Voters steer through religious faith of candidates

Dubya said God told him to be president. Dubya sunsequently said God told him to invade Iraq.

Please, no more presidents getting their marching orders from God. I'd prefer our presidents look to Americans and the Constitution on how to handle things.

Hillary says faith is very important to her.
She neglects to say what faith. A bit more than she had in Bill, we hope.

Doug, your comments about what Bush said there are a bastardization of reality. Bush never said "God told me to invade Iraq," nor did he ever say, "God told me to be president."
Get with reality and let the hysterionics stay with the John E.,', dt's, Janet's and other brain dead roadkill you occasionally assimilate to.

John D.,

Yeah he did:

Bush said to James Robinson: 'I feel like God wants me to run for President. I can't explain it, but I sense my country is going to need me. Something is going to happen... I know it won't be easy on me or my family, but God wants me to do it.

The revelation comes after Mr Bush launched an impassioned attack yesterday in Washington on Islamic militants, likening their ideology to that of Communism, and accusing them of seeking to "enslave whole nations" and set up a radical Islamic empire "that spans from Spain to Indonesia". In the programmeElusive Peace: Israel and the Arabs, which starts on Monday, the former Palestinian foreign minister Nabil Shaath says Mr Bush told him and Mahmoud Abbas, former prime minister and now Palestinian President: "I'm driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, 'George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan.' And I did, and then God would tell me, 'George go and end the tyranny in Iraq,' and I did."

And yet Doug Zook makes an important point, I would rather have a president who merely has a pleasant nodding relationship with the American civil religion (kind of a non-offensive all religions are validly good Deism) and uses reason, advice from knowledgeable people, and the law to make his decisions than one that takes a specific religlious viewpoint, believes it is correct and all other religions in America are wrong and actually feels a connection to his god(s) that leads him to make errors in judgment.

To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure W is an example of the latter case. He has advanced the cause of religious pluralism by having a Ramadan celebration at the White House and has insisted that Islam not be judged by a handful of its supporters. I don't believe he invaded Iraq because he felt his god(s) told him to either, I think he had far earthier motives. I think he has used his religion to wrap himself in it in order to appeal to the people who believe like him, much like Saddam and many other world leaders have done in the past.

John D,

You have to take it in context. Bush thinks Cheney is God.

Best Regards

Johnny D. telling someone his quotes were wrong?? That's like the pot calling the kettle black!!!!

Too funny, especially since Johnny never cites his sources, and when challenged on, crawls back under his rock!!!

George Bush supposedly believes in God & look where it got us.

If I need directions on my faith, I'll turn to my church.

This country does not need political leaders to be influenced by religion becasue that's where things go wrong. You have Bush going to Bob Jones Univerisity to pander for votes from the -Pope is the devil & Catholics are going to hell- idiots who call themselves Christians.

Still never heard a defense for Bush's presence at that cult.

Wonder what would have happened if Bob Jones said the same thing about Jews as he talks about Catholics.

I am troubled by the fact that this survey on the subject of religion and the Presidential campaign totally ignores Mike Huckabee. No other Presidential candidate matches him in his public commitment to his faith. His performance in all of the debates and the results from the Iowa straw poll should make us question why anyone, including the Pew Forum, ignores him in their coverage of Presidential candidates.

Oh Bobin, I put forth sources and links all the time. But most times it's a waste of my time because unless the information coordinates with your alternative reality world or weirdness, you won't accept truths.

Anyway, Doug, that comment from Bush only proves that you basically bastardized what Bush said. Regardless, there is absolutely nothing wrong with anyone prayerfully looking for guidance and understanding. Funny, how you Loons make fun of Bush for doing it, but if Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton or Michael Pfleger note guidance from God in their decisions, you folks are quiet, or even Slick Willie, who "used" guidance and the Bible when he was in trouble 10 years ago.
Winston Churchill and FDR, for instance, prayed and looked to guidance all the time when they lead England and the U.S.

All people have a raight to their religion. Presidents from Washington to Lincoln to Roosevelt have talked about their faith in God. America has a Judeo-Christian tradition until it was highjacked by secular humanists and liberal elitists like Bill Clinton and his pop culture presidency with many trysts and turns. Jerry White, Springfield, IL

John D.,

Being Dougie, Demoncrat, Defeatocrat, Cut-n-Runner, I couldn't possibly find my ass with both hands and a diagram - so I gotza ax u: how are my comments "bastardized."

