I believe in a president whose religious views are his own private affair, neither imposed by him upon the nation or imposed by the nation upon him as a condition to holding that office.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
As a politician who cherishes religious conviction in his personal sphere, but regards politics as a domain belonging outside religion, I believe that this view is seriously flawed.
Religion has to stay in the heart, not in politics. It is private.
I think there ought to be a strict separation or wall built between our religious faith and our practice of political authority in office. I don't think the President of the United States should extoll Christianity if he happens to be a Christian at the expense of Judaism, Islam or other faiths.
I have always felt that a man's religion was his personal and private affair.
In Lincoln's day a President's religion was a very private affair. There were no public prayer meetings, no attempts to woo the Religious Right. Few of Lincoln's countrymen knew anything at all of his religious beliefs.
Any candidate who claims his religion has no influence on his decisions is either a dishonest politician or a shallow follower of his faith.
Politics in America is the binding secular religion.
For Mitt Romney, the complex question of anti-Mormon bias boils down to the practical matter of how he can make it go away. Facing a traditional American anti-Catholicism, John F. Kennedy gave a speech during the 1960 presidential campaign declaring his private religion irrelevant to his qualifications for public office.
Under this president, we have a government that has grown too big, too costly and now even more overbearing by forcing religious entities to abandon their beliefs.
The question is not whether personal spiritual beliefs shape a politician's values and policies, but what spiritual beliefs mold those values and policies.
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