Religious Test for Political Office

[talon]

"People aren't recognizing his version of Christianity," Beck added.

Yanno, Article VI of our Constitution clearly says: The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States., so I fail to understand why this should matter so much to Beck and his ilk. Past, present, or future, according to our Constitution, the religion or religiosity of any elected employee of the United States of America is irrelevant in the election process, and should therefore be a trivial aside (if it even gets mentioned at all) during the elections or during the elected's term of office.

I consider Beck's waving the religion flag to be a matter of distraction from the real and pressing issues facing our country.

Any candidate for public office that uses his or her religion or religious affiliations as an election platform automatically loses my vote, because they have disqualified themselves from truly representing all of their constituency.

In case they've forgotten - their constituency consists of every single person living within their district, not just the segment who voted for them.

That's right. They represent men, felon, women, old, children, petty criminal, Christians, mentally disabled, business owner, Flying Spaghetti Monster, Muslims, rich, Jews, Satanists, transgendered, Wiccans, Druids, physically disabled, SubGenius, police officer, Mormons (some Mormons claim to be Christian, some don't, so I let them have their own place as well as tucked in among all the other Christians), poor, Buddhists, heterosexual, Cao Daoists, healthy, Santerians, homosexual, Heathens, ill, Atheists, asexual, Agnostics, fat, Numenist, young, New Ager, college-educated, Shintoist, school drop-out, Unitarian, left-handed, Gnostic, ugly, Rastafarian, thin, Hindi, lazy, Jainist, anal-retentive, Sikh, salt loving, Baha'I, sports fan, Candomble, renter, Falun Gong, land owner, Macumba, manual laborer, Igbo, office worker, Abenaki, jock, Miwok, nerd, Lakota, cheer leader, Navajo, teacher, Salish, cashier, Bon, waitress, Maori, welfare recipient, Cargo cult, gardener, Kemetic, pilot, Hellenismos, astronaut, Rosicrucian, rocket scientist, Theosophist, pole dancer, Thelemic, dog trainer, Discordian, lawyer, Tenrikyo, fireman, Deist, forensic anthropologist, Jedi, or whatever.

They don't get to pick and choose who they represent beyond picking the district for which they are running. It's a package deal, all or nothing. And if a candidate runs on a platform that is deliberately restrictive and exclusive, I will never vote for them, regardless of their stance on any other issue. If they can't even make a token effort to represent the least of their district, they can't possibly do a decent job of representing any of the rest of their district.

People, learn your rights, learn your Constitution, so you don't get suckered in by bogus, trivial issues, and can make informed decisions that matter to our country and ourselves.