When a politician's religious views do matter
Much ado has been made in the past couple days about a GOP candidates comments on whether a Muslim should serve as the President of the United States. Talking heads have been rattling with their opinion on the matter and most agree that our Constitution specifically states that no religious test can, or should, be applied to a candidate for public office. I agree.
However I disagree that a candidate's religious views don't matter. Strongly disagree. The reason is rather simple and should, in my estimation, be obvious to most people. A person's religious views typically align with their values and let there be no doubt, a candidate's values matter MUCH to our electoral process.
To be fair, our Constitution is rather clear on values that are held dear to the patriotic populace of these United States. Matters such as the sanctity of human life, the freedom to speak one's mind and the opportunity to vote for whomever will lead this great nation - all of those are values we literally deem valuable and we expect an elected official to be guided by them.
So should some candidate's religious views be contrary to said values, then said views are very much important. For example if their religious views included a notion that no person should be allowed to own a gun because all weapons were inherently evil, that particular religious view would likely be an issue. If their religion believed that nobody should be allowed to vote because all affairs of men should be left solely to fate alone - that too would likely be an issue that those shameless voters should consider.
The point is simply that no truly religious person can viably separate their values from their beliefs because they are (or should be) interwoven pretty tightly. That doesn't mean a religious person can't balance their views and values BUT (it's a big but) that doesn't mean all religious people are able to do so really well.
I tend to agree with the heretofore nameless GOP candidate who made the statement that drew so much attention insomuch as I have a hard time believing most devout Muslims could effectively balance their Islamic views with the values of the Constitution. I would say the same for a member of the Aryan Nation, who ascribe that certain ethnic groups shouldn't be allowed to breathe, much less vote.
Could it be done? I suppose so however people from those religious views would have to not be very devout to their faiths in order to prioritize the values of the Constitution above some of their own beliefs. Is that very likely? No, not if you take the bulk of human history into consideration. Any faith that somehow specifically "hates" another group of people tends to be pretty narrow-minded in their value system.
They're free to believe whatever they want according to our Constitution. And they can vote. And run for elected office; even hold it if duly elected by the people. But do their religious views matter? Absolutely without a doubt.
However I disagree that a candidate's religious views don't matter. Strongly disagree. The reason is rather simple and should, in my estimation, be obvious to most people. A person's religious views typically align with their values and let there be no doubt, a candidate's values matter MUCH to our electoral process.
To be fair, our Constitution is rather clear on values that are held dear to the patriotic populace of these United States. Matters such as the sanctity of human life, the freedom to speak one's mind and the opportunity to vote for whomever will lead this great nation - all of those are values we literally deem valuable and we expect an elected official to be guided by them.
So should some candidate's religious views be contrary to said values, then said views are very much important. For example if their religious views included a notion that no person should be allowed to own a gun because all weapons were inherently evil, that particular religious view would likely be an issue. If their religion believed that nobody should be allowed to vote because all affairs of men should be left solely to fate alone - that too would likely be an issue that those shameless voters should consider.
The point is simply that no truly religious person can viably separate their values from their beliefs because they are (or should be) interwoven pretty tightly. That doesn't mean a religious person can't balance their views and values BUT (it's a big but) that doesn't mean all religious people are able to do so really well.
I tend to agree with the heretofore nameless GOP candidate who made the statement that drew so much attention insomuch as I have a hard time believing most devout Muslims could effectively balance their Islamic views with the values of the Constitution. I would say the same for a member of the Aryan Nation, who ascribe that certain ethnic groups shouldn't be allowed to breathe, much less vote.
Could it be done? I suppose so however people from those religious views would have to not be very devout to their faiths in order to prioritize the values of the Constitution above some of their own beliefs. Is that very likely? No, not if you take the bulk of human history into consideration. Any faith that somehow specifically "hates" another group of people tends to be pretty narrow-minded in their value system.
They're free to believe whatever they want according to our Constitution. And they can vote. And run for elected office; even hold it if duly elected by the people. But do their religious views matter? Absolutely without a doubt.
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