You think this is a mere doctrinal/historical creed issue?
If you've been led to believe this is as the en toto lowdown of how this fits, then some of us posters haven't been doing our jobs. Allow me to explain.
Question at hand: Is true faith and misdirected faith part of our character? And if yes, why wouldn't "character" ever NOT therefore be an issue upon which to seriously evaluate a candidate?
Principle that addresses this: OTHER-WORLDLY COMMITMENTS (FAITH, WHETHER IT'S TRUE FAITH OR MISDIRECTED FAITH) IS A CHARACTER ISSUE!
Notary Sojac, we all have blinders to truth. Nobody has a monopoly on it. (But I would say the Bible has the best snapshot of God & humanity and the interaction between the two).
Deception exists in the world, 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.
I mean, how can posters 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.
Examples then of how these other-worldly worldviews mixed with character issues @ the application level:
* How a Heaven's Gate follower adhered to the belief that extraterrestials would be visiting them is the issue (not only that he or she's a Heaven's Gate follower).
* Or how well a David Koresh follower stuck with him endurance-wise is the key issue--not the fact that they followed some specific Koresh teachings.
* Or how well a Jim Jones follower adhered to koolaid-drinking instructions is the key character issue, not the fact that they were in the jungle with Jones to begin with.
Ummm.... yes. Yes, I do.
Probably the most interesting thing about the whole Mormons versus everybody else debate is that it brings up issues in Christology that were "settled" during the church councils of the fourth through the sixth centuries.
I've often wondered how different our world would be if the Arians or Nestorians had won those debates.