[Vision2020] Religion and Politics

[Donovan Arnold]

People seem to be saying that a politician's religion should not be anyone's 
business but his. But less us face the reality that it does.

Is it a coincidence that all the US Presidents have been Christians, and 
only one was not a Protestant?

If a man was a member of Bob Jones, would you not take that into 
consideration when voting? If a women running for office believed in 
sacrificing virgins at an alter, would that honestly not weight heavily on 
your mind as you punched the hole in the ballot?

You cannot remove morality and beliefs from religion, and you cannot remove 
beliefs and morality from politics, therefore they are inseparable and 
intertwined.

So yes, we should take into account all the beliefs of a people when voting 
for them. And why shouldn't we? How many times does a politician use 
religion to advance his or her own agenda? All the time. They do so with 
supporters, they do so when making decisions, addressing the public, passing 
policy, and even when running for office.

I also think it should be made clear how religious a person is when running 
for office, so people know where they are coming from. If someone is 
fiercely conservative, religious, and a nationalist, they should tell the 
public. On the other hand, if they are liberal, and believe that abortion is 
oppression of women, they should mention this belief.

When I was in student government, I was the only Liberal in the student 
government when I started. I heard all the time about God this, and God 
that. And I was fine with it. God is a major driving force for me too. I 
just have different way of looking at things. I think God loves everybody, 
and wants us to work together, not force people to do things through the 
government.

I do believe in separation of Church of State, but from the Church 
perspective. That means, I don't want the Government telling people what 
religion they must believe and practice. I think this was the fear of most 
of the writers of the Constitution, not the Church telling the state what to 
do.

We live in a democracy. In a democracy, people vote, and people vote 
according to their beliefs. Religion is one of those beliefs and will be 
factored in when people vote. In Utah, people will vote for religious 
conservatives, in New York, people are going to vote for religious liberals.

I think if people say we cannot attack a faith that a person follows, that 
also means that we must attack anyone in public office that uses any 
judgment based on faith. I don't think we can do that.

I also really don't see any way to have a democracy and keep religion out of 
politics, it is politics.

I don't think religion should be the only factor either. But for people to 
say, religion is not a factor in voting is only fooling themselves.

Donovan J Arnold

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