Being a "looney leftie," "worst that mankind has to offer" I am so, so, confused.

P.S. If you run into Jerry White (he's from Springfield, IL you know) please ask him to to relay to me what "drive-by media" means.

Thanks for caring.

I am a Roman Catholic, but I look at overall candidates whose issues are most in sync with my own.

Rememeber, in 1960, most felt there was no way we would elect a Catholic president. Kennedy's religious affiliation was seen as a negative.

I'm certainly glad we moved on from there. At least I hope we have.

I don't agree with Romney on most issues, but if there was a good democratic Mormon candidate, I would consider him for the stances he takes on issues not because he is Mormon.

If all thing were equal, I might only vote for the Catholic candidate as a tie-breaker, not just because they are Catholic.

Mormons have served their country quietly and honorably for over 100 years. There have been over 300 that have served in Congress, and all have done so honorably. In the last U.S. Congress there were 17. In the current U.S. Congress there are 10. Why is it a big deal that Romney is Mormon?

[quote]
Oh Bobin, I put forth sources and links all the time. But most times it's a waste of my time because unless the information coordinates with your alternative reality world or weirdness, you won't accept truths.

Posted by: John D | September 7, 2007 10:41 AM
[/quote]

Everyone here in The Swamp is waiting for you to post a link that offers PROOF POSITIVE to your allegation that John Edwards pays as much for his suits as Bush does - a link to a story in Me's Vogue magazine saying that Edwards is rich doesn't cut it.

Produce proof or get off the pot.

Well, Mr. DeWhitt is correct that cracker Gov. Huckabee is religious.

Ted Haggard is religious. Larry Craig is religious. Jimmy Swaggart is religious. Pat Robertson is religious. And yes, Osama bin Laden is religious.

Thanks, but I'll be looking for the LEAST religious candidate in Nov. 2008

"Regardless, there is absolutely nothing wrong with anyone prayerfully looking for guidance and understanding. Funny, how you Loons make fun of Bush for doing it, but if Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton or Michael Pfleger note guidance from God in their decisions, you folks are quiet, or even Slick Willie, who "used" guidance and the Bible when he was in trouble 10 years ago."

Posted by: John D | September 7, 2007 10:41 AM

Nice to see you still don't let truth get in the way of anything. There is a difference between letting your faith "guide you" and saying, "God told me to do it", which is what President Bush said.

Besides that, Jackson, Sharpton and Pfleger are ordained ministers. Their faith is their job. That being said, I actually often don't agrre with the "grandstanding" they do on some issues. It often causes the people they are trying to reach to miss the message.

The president's job is to represent ALL AMERICANS, multi-culturally without preferrence to any faith.

He can use his faith to help him make decisions, but he cannot make decisions directly based on his particular faith.

Good article, but needs distinction between "religious" and "spiritual." Religions start wars, spirituality teaches peace to the world.
Romney seems quite spiritual.

Incidently, the article "Barack Obama: Religious Hijacker" claims that Obama's religion is Marxism given a facelift:
http://acimmessages.blogspot.com/2007/06/politics-and-religion.html

Ah yes, the aptly named 'movement' Christians; Will we ever be free of them?

In addition to his stand on current issues, can we not look at whether a candidate has demonstrated good character in the past--things such as honesty, fairness, integrity, wisdom, self-control, etc.--rather than which religion he belongs to? If he has kept promises, worked honestly, and used good judgment in the past, we can expect he will continue to do so, apart from his particular denomination.
A candidate's track record can help allay worries about possible future behavior.

BC, no one wants anymore information on John Edwards' suits, except for you. And the fact you cannot except the Men's Vogue article only proves my contention you can't handle the truth. Anyway, you can continue to think John Edwards buys $200 suits at Sears, that is your right as an incredibly ignorant person.

Doug, can you please show me one instance in which I called you a Defeatocrat? Cut-and-runner? I can't help it, though, if you choose to run in the wrong circles, that is your decision.

I believe Lincoln said it was God's will to end slavery and go to war against the south. George Washington called on God for guidence durring the Revolutionary War and durring his Presidency. I guess to those who think religion should not guide a President then we would still be a colony of England and we would still have slavery. I guess those educated in the Public Schools have learned the revisionist history of America. We were founded on God as it states in the Constitution "all men are created equall and are given by their CREATOR certain inalienable rights..."