Faith required for POTUS?

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palehorse

Lifer
Dec 21, 2005
11,521
0
76
I would personally agree that no faith is required; but, the U.S. is still primarily a Christian nation, so there are just too many others who make it a requirement to give anyone without faith a shot.

Perhaps one day we will see Atheists, or Deists such as myself, have a chance at high office... but it won't happen any time soon.
 

Red Dawn

Elite Member
Jun 4, 2001
57,530
3
0
Originally posted by: palehorse74
I would personally agree that no faith is required; but, the U.S. is still primarily a Christian nation, so there are just too many others who make it a requirement to give anyone without faith a shot.

Perhaps one day we will see Atheists, or Deists such as myself, have a chance at high office... but it won't happen any time soon.
Yep until then it's best to just fake like you do as most of our recent Presidents have.

 

palehorse

Lifer
Dec 21, 2005
11,521
0
76
Originally posted by: Red Dawn
Originally posted by: palehorse74
I would personally agree that no faith is required; but, the U.S. is still primarily a Christian nation, so there are just too many others who make it a requirement to give anyone without faith a shot.

Perhaps one day we will see Atheists, or Deists such as myself, have a chance at high office... but it won't happen any time soon.
Yep until then it's best to just fake like you do as most of our recent Presidents have.
essentially, yes... DOH! But, is their fake faith any different than any of the other moral compromises they make to secure a high office?

Everything about them is fake - they are essentially presented as semi-human caricatures drawn up by PR advisers and other political artists behind the scenes.

Even Obama is starting to become one of "them." Shame that...
 

Moonbeam

Elite Member
Nov 24, 1999
72,327
6,040
126
Originally posted by: palehorse74
Originally posted by: Red Dawn
Originally posted by: palehorse74
I would personally agree that no faith is required; but, the U.S. is still primarily a Christian nation, so there are just too many others who make it a requirement to give anyone without faith a shot.

Perhaps one day we will see Atheists, or Deists such as myself, have a chance at high office... but it won't happen any time soon.
Yep until then it's best to just fake like you do as most of our recent Presidents have.
essentially, yes... DOH! But, is their fake faith any different than any of the other moral compromises they make to secure a high office?

Everything about them is fake - they are essentially presented as semi-human caricatures drawn up by PR advisers and other political artists behind the scenes.

Even Obama is starting to become one of "them." Shame that...

Not a real good idea to apply your notions of what's fake to other people, maybe. I see nothing at all fake in Obama's faith. Looks to me for all the world like the real thing. It's also why he is the best candidate for Pres, in my opinion. His Christianity is about love and compassion, real Christianity, rather than the repressed fear you see in the fundamentalists.
 

imported_hscorpio

Golden Member
Sep 1, 2004
1,617
0
0
Originally posted by: Moonbeam
Originally posted by: hscorpio
Originally posted by: Moonbeam
e: The same thing goes for the flying spaghetti monster, the magical space teapot, and the gnomes at the bottom of my garden.

M: But it really doesn't. One of the greatest piece of evidence for the existence of God is the fact that at all times and all places men will invent him. They don't universally invent the stuff you mentioned.

Mind if I jump in here? This specific idea is very interesting to me and I've been thinking about it recently.

To observe that at all times and all places men have invented some kind of god/creator is not really evidence that there actually is some kind of god/creator. It is only evidence that there is a universal need for a god/creator that man has always attempted to fill. Some of the invented gods/spirits/demons/etc of past cultures are actually not all that far out from the idea of a flying spaghetti monster or a gnome at the bottom of a garden.

Yes. But it is the fact that there is that need, the plaintive call of the flute for its osier bed, that speaks to a hole in our life, a recognition, a feeling of absence, a fall from grace and a desire to return to some distant and forgotten source that tells of there is a God or state of unity we long for. One has no need of a spaghetti monster, because the soul was never united with one. It is unity and perfection, wholeness and health, piece and love, that we seek and were torn from when we were taught to self hate. One can't want what one has never known. It is what we once were that we seek to reclaim. The lover and the beloved were one.

The source of the need is to explain the unknown. When something important is unknown the result is the creation of some supernatural explanation. People have always been uncomfortable with uncertainty, and most prefer a supernatural explanation, no matter how far-fetched it may be, than none at all.
 

palehorse

Lifer
Dec 21, 2005
11,521
0
76
Originally posted by: Moonbeam
Originally posted by: palehorse74
Originally posted by: Red Dawn
Originally posted by: palehorse74
I would personally agree that no faith is required; but, the U.S. is still primarily a Christian nation, so there are just too many others who make it a requirement to give anyone without faith a shot.

Perhaps one day we will see Atheists, or Deists such as myself, have a chance at high office... but it won't happen any time soon.
Yep until then it's best to just fake like you do as most of our recent Presidents have.
essentially, yes... DOH! But, is their fake faith any different than any of the other moral compromises they make to secure a high office?

Everything about them is fake - they are essentially presented as semi-human caricatures drawn up by PR advisers and other political artists behind the scenes.

Even Obama is starting to become one of "them." Shame that...

Not a real good idea to apply your notions of what's fake to other people, maybe. I see nothing at all fake in Obama's faith. Looks to me for all the world like the real thing. It's also why he is the best candidate for Pres, in my opinion. His Christianity is about love and compassion, real Christianity, rather than the repressed fear you see in the fundamentalists.
I do agree that he remains the "most genuine" of the bunch, and for that reason, he's still my choice as well. However, there ARE hints that he is becoming more and more like the rest with each week that passes.

