Religion & American Law

     In an article in the Huffington Post , Mark Osler makes the claim that we should take a candidate's religious affiliation in consideration when we go to the polls. He states that it should not matter what religion the candidate is but that what does the religion teach the candidate to do in daily life. Osler says that faith is what influence the actions that people make. As American people we are ignorant if we do not admit or even care to take this into consideration. We should determine how to vote based on what the religion tells the candidate is the right way. The religious institutions leader taking control is not the concern. One of the more final points he makes is that if there is a candidate who is religious but makes statements saying he will not let it influence his/her decision in office, the that person is not trustworthy. They are not trustworthy, because they are either being dishonest about it not influencing them or they are being dishonest about their religious affiliation. He says that at least the candidate's religious affiliation/faith help give us an indicator on the decisions they will make in office.

     The obvious problem that can be raised with this article is, what happened to separation of church and state. A candidate's religion should not matter, because they should be able to separate their personal beliefs from their professional beliefs and decisions. Or is it that their personal beliefs, like many other people, do influence every day actions, even professional ones. It is should not be advised for people to decide on a candidate based on what church they go to, but should we be so naive enough to think they would be able keep the two separate.

     I find this issue to be extremely important, especially with a presidential election nearing. It is a big issue, because this year it seems to be a reflection of the issue that people had when JFK was running for president. The bigger concern seems to be over the Mormon candidates. The media seems more focused on what religion the candidates are, instead of what their political platforms are. An article like this, in my opinion, could just add fuel to the fire. It could even cause people to feel justified for choosing the way they want to. It can cause more people to keep overlooking the important things in a political race, instead of focusing on what the people from less “threatening” religions are bringing to the political race. Voters sadly seem to be more concerned about which candidate is a “true” Christian and who is not. An article like this says it is okay to do so. It should not be okay to choose a candidate based on their religion. Many politicians are having to defend their choice of religion and not their choice of political platform, This is due, sadly, more to the fact that too many are focused on what that candidate's religion could do to America. Obviously faith can influence any persons choices, but to decide based on a person's religion is not much better than the voters who decide based on which candidate is better looking. If America had held to its prejudices against Catholics, then JFK would have never been elected. He was president for a brief time, but he was a good one. It is time to be a truly informed voter.