Ban religion from politics? No way.
James Kirk Wall, Author of Agnosticism: The Battle Against Shameless Ignorance
Despite my belief that agnostics should rule the world as we are smarter than everyone else, at least according to us, I would never ban religious people from running for office. This country is a republic with a constitution that is by the people. The people must decide who gets elected.
Agnostics don’t use God as a reason to go to war. They don’t believe that God got them elected. They don’t tell people to pray to God to fix all the problems that the politicians created. Politicians should use knowledge and reason to make important decisions, not perceived godly authority.
Reason tells us that if a country has stock piles of chemical weapons that are beyond their shelf life and no way to distribute them, that they are not a direct threat. Reason tells us it is better to remove terrorist leaders though a covert operation based on intelligence rather than bomb and rebuild entire countries.
Why do philosophers make better decisions? They ask questions and dig deep into problems, rather than making decisions based on shameless ignorance.
University professor David Barash has suggested that anyone who is strenuously devout should be rejected by the electorate. And who decides if someone is “strenuously devout?”
This kind of promotion of discrimination is wrong and dangerous. There are state constitutions that are discriminatory toward atheists. There are some very uneducated people claiming that the U.S. Constitution should be ignored because it was written by white rich men. Reacting to ignorant discrimination with ignorant discrimination is not the right path.
Would this country and this world be better without religion in politics or anywhere else? It cannot be dismissed that a nation of mostly Christians freed Africa and Europe from Nazi occupation.
It cannot be dismissed that nations of mostly religious people have provided food and aid to millions and millions of people all over the world. It cannot be dismissed that a group of mostly religious people created the greatest foundation for a country ever built. It also cannot be dismissed that godless communism hardly has a history of peace and love. The great philosopher Socrates himself, the father of agnosticism according to Thomas Huxley, believed in a God. The right path is for the religious and non-religious people to work together to solve our problems without prejudice. Competence and character matter more than religious or non-religious affiliation.
“The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.” Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, Query 17, 1782
As sensible and reasonable as your post is, the Religious Right would never go along with you. Perhaps that is your point - if someone is so 'strenuously devout' as to be unable to work together peacefully with those they disagree with, then that should be the test of an unfit candidate.
Posted by: BrianE | May 23, 2011 at 01:28 PM
You miss an important point. The problem is not that a politician is religious, the problem, as is so clear here in Florida, comes when the politician is in office not to serve the interest of all the people in the district he represents, but the church that endorced and supported him.For example you should google the First Baptist Church of Jacksonville to see how politically active a church can be.
Here in Florida we have senators and rep's who have proposed and passed laws that are harmful to others while materially and socially benefitting churches and their beliefs. The abortion law is just one. The most costly to Floridians is the "Religious Freedom" proposed amendment to the constitution that will allow state funds to go directly to church schools even though our public schools are underfunded. Even now corporations can get a 100 per cent tax credit for donating money to scholarships to church schools. That harms public, secular schools.
At the same time, Christian legislators have proposed laws to indoctrinate students into believing that the Declaration of Independence proves the founding fathers meant for Christianity to be the official religion of the US because of the word Creator. Florida is a show case of the plans of the Christian Right to take over this country. We even have reps who were home schooled, attended Liberty U and law school and returned to Florida to run for office and make laws that suit the CR. This was the plan set into motion by Jerry Falwell and associates years ago. It's working here in Florida.
So, contrary to what you say, voters better be concerned about the religion, church and associates of candidates for office!
Posted by: Susan Bergert, Gainesville Florida | May 24, 2011 at 07:16 AM