world would be, too.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. The whole country would be a nicer place.

We wouldn't have these insane controversies over whose invisible big daddy in the sky was better.

[alwysdrunk]

4. No brainer - hell no

I wonder if Gallup or anyone has ever done a national poll with a similar question.

[liberalmuse]

5. Absofuckinglutely not!

I don't even want to hear about someone else's religion. Live it, and then we'll talk.

[No Elephants]

15. In my experience, those who live it most debate it least.

[madeline_con]

6. I mentioned the inauguration prayer to my husband last night.

He contends that there is no separation of church and state in America, that it was never designed to be so. Blah blah letter to chucrh elders by Jefferson, blah blah blah...

Is this a matter of interpretation, or is there a disregard for a very important intent written in the document being ignored?

I'm pissed this hasn't been resolved yet!

[nosillies]

7. Other

I have no problem is a leader is religious and uses religious beliefs to make decisions. I don't think only atheists should be allowed to hold any public office. But that leader can either keep it to himself or be prepared to lose a lot of votes and support if either a) people don't agree with the rationale behind his decisions or b) people don't believe in the decisions themselves or c) people notice a disconnect between what he claims to believe and what he actually does.

[mtnsnake]

9. Whoa. That's not even what this is about

I have no problem is a leader is religious and uses religious beliefs to make decisions. I don't think only atheists should be allowed to hold any public office.

This isn't about whether or not people have problems with leaders who are religious or whether they're atheists or not. It is about whether or not you think religion should mix with politics in any of the forms outlined above. The 3 choices pretty much cover the issue as to what extent you believe in separation of church and state.

[nosillies]

12. Yes, I almost voted for the first choice.

I would have if it said "can be" rather than "should be."

[lostnotforgotten]

8. Separation Of Church And State - Today, Tomorrow, Forever

eom

[Blaukraut]

10. No! That's the 800lb Gorilla nobody wants to talk about here

It's not about Warren, it's about having an invocation in the first place. Separation of church and state is highly underrated in this country.

[No Elephants]

16. It's not either/or. Both can be true. I have posted that there is no need to

structure an Inauguration the same way that you structure church services, with an invocation and a benedicition. However, if you insist on structuring it that way, even though you shouldn't. for pity sake, don't have an aarse like Warren give the benediction.

[Shiver]

18. For the sake of clarification

Warren is giving the invocation. The incredibly awesome and better than Warren by a magnitude of 77,000 Rev. Joseph Lowery is giving the benediction.

[No Elephants]

20. No clue what that clarifies. I never said Warren was giving both. I said only that an Inauguration

does not need either an invocation or a benediction.

[Shiver]

21. The way your post read

sounded as if you thought Warren was giving the benediction, which is inaccurate. That's what I was correcting. If I misread, I apologize.

[No Elephants]

26. You're absolutely right. I typed benediction when I meant invocation. (not both, though). I am

the one who needs to apologize. Sorry!

[NYC_SKP]

11. Why I voted yes.

Given the two choices that seemed reasonable to me,

"Yes, religion should be a part of politics. There is nothing wrong with it when used correctly"

and "Yes, religion should be part of politics but only in certain instances such as inaugurations & other traditional uses",

I chose the first option because I think faith-based groups and their members are a part of the citizenry which is governed and, as such, need to be considered, respected, and at times can be part of solutions.

Now, if the question was "should religious rhetoric be used... or should specific religions be a part of government", I'd say hell no.

On second thought, maybe I should have selected "other" as the other options are a bit too limiting and the issue has shades and nuances.

:donut:

[wildonion]

13. Im not voting until you add an option to wish for unicorns to appear at the inauguration

:sarcasm:

mebbe we can get a petition for the weather to be 70 degrees and sunny across the US on inauguration, too!

[Sebastian Doyle]

14. I think there's a significant difference

Between a minister praying at an inaguration and churches trying to write their interpretations of scripture into the laws of their states, or this country.

I wouldn't have any problem with a reasonable, non bigoted, minister/priest/rabbi/whatever giving the opening prayer at the ceremony. What makes Warren unacceptable is that he supports the effort to remove civil rights from a segment of the population, because of his interpretation of the Bible. Or should I say, cherry picked verses out of the Bible.

And there's the difference.

[No Elephants]

17. The whole Warren flap would never have occurred if we did not pretend that an Inauguration has to

have an invocation and a Benediction, just like Sunday Services at the Episcopal Church. The Constitution does not mention religion or God, except that it used the dating convention that was ubiquitous in the Western world at that time. ("the year of our Lord" appeared in the date line.) It spelled out the oath of office word for word, with no mention of God. Jefferson, one of its two primary authors, believed in "a wall of separation." And so do I. So much grief would be avoided if we all insisted on it, including the Warren flap.

[DevonRex]

19. Never, ever, ever. We looked the other way when they were just

mumbling a few words but otherwise doing some good things. Now that they're trying to dictate government policy and even raising money to deny people their civil rights, they should be OUT.

[moobu2]

22. Religion always fucks everything up

[Starry Messenger]

23. It should be the rites of the founding fathers:

Not really. I voted for no religion. But I think Masonry is really cool and if we have to have rituals like this, I'd rather have theirs.

[democrattotheend]

24. I think it should be up to the incoming president what to do at inauguration

It's the biggest day of his life and it should be his (or her) choice whether he wants a prayer and what kind of prayer it should be and who should give it.

[LiberalFighter]

25. People need to research the history of the Christian (Pauline) religion.

And research the history of the Jewish religion because it is the basis for the Christian religion.

The History Channel does a few weeks on Christianity every year.

[Maru Kitteh]

27. Seriously? Obama often RAN on religion. Why is everyone so scandalized now?

I was always blown away by the number of FSM avatar folks who were so vehemently - to the point of bitter antagonism - "for" Obamaa and against the other Democrats in the race even though Barack was the only person in the race camaigning heavily on his Christian ideals and faith.

Barack Obama hasn't done one damn thing since winning the election he didn't warn you he would do in the first place. Were you listening?

[polichick]

28. Yep, or he used religion as a political tool. Either way, it's been my least favorite...

...thing about him. I really do believe in the separation of church and state.

[sampsonblk]

29. This is how we know DU is not representative of life in the USA

These poll numbers are very revealing about the difs between DU population vs the nation as a whole.

This year, 89% of the electorate claimed to belong to some religious faith.

Approx 40% of all voters said they attend church weekly or more. Obama won 43% of those hard-core religious voters.

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/polls/#val=USP00p2

[anonymous171]

30. Religion should not be part of government. Politics is a completely different matter. nt

[robcon]

31. Perfect post, anonymous171.

I agree completely...

Government: vague deism is ok.

Politics: religion or no religion - it's up to the politician.