What would it take for you to vote across party lines?

[Brian Fein]

Obama is clearly a Socialist and I believe he may even be a closet Muslim. No one really knows what religion he is, do they???

Pity, you have a lot of good stuff to say and ruined your entire post with one line.

You say that as though being Muslim is bad.  Heaven forbid if he was also gay!  *gasp*

[Phishfan]

Obama is clearly a Socialist

I guess that is why we have the single payer health system.

[CF DolFan]

Pity, you have a lot of good stuff to say and ruined your entire post with one line.

You say that as though being Muslim is bad.  Heaven forbid if he was also gay!  *gasp*

First let me say I believe Obama is a Christian but if he was a Muslim but was portraying himself a Christian ... then yes. That's bad. If he's a Muslim and portrays himself a Muslim then it wouldn't be an issue.  If he portrayed himself a gay Muslim it really wouldn't matter either as the Muslims would kill him!! Lol.

[Dave Gray]

No one really knows what religion he is, do they???

Only so much as nobody knows what anyone's religion is.

[Brian Fein]

For the record, I STRONGLY believe that one's religion should have absolutely NO bearing on a person's competency as President of the United States.

[Phishfan]

For the record, I STRONGLY believe that one's religion should have absolutely NO bearing on a person's competency as President of the United States.

Unless they wear magic underwear (Just an attempt at humor guys).

[Dave Gray]

For the record, I STRONGLY believe that one's religion should have absolutely NO bearing on a person's competency as President of the United States.

I would like to agree with that, but I don't.

Religion asks you to forgo reason for faith.  When someone is very religious (of any faith), it tells me that they are able to turn off evidence-based thinking and replace it with faith-based thinking.  I don't feel comfortable with political leaders with the ability to do that.  When faced with big issues, like war, I am shaking in my boots at the prospect of someone praying to find answers.

Now, living in America, it's pretty much unavoidable, so I find myself choosing candidates that I feel won't rely as heavily on their faith to help them make decisions.

[Brian Fein]

I would agree with you, Dave.  However, what I meant was that we shouldn't be choosing our favorite candidate because he is Christian, Muslin, Jewish, Agnostic, etc.  Just because a guy is Muslim doesn't make him incapable of doing anything.

The statement given previously reminds me of the lady that stood up during a debate 4 years ago and asked John McCain if its true that Obama was an Arab.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrnRU3ocIH4

Kudos to McCain for how he handled his whacko followers.

[Dave Gray]

Poor McCain.  I felt sorry for him, actually.

He's a guy that I really respected and he pretty much ruined his reputation by having to placate the far right.  He came off looking like an old coot.  It just wasn't his turn.  After Bush, no Republican was winning the White House, and he was the dude in there taking the drubbing.

When he sacked up and told that lady what was up -- Kudos to him, but it had already gone on way too long.

[CF DolFan]

For the record, I STRONGLY believe that one's religion should have absolutely NO bearing on a person's competency as President of the United States.

I would guess most people do actually care and for many different reasons. One such as what Dave alluded to. One way or the other "religion" is important to most people.

[Brian Fein]

^^ Mostly because religion drives people's beliefs.  But is that to say that you would never vote for a Jewish candidate because he's Jewish?

[Spider-Dan]

"Jewish" is always a bad case to use for religious examples, because it is difficult to fully separate the religion of Judaism and the race of Jews.

Saying "I would never vote for a Jew" is not remotely the same thing as "I would never vote for a Buddhist."

[Phishfan]

^^^ I always considered it incorrect to refer to being Jewish as a race. How can someone be considered Jewish if they do not practice the religion? Christians are not a race. Muslims are not a race.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

^^^ I always considered it incorrect to refer to being Jewish as a race. How can someone be considered Jewish if they do not practice the religion? Christians are not a race. Muslims are not a race.

Jewish is not a race.  But it is an ethnic group.  A significant portion of the Jewish victims of the Holacaust were non-believers, about half of the Israeli Jews are non-believers.

 

[Spider-Dan]

Jewish is not a race.  But it is an ethnic group.

Please give an example of another "ethnic group" that cannot be categorized as a race.