Religion is an issue - sort of. I wouldn't vote for an Atheist. My personal opinion is that, in affairs of State and War, Divine Favor is not merely desirable, but absolutely necessary...
Nor would I vote for Muslim, Buddhist, Shintoist, Hindu, Taoist, Wiccan or Animist; but I think their political goals would alienate me long before we got to religion...
Excellent point. Many of those who claim that religion doesn't matter would hesitate voting for a Satanist, I would think. All seem to draw the line somewhere.
Well, at least I have lots of company in your world. LOL. This thread is an exemplar of why Thomas Jefferson was so suspicious of organized religion.
"Religion is an issue - sort of. I wouldn't vote for an Atheist."
Christians are always whining about how "atheists" are trying to remove religion from society. Of course, it is only a small minority of atheists (mostly socialists) that are behind these moves to remove all traces of religion from school and other aspects of public life. The great majority of us respect the beliefs of others, even if we don't share them. I wouldn't rule out a candidate for being a Mormon any more than for being a member of any other mainstream religion. I would have doubts about a Muslim, Scientologist or Jehova's Witness, though, the Muslim because of what I know about the faith and its followers, and the latter two because they are cults.
In any case, just look at the things politicians who claim to be Christians have done - could atheists really be any worse? I've read that atheists are underrepresented in prison...