Religion and elections

**mongoose** · June 02, 2007, 04:54 PM

Who would you be willing to vote for? For the sake of the poll, none of the people running are fundementalists.

**~~removeduser_487563287433~~** · June 02, 2007, 04:55 PM

The one that understands the principle of secularism and pisses off back to his heritage before I smack his godly face.

**Niccolo Machiavelli** · June 02, 2007, 04:57 PM

The one who understood that both should be separated...

**mongoose** · June 02, 2007, 05:01 PM

You guys beat the poll...

**Niccolo Machiavelli** · June 02, 2007, 05:21 PM

Originally Posted by mongoose

You guys beat the poll...

Oops - was too fast - but actually, it lacks my option - the first answer doesn't apply, as it is a factor for me in the question if the person bases its political decisions on religion.

I wouldn't rule out to vote for a religious person per se though.

Most likely I would vote for a religious person if it keeps its private beliefs to itself - i.e. I don't even know if the person is religious. As soon as I hear the word 'god' in one of its speeches in a non-phrasal context, my sympathy for the person is most likely to drop beyond anything that'd make the person electable for me.

So basically it is 'gah' - for me - although that sounds derogatory, which I don't mean.

**mongoose** · June 02, 2007, 05:26 PM

Well, I did say in the opening post that the religous people in question weren't fundementalists, but I wasn't really very clear. What I meant was that they weren't the kind of people who would push their religion on other people.

I fail at making polls.

**Curtana** · June 02, 2007, 05:34 PM

Originally Posted by Niccolo Machiavelli

Most likely I would vote for a religious person if it keeps its private beliefs to itself - i.e. I don't even know if the person is religious. As soon as I hear the word 'god' in one of its speeches in a non-phasal context, my sympathy for the person is most likely to drop beyond anything that'd make the person electable for me.
So basically it is 'gah' - for me - although that sounds derogatory, which I don't mean.

'Gah'
I can see where you are coming from but that's a bit too harsh. Politicians go around kissing babies and being really over friendly to total strangers. Do you really think they do that because they're just nice lovable guys?
If a politician says he's religious, attends church and whatnot he/she's just doing it to win swing voters. Not voting for them just because they claim to be religious is like not voting for them because you don't like their hairstyle.
If a politician says he wants to invade another country because his god told him to or goes 'pro-life' those would be potentially acceptable reasons not to vote for said daft kissass.
Not voting for 'em just because they're trying to seem like 'pretty straight up kind of guys' and win the religious swing vote is overly harsh - as long as their policies stay user friendly.

**Niccolo Machiavelli** · June 02, 2007, 05:45 PM

Originally Posted by Curtana

Gah.
I can see where you are coming from but that's a bit too harsh. Politicians go around kissing babies and being really over friendly to total strangers. Do you really think they do that because they're just nice lovable guys?
If a politician says he's religious, attends church and whatnot he/she's just doing it to win swing voters. Not voting for them just because they claim to be religious is like not voting for them because you don't like their hairstyle.
If a politician says he wants to invade another country because his god told him to or goes 'pro-life' those would be acceptable reasons not to vote for said daft kissass.
Not voting for 'em just because they're trying to seem like 'pretty straight up kind of guys' and win the religious swing vote is overly harsh.

I admit that I was not thinking about the fact that noone not claiming he believes in god will win votes in the US due to your election system and losing all the bible belt if he didn't. I'm european and in the countries I live(d) in there, it is not customary to refer to god in political speeches. If one does (even a christian democrat), he's considered to be on the rather extreme end concerning religious beliefs, as it is mainly considered a private matter.

On a side note, I think it's kind of disgusting that often, not the ones with the best political program but those kissing the most babies win elections - it's really pretentious imho.

**Curtana** · June 02, 2007, 05:03 PM

I would like to know the meaning of this 'gah' please.

**mongoose** · June 02, 2007, 05:11 PM

It means that you don't agree with any of the options, or in this case, it means that you think the poll is stupid.

**Kanaric** · June 02, 2007, 10:19 PM

religion doesn't matter to me, at all, when I vote. I only care if hes trying to push it, if he is then hes not someone who I would of considered voting form.

Otherwise he could be hindu for all I care, makes no difference its the policy that matters.

**Thanatos** · June 02, 2007, 11:32 PM

We need more options in the poll...

**Curtana** · June 03, 2007, 06:27 AM

Maybe all polls here should have an 'other – please specify' option. We always seem to be complaining our particular views aren't covered. That would solve the problem.