BellaOnline Forums Religion and Spirituality Atheist what's your opinion about this evolving?

"I would probably not vote for a fundamentalist of any faith, and I'd probably shy away from followers of certain cults. But religious or not, I would prefer a President who keeps his religious beliefs private rather than constantly airing them in public."

Me too.

Amadeus,

I enjoyed some of your other points, but then, in your third paragraph (above)...

Yes, this nation was founded on an ethical framework where a God is recognized...but not a Christian God specifically. Yes, our money says "In God We Trust", but not "In Christ We Trust". Kind of like AA...where you're asked to recognize a Higher Power, but not told exactly who or what that is; it's up to you to define it.

Freedom of religion (one of the largest tenets of our great nation) must also mean freedom FROM religion for those who so choose.

Somebody recently said that when members of congress are sworn in, they are asked to put their hand on the bible (or the Koran, etc.) and asked to uphold the Constitution. They are not asked to put their hand on the Constitution and asked to uphold the Bible.

I hope it stays that way. Lately, I've started to wonder.

Elise

The other night on CNN, there was a special entitled, "What Would Jesus Really Do?"

A lot of evangelists were questioned about certain things and one that stuck out was something Rev. Jerry Falwell said.

He was asked about the possibility of an Atheist being voted into the White House and the reverend responded with, "I wouldn't care if there was an atheist in the White House as long as he knew something about National Security. It doesn't do any good to have anyone in there, Christian or not, if they don't know about the government or National Security."

He then went on to say something about that we never had a Sunday School teacher in the White House, meaning that there was no devout Christian so to speak and the interviewer said except Jimmy Carter and then he or Falwell said, "Yeah and look what happened to us then".

I have no objection to anyone being in the White House, Christian or not, as long as they put the people's and the government's interests first and worry about the other things second.

Fix my Social Security so I will have it when I retire, don't worry about if Adam wants to marry Steve.

Concentrate on how to end the Iraq conflagration and bring our troops home, not whether the government should ban abortions.

Fix our National Debt and then pass a law telling me I have to wear a seatbelt.

Find a way to lower our gas prices and then waste a bunch of money to prosecute a government official for having phone sex with a White House page or sending out erotic emails.

Don't have a ten thousand dollar a plate dinner to get people to donate to homelessness. Use that ten thousand dollars to help end homelessness.

All right, let me step down off of my soap box before I pop an aneuryism. Now, what were we talking about? Oh yeah, Christianity in school.

I feel everyone should be able to have the choice of learning about or not learning about Christianity when they are being taught about other faiths and they should have the option to learn about or not learn about Creationism along with evolutionism.

amadeus1220, we agree on much! I also feel the government should focus on the nuts and bolts business of running this country and leave the personal/religious/lifestyle stuff to us.

I don't think any one religion should be taught in public schools, but a general class to teach about religion in general makes sense. Kids should grow up learning what's out there and what the differences are.

Ditto.

And while we're at it, let's teach these kids some logic and some history about the development of the Constitution, too. In a democracy, it's essential that our citizens be able to analyze political speeches logically. It would also be nice if they knew what the Constitution really says and what it doesn't.

Yes, this is true. There is so much in there that people don't realize. For instance, all men are created equal providing you are a white Anglo-Saxon.

African-Americans are considered something like 2/3 of a man or something ridiculouslike that when it comes to voting or whatever.

Amadeus I am impressed. Do not take offence for this is not an insult. Your current approach is much more tolerable and I look forward to intelligent opinion. Though I am surprised to see such tolerant words out of Falwell's mouth. Not at all what I have seen from him in the past and I wonder if it reflects an opinion for the camera's and not so much how he would cast a vote.

I know. I was just as shocked to hear him say that as well. If he was "mugging" for the cameras, as they say, then he did a very good job.

It seemed very honest because of the whole context of the conversation and everything that he was saying, flowed very well. He didn't have to stop and think about his answers and it didn't look like he was reading from prepared answers as he was looking at the camera the whole time.

I think he was very sincere and it is easy to believe because as a Christian, I feel the same way about the government. There is way too much emphasis on the minor stuff and not enough about what really matters to us and our future as a country.

As much as I appreciate President Bush as a Christian president, I casted my vote for John Kerry at the last election.

Now, Bush was on the news last night touring Arizona and Texas where the immigrants are coming through from Mexico and talking about how much money it is going to cost to give some residential visas and their families.

The heck with that. We have starving children in this country and rampant unemployment. Put that money there. Give the immigrants from Mexico day labor visas to ocme here and work and go back home at night or at the end of their shift. Our money is worth more over there anyway and that is all they really want.

After a few months allow them to come live here but make them pay for temporary visas so they can go to classes and learn what they have to in order to take the oath and the test to get their green cards.

Stop spending money to build fences and walls that they will get through anyway and stop spending a bunch of money for more border guards. Let them come, earn a living and go back home for now.

Sorry, got up on the ol' soap box again.