“I’m a Christian, but if a Buddhist believed in traditional values, smaller government and freedom of religion I’d vote for them.”
I’m with you 100% on that. The strictest (is that a word?) Constitutionalist is what’s important. Religion should not be a factor. This was the firm belief of the leader of the Baptists in Virginia while the Constitution was being written, John Leland. It would be nice if the President were a born-again Christian (in my opinion), but it’s most important that the President stands firm on all the freedoms outlined in the Constitution.
Show me in the constitution where I am not permitted to use whatever criteria I choose when voting.
You are confusing the government verses the individual.
A persons belief system is the core of who they are, it is an important factor.
You are aware, aren't you, that the statement "Religion should not be a factor" -- is itself a statement from a specific religious vantage point.
IOW, your religious worldview, whatever it may be, informs you that you don't want to integrate religion into at least some of your political worldviews.
Therefore, your religious worldview of compartmentalization is a factor in your considerations.
Why? Why is it "A-OK" for your religious worldview that attempts to hermetically seal these things; but it's "not 'OK'" for somebody who integrates these things?