The Bobcat Nation

Just to turn up the heat in here a bit, here's a question accompanied by a Slate article that really fired up a lot of my friends.

Does a Presidential candidate have to be outwardly religious in order to become President in the U.S. today? It seems to me, in our current state of affairs, we collectively would be a little wary of people making decisions based on what God/Allah tells them as opposed to someone who makes decisions based on more tangible factors. It seems that most polls suggest otherwise, however.

http://slate.msn.com/id/2103017

In all honesty, the thing about Bush that is scaring me the most is the perception that his world really is black/white, good/evil, right/wrong based on his strong religious convictions, and that he isn't willing or isn't capable of dealing with the more subtle nuances of reality. It seems like placing your decisions in your religion certainly simplifies things (by removing the need to think and consider all of the available contrary perspectives), but that's not the way I want the country run. I think the entire Middle East is a good example of the adverse results that could result.

I don't know if this perception on my part is accurate or not, but it's a concern that has been building in my mind for quite awhile.

The thing that really scares ME about your post BAC is that BUSH scares you! Was there an earthquake in California last night (aside from the Coach K thing) something must have happened when this revelation clearity over came you. Welcome to the light side!
Me personally I do not put any thought into the religion of a canidate when I vote. I personally, though, do not think a Muslim, or athethist could get more than 20% of the vote even he was the second coming of Regan!

I think a lot of my views would apparently surprise you, mslacat. I'm a fiscal conservative, for the most part. Beyond that, I'm quite pragmatic.

The truth is always a narrow path.

If you could always be given credit for saying "maybe" on a "yes or no" question, or if the shades of gray were allowed for subjects that were black or white, where do you draw the line of what's allowed at what isn't?