Monday, December 10, 2007

The Christian Litmus Test

After reading about Mitt Romney's "John Kennedy" speech, I had to ask myself a question: Besides Iran, Iraq, the UAE, Afghanistan or Saudi Arabia (theocracies all), are their any other countries besides the U.S. of A. which require a religious commitment of their leader? Well, I guess the Queen must not convert to the Roman church, but so far as I know the leaders of most other countries pretty much keep their religious affiliation to themselves. It's even possible that there are some - gasp- atheists running things here and there in the world.
We have a born again Christian in the White House as I write this and he has managed to wreak havoc both here and abroad. So during this endless presidential campaign, hopeful candidates are obliged to present their religious bona fides or face the condemnation of the voters via the media, which jumps on every glitch in the various adventures of those who want to be president.
Aside from the concern about Kennedy's being a Catholic, which stirred up fears of the Vatican dictating policy to the land of the free, I don't remember knowing much about any president's religion. It was certainly never mentioned during their campaigns. Somehow the religious right has become the arbiter of candidates' worthiness to run the country and everyone is scared to death of them. In actuality I expect that most people don't give a rat's ass about this, but most people don't vote. And the ones who do, give us all what only they deserve - a George Bush.