I sincerely hope that he maintains his soul throughout this process... we shall see.
 

Moonbeam

Elite Member
Nov 24, 1999
72,327
6,040
126
Originally posted by: palehorse74
Originally posted by: Moonbeam
Originally posted by: palehorse74
Originally posted by: Red Dawn
Originally posted by: palehorse74
I would personally agree that no faith is required; but, the U.S. is still primarily a Christian nation, so there are just too many others who make it a requirement to give anyone without faith a shot.

Perhaps one day we will see Atheists, or Deists such as myself, have a chance at high office... but it won't happen any time soon.
Yep until then it's best to just fake like you do as most of our recent Presidents have.
essentially, yes... DOH! But, is their fake faith any different than any of the other moral compromises they make to secure a high office?

Everything about them is fake - they are essentially presented as semi-human caricatures drawn up by PR advisers and other political artists behind the scenes.

Even Obama is starting to become one of "them." Shame that...

Not a real good idea to apply your notions of what's fake to other people, maybe. I see nothing at all fake in Obama's faith. Looks to me for all the world like the real thing. It's also why he is the best candidate for Pres, in my opinion. His Christianity is about love and compassion, real Christianity, rather than the repressed fear you see in the fundamentalists.
I do agree that he remains the "most genuine" of the bunch, and for that reason, he's still my choice as well. However, there ARE hints that he is becoming more and more like the rest with each week that passes.

I sincerely hope that he maintains his soul throughout this process... we shall see.

There is selling out your soul to achieve an ego ambition and there is retaining your soul while recognizing that elections are a game with rather embarrassing and demeaning, but necessary rules, I think.
 

JEDIYoda

Lifer
Jul 13, 2005
33,981
3,318
126
Originally posted by: ayabe
Originally posted by: Fern
I agree with your assumption about the latter remark (i.e., no atheist). However, IMO that position takes a great deal of "faith" as well.

Fern

I believe later in his remarks he states that atheism it's own religion.

There is no credible evidence to suggest there is any higher power whatsoever, so I disagree that it takes "faith" to not believe in something for which no evidence exists.

Hardcore atheism activists might take on some of the characteristics of religious leaders but I still don't think that holds true enough to declare atheism in itself as a religion.

But then do you not have faith in anything?
Faith that when you turn the key your car will start?
Faith that the Police will protect you house while your on vacation/
Faith that your Dr knows what he is doing?

Yes it does take faith to not believe in something......
The simple word BELIEVE involves faith or you wouldn`t believe....see.
 

Red Dawn

Elite Member
Jun 4, 2001
57,530
3
0
Originally posted by: JEDIYoda
Originally posted by: ayabe
Originally posted by: Fern
I agree with your assumption about the latter remark (i.e., no atheist). However, IMO that position takes a great deal of "faith" as well.

Fern

I believe later in his remarks he states that atheism it's own religion.

There is no credible evidence to suggest there is any higher power whatsoever, so I disagree that it takes "faith" to not believe in something for which no evidence exists.

Hardcore atheism activists might take on some of the characteristics of religious leaders but I still don't think that holds true enough to declare atheism in itself as a religion.

But then do you not have faith in anything?
Faith that when you turn the key your car will start?
Faith that the Police will protect you house while your on vacation/
Faith that your Dr knows what he is doing?

Yes it does take faith to not believe in something......
The simple word BELIEVE involves faith or you wouldn`t believe....see.
Huh???:confused::confused:



 

Darwin333

Lifer
Dec 11, 2006
19,946
2,328
126
Originally posted by: JEDIYoda
Originally posted by: ayabe
Originally posted by: Fern
I agree with your assumption about the latter remark (i.e., no atheist). However, IMO that position takes a great deal of "faith" as well.

Fern

I believe later in his remarks he states that atheism it's own religion.

There is no credible evidence to suggest there is any higher power whatsoever, so I disagree that it takes "faith" to not believe in something for which no evidence exists.

Hardcore atheism activists might take on some of the characteristics of religious leaders but I still don't think that holds true enough to declare atheism in itself as a religion.

But then do you not have faith in anything?
Faith that when you turn the key your car will start?
Faith that the Police will protect you house while your on vacation/
Faith that your Dr knows what he is doing?

Yes it does take faith to not believe in something......
The simple word BELIEVE involves faith or you wouldn`t believe....see.

What does trusting that my doctor knows what he is doing or the police will do their jobs based on past experience have anything to do with blind faith in the supernatural?
 

her209

No Lifer
Oct 11, 2000
56,352
11
0
Originally posted by: JEDIYoda
Faith that when you turn the key your car will start?
LOL, do you pray to the Car God(s) when your car won't start?
 

Moonbeam

Elite Member
Nov 24, 1999
72,327
6,040
126
Some fish believe they have their being in an invisible nurturer called water whereas other fish say there's no evidence for such a thing that no fish can see.
 

Lemon law

Lifer
Nov 6, 2005
20,984
3
0
I note that this issue was somewhat discussed on this week. As usual, the political commentators managed to miss the following point about our founding fathers. Who were far closer in time to various religious wars that totally decimated Europe in the the immediate past.

And while our founding fathers did not ignore religion or deny its importance, they were very much determined, mainly by gentlemen type agreements, to keep religion and the State totally separate.

Only in the last few years have the religious right totally breeched these walls, and now for the first time, we have genuine government funding of religion. And also politically correct religions now demanding that their beliefs should be official US government policy. And if trends continue unabated, we may get those religious type wars that our founding father's so feared.