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Kate

What people believe colors their observations, their decisions, and ultimately their actions. It's absurd to suggest this doesn't matter.

American history suggests a popular preference for observant -- but NOT fervent -- Jews and Christians in public office. This appears to have more positives than negatives. My atheist and secular friends concur.

Going further afield from this -- to practicing Muslims, Mormons, Wiccans, Scientologists...

...we'll have to see.

"Let us all feel sorry for those atheists, blah,blah, blather,blather"

How pathetic

Nice anti-secular, anti-atheist BIGOTRY there, Kate. And you wonder why we who believe in DEMOCRACY don't want religious extremists in office....

and finally .... going to the point raised in No Way Ramsay's last submission referring to heavens gate and the like...

point is-these people have to be voted in. The track clad duo could have fooled a few, but not the educated masses; the ones that vote on real issues instead of religious beliefs.

I am a Catholic, but I accept that our rituals, celebrations, and traditions are not much different in context to that of any other "cult” or “sect”. We all have a ceremony of sorts, we all chant prayer. We even do funny things like saying “I denounce the devil and all his works” or the like. The only difference is that our religion has stood the tests of time, and is accepted by a large population. This was not always the case however if one looks back to the Roman times... Calls to mass suicide are rare and extreme cases, and I would propose have less to do with religion than utter madness. What gives you the right to brand someone’s religious practices as those of a cult!?

Sounds like high school playground politics. My god is better than your god.

Let the evangelists pat themselves on the back for being such good citizens in following their god's word to a tee. Let the Muslims rejoice in the anticipation of their afterlife. Let us all feel very sorry for all those atheists whose souls will be stuck at the gates of purgatory - but let's let them get on with it. Everyone has his choice and beliefs. These have nothing to do with government or running a business. By all means judge character, but not religious beliefs. It is despicable to impose your faiths’ beliefs onto those who do not share them.

- And another thing. What is all this electoral collage all about? One person, one vote. What is wrong with that?

I cannot believe that we are even discussing religious beliefs, not to mention judging which religions are right and which are not! How can we have moved so far away from the separation of state and church!? If you were to elect a CEO of the corporation you had all your worth invested in would you ask him which god he prays to? Did Clinton do a worse job in office because he committed adultery?

It truly is sad that we have a system in place where we allow a mass of evangelists out in the Midwest, who do not even contribute to the National economy/tax revenue to the same extent as a much smaller group of people in an eastern state, have such an influence over who runs this country. This is a business. It needs a competent CEO and CFO, whose religious beliefs should be irrelevant. In the corporate world we would call this discrimination! There are different safety nets which should ensure that common morality and values govern the way in which the Presidents policies are implemented; and we should be voting on the basis of these policies alone. This is a man who must represent his people. Christians and non alike. What is the good of a priest running for office? Or should we just give it over to a Bishop?

If Romney gets the Republican nomination -- somehow -- the party will lose. Christians of good conscience simply can't vote for a Mormon if they believe the Bible.

Atheists, secularists and those who really want faith out of the public sphere can't vote for him either. This will seal the deal.

Would any of you put a Scientologist in the White House? A Santarian? An EST/Landmarkian?

In an increasingly secular world, cults become even more dangerous.

Remember Heaven's Gate? Those guys in matching track suits that committed mass suicide in 1997 ...who believe they were joining Jesus on the Hale Bopp comet?!?!

Cults lie on a spectrum -- ranging all the way to the obviously fantastical. Most dangerous are the ones that just fabricate enough that you accept its "credibility" as a faith.

This too, is a minefield. There is a long history of controversial practices ...polygamy, baptism of Holocaust victims, Masonic rituals, REVISING HISTORY ...

... all from a super-secret business organization with estimated revenues of $5billion annually and assets of $30billion.

People rightly get concerned about cults as dangerous political/economic organizations which operate under the protections we extend to religions.

Like with any good work of fiction, there simply exists NO evidence or documentation that can be used to debunk the "Book of Mormon", so it stands.

(Egyptologists translated the actual papyruses that Smith claims contained the "Book of Abraham", hence it was able to be debunked.)

So people of good conscience might be willing -- setting aside its fraudulent ORIGINS -- to consider what Mormons actually believe and practice.

But we should all care -- secularist, atheist, and believer alike.

A little research work (I spent half the day yesterday) on the Internet will yield a wealth of information. IRR.org has a very good video you can watch online "The Lost Book of Abraham" loaded with academics from respected institutions which will tell you that one of the major books of the Mormon cannon is a complete and utter fraud. This, of course, sheds light on the character of the man who supposedly recieved the "Book of Mormon" from angels.

If someone running for office tells us that their "faith" is important to them, then we citizens have a duty to examine that "faith".

Mormons are not Christians. It is a non-Christian belief system -- less than 200 years old -- that breaks with all Judeo-Christian tradition. Truly sadly today: Only evangelicals seem to be the only ones schooled enough in these issues to know this fact and the only ones passionate enough to care.

If Romney had to do it so too even more should the minister Huckabee. I personally don't want a religious person in office, at all--we have one now and look at the mess we're in!! These folks are nothing but bigots who willingly or not spew hatred of anyone who is not like them even within the religious communities. If you're not a Baptist or a Catholic or a Methodist or a whatever, the one doesn't want the other to be in office. I also think they're all war mongers and unfortunately they to that in the name of God very often. These are often folks who need some serious psychological and emotional help.