NYT Room for Debate: Religion at the Ballot Box

[ProSense]

Religion at the Ballot Box

Politicians say their religion guides them, so it’s fair to ask: What exactly would a Christian platform look like?

First, Rule Out Obama

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Chief among a Christian’s interests must be the defense of innocent human life in its most vulnerable forms. Closely related is respect for religious liberty and those basic institutions – including man-woman marriage – that precede government.

By this measure, a vote for President Obama is a non-starter. Obama has been a firm ally of the abortion-rights lobby, permitted taxpayer funding for research that destroys human embryos, expressed sympathy for efforts to legalize assisted suicide, stopped defending the Defense of Marriage Act and shown surprising disregard for the conscience rights of his religious critics.

As for his Republican challengers, most publicly champion the above principles. So the question becomes: Which candidate is both willing to uphold these principles and capable of defeating the president who is not?

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The 2012 Faith Issue: Poverty

Predictably the media will report the “religious issues” in the coming election as abortion, gay marriage, perhaps evolution and, this year, maybe Mormonism. But a growing number of people from the faith community, especially a younger generation, will also see the alarming Census numbers on growing poverty rates in America as a fundamental moral and religious issue that every candidate must address. And how they plan to deal with America’s growing economic disparity, now being protested by the Occupy Movement, is likely to be a primary factor in how many in the faith community will vote in the next election.

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Evidently, the NYT sees this as a pressing issue, but why? It must be time for that fair and balanced coverage again.

[RC]

1. A Christian that follows the teachings of Christ - Or the typical run of the mill Christian of today

Most Christians I have known fail miserably. The are a bit too self-centered. As in focusing on keeping themselves out of hell, instead of any real empathy for others.

Either that or they are active in the church for the socializing, emulating various aspects of Christ way down on the list.