Agreed...waffling many times over on abortion, embryonic research, treating homosexual employees as a minority. Also, same-sex "marriage" occurred on his watch; RomneyCare; Board member of a porn establishment (Marriott); plus, I tend not to vote for candidates who think they are either a god or will become one.
...but let’s leave his personal religious affiliation out of the public debate...
Why? 62% of Americans don't...why are you trying to impose your position on the majority of American's who don't leave this component out?
Documentation:
A Freeper posted a Rasmussen poll less than about 4.5 years ago (late 2006) [see Election 2008: 43% Would Never Vote for Mormon Candidate (Rasmussen Poll) ].
According to that excerpt: The Rasmussen Reports survey found that 35% say that a candidate's faith and religious beliefs are very important in their voting decision. Another 27% say faith and religious beliefs are somewhat important. Ninety-two percent (92%) of Evangelical Christian voters consider a candidate's faith and beliefs important. On the partisan front, 78% of Republicans say that a candidate's faith is an important consideration, a view shared by 55% of Democrats. However, there is also a significant divide on this topic within the Democratic Party. Among minority Democrats, 71% consider faith and religious beliefs an important consideration for voting. Just 44% of white Democrats agree.
So…what % of the following groups found that a candidate’s faith and religious beliefs are an important consideration for voting?
(1) Americans: 62%
(2) Evangelical Christians: 92%
(3) Republicans: 78%
(4) Democrats: 55% [still a majority]
...and focus on the real issues...
Well, I've constantly reminded posters that when they vote, they should consider MANY things: voting record, present position statements & rampant inconsistency of past position statements, social issues' stances, character, viability, scandal-free past, etc.
But why are you & so many FREEPERS being Pollyannish about the reality of deception -- including spiritual deception?
Deception exists in the world. That's reality. And when compared to trustworthy sources of truth (the Bible), deception exists as a continuum. If we agreed that a candidate belongs to the most deceptive cult in the world, then certainly that candidate's vulnerability to deception in the most important area of his life--his faith--serves as an indicator that he/she might be more easily deceived in public policy issues. "Vulnerability to deception" belongs on a character checklist! Even one 2007 poll indicated that 54% of Americans would not vote for an atheist.
T.L. Sink: How posters like you try to get around the realization that other-worldly commitments (faith) belong in the character issue category??? To try to extract such other-worldly commitments from character is simply not possible. Time & time again folks try to hermetically seal "faith" & "religion" away from the public square as if folks checked their faith at the door or as if folks were neatly cut-up pie pieces. (ANY of you posters: Just try telling any voter that he should never weigh "character" into his/her voting-decision considerations!).
A POTUS goes beyond administrative duties. Discernment is a very important character trait...and that's not listed as a POTUS duty.
Many posters echo the 'leave his religious beliefs out of this'. In bygone eras of this nation that would have been laughed at. Today, political correctness run amok becomes part of a strategery, to cower people into silence. It doesn't prevent even the silenced folks from applying the lens of 'religious values are a reflection of one's ability to discern truth', but it tends to stop opposition from exposing a major weakness in Mitt Romney, and that is perhaps the goal with these sorts of threads. After all, the political battle is said to be over the mushy middle, just the sorts of folks who will sit down and shut up when PC is waved at them.
You’ve distorted or misunderstood what I said as well as attributing things to me I didn’t say. I never explicitly or implicitly said that moral character wasn’t important. By the way, why don’t you start a committee of Inquisition to examine candidates and make certain they fulfill your personal standards of religious acceptability. You can be a 21st century Torquemada!