He wouldn't be very good at that either.

It will always be a choice between the less crazy cult.

Since atheists seem to have been virtually blacklisted from high office by America's most popular religious cults, I'm stuck choosing which cultist is the least crazy.

And I'll give you a hint. The guys wearing magic underwear aren't doing themselves any favors...

it almost comes down to who will fuck things up most.

We do not vote for the smartest or the best. We vote for those with the most charisma or the most money.

Someday I hope to be able to cast a vote that isn't for the lesser of two evils.

Did you vote for John Kerry?

There are plenty of other reasons to vote against Rmoney...

..in their rituals and some in their beliefs...

At the end of the day, are you saying that religious beliefs don't play a factor in how these candidates would operate?

but if Harry Reid were running against some atheist Ayn Rand disciple, I'd absolutely vote for Reid without a second thought.

If the person's political ideas were OK. I would have voted for JFK who believed in transubstantiation. I voted for Gore and Obama without being sure what they believe, but they ostensibly believe someone rose from the dead 2000 years ago.

professed belief in God and Christoanity, I didn't believe in magical power of objects or water.
So no, I couldn't follow someone who thought his equivalent of Hanes was magical or mystical. Mormons die, too. They get sick, have accidents. Their magic underwear doesn't cure anything (except horny-ness, I bet).

His economic beliefs will fuck us all, his magic underwear only fucks him.

so I guess some people can.

And had the ability to raise the dead, and turn water into wine, and feed 5000 people with a few loaves and fishes?

I hope so.

2,000 years after the fact and "save" people.

I'm not holding my breath for an (openly) non-believing presidential candidate.

I wouldn't vote for Romney if you held a gun to my head, but magic undies are just about as stupid as virgin births and eating a Jesus-meat cracker.

Think the "regular" Bible also specifies undergarments for priests, too. Along with beards and earlocks.

It's all crazy, if taken literally. But we play this game where we give a pass to crazy beliefs that are considered mainstream.

What's that about? How is it that the American public can insist that political leaders ascribe heavily to ANY religion, full of things which, if presented outside of the accepted religions, would immediately get someone laughed off the national stage?

We have insisted on Christian presidents for our entire history. It's acceptable political fodder to scrutinize how often they go to church, how loudly they pray, what kind of Christmas cards they send out. In short, our leaders MUST believe.

We pretend we don't trust people who "don't believe." Yet we'd never trust anyone who was waiting for the return of a non-Jesus supernatural being to judge mankind. We'd lock up anyone ascribing to a belief system about a non-Yahweh alien who had all kinds of rules about morality and sexuality and diet.

"Zocknar commands that only redheads may copulate!"

But what we've got is no less ridiculous. Why does mainstream religion get a pass?

There's a point about Mormonism where it's been a pernicious political force against, for example gay rights. There's another point where it's more "cultlike" in that it allows no debate, and ex-believers are commonly shunned.

But the fundamental beliefs of the Mormons are no nuttier, and no more obviously false than "regular" Abrahamic religions.

I think it's time we stop giving that a pass. No one wants a leader who really thinks we owe allegiance to a supernatural being who enjoys the smell of burning bulls and wipes out first-born sons when annoyed. So what we've really embraced is good old-fashioned hypocrisy.

America wants leaders who embrace the tradition of Christian religion, with the understanding that, taken literally, it's an insane view of the universe. We don't actually fear mixed textiles or execute rape victims who failed to scream. The real fear of Mormonism is just that these fuckers might REALLY believe what their only mildly weirder Holy Book says.

It's a silly game.

Why can't we just come out and say that tradition is fine, but no, we don't want ANYONE making societal decisions based on ancient (or more recent) superstition, because we know that would actually be a terrible way to do things?

I am not sure that 'believing your underwear is magical' is in isolation any more illogical than many other religious beliefs, or indeed many nonreligious beliefs (e.g. in telepathy).

If the question is about Romney, I could never vote for someone like him, but not because of his religion, but because he is amoral, stupid, and right-wing!

Which idea is more idiotic?

Last edited Sun Jul 8, 2012, 06:19 PM - Edit history (1)

The blackest of all black arts? Practiced by witches and sorcerers?

begging to talk about their faith who demands suddenly that for the duration of the election, it is wrong to ask them about their faith. They come knocking all the time 'do you have questions' and then when we do have questions it is suddenly 'how unfair to have questions'.