God-o-Meter rates presidential candidates’ religiosity

With seventeen candidates still in the running (or, at least, walking), it's tough to decide who I want to vote for in the 2008 presidential election.

Fortunately, Belief Net has come up with a way of thinning the herd for me: a God-o-Meter. This provides a regularly updated religious wackiness score – though what I derisively call "wackiness" a disturbingly large percentage of Americans would fondly term "faith."

I'd already began to tilt away from my initial favorite, Barack Obama. Seeing that Obama presently rates a "9," almost a full blown theocrat on the 1 to 10 scale, turns me off more. Hillary's a "7," which is probably as good as I'm going to get this God-filled election season.

I thought Obama was more spiritual than religious. But there he is, sucking up to evangelicals with talk of how he has accepted Jesus and being an instrument of God.

Lord Almighty, even John McCain is just an "8." And he believes that the Constitution established the United States as a Christian nation – a fallacy nicely demolished today by a local newspaper columnist.

A plain reading of the Constitution shows that McCain, and apparently much of the country, is 180 degrees wrong. No religious polemics, no histrionics of the religious right, no obfuscations and no wishes of the majority can change this fact.

The Constitution does not create the United States of America as a Christian nation.

Candidates often say they are strict constructionists when it comes to the Constitution. No more of this judicial activism they say. Yet here McCain is rewriting the Constitution to suit his own religious beliefs or his own political necessity.

If God is on anybody's side, breaking Oregon news reveals that it is…gays. Opponents of recently passed domestic partnership legislation in my state tried to gather enough signatures to block the bill from going into effect.

It turns out that they were 116 valid signatures short of the 55,179 needed to suspend the law and put it on the November 2008 ballot for a popular vote.

Amazing: 116. The gay rights crowd is jubilant, as am I. I love it when miracles happen, and God steps in to prevent discrimination against people attracted to their own sex.

If any of the presidential candidates learn of this Oregon news and say, "Praise the Lord," I'll seriously consider voting for them.

Comments

[william]

I have heard many people state that Christianity died on the cross. Without St Paul and his evangelical movement I doubt if Christianity would be the religion it is today. That is a common theme a prophet comes along and states some profound teachings and then the followers either misinterpret their teachings or decide to change the teachings to fit their existing paradigms.

I have heard that Mohammad’s cousin changed the Koran quite a bit after Mohammad died. Anybody hear that also?

The Buddha stated to his followers that they must be open to any new discoveries and not to make a god out of him. Now many of his followers call him the perfect one and to suggest that a soul exist on the other side of this physical life and can communicate through some mediums for most Buddhists is blasphemy and for the I don’t exist advaita types it is bullshit. Oh the power of religion on beliefs.

Now for anyone out there that thinks having many wives is a treat move to northern Arizona. You can have as many wives as the prophet will allow you to have and here is the really neat part. The state of Arizona will support you kids. The more you have the bigger the check. No governor in Arizona will touch them as Arizona has a large voter block of Mormons. May not want to marry a 14 year old as they are cracking down on that; kind of.

[Chris Wille]

First time on this site, and what a lot of whacky stuff! I am an Atheist, and don't give two hoots about any religion. As far as I am concerned I was born and I shall die...end of story, but I am having a great time here on this planet, and have no fear about all this heaven and hell nonsense...it's all gobbledegook to me.

[Tucson]

infinity birth life death infinity
>>>>>>>>>>>>

If there is time you will be dead forever, so weren't you also not born forever? How could your moment to live ever arrive?

In other words how could eternal non-existence become existence for awile and then eternal non-existence again?

It would seem there would have to be only one or the other..eternal non-existence or eternal existence. Wouldn't it be impossible for one to be interupted by the other?

There is existence because we all can say "I am" unless we are not and just think we are which doesn't seem to make sense unless Ultimate Reality somehow neither is nor is not.

Therefore...

I take you to the brink my friends. You're on your own from here.