Is It OK To Have A Mormon President?

[Silent A]

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You seem to imply that the president being a crook is less dangerous for the state and the citizens than him being irrational.

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Actually, it isn't too hard to make an argument that this is probably true.

Basically, the powers of a President to enrich himself pale next to his powers to create worldwide havoc.

[Lestat]

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We've both agreed that the two most religious presidents in our lifetimes were Carter and the current Bush.

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well you realize that bush's whole texan thing is an act, right? I mean, that's admitted. what's not admitted is that the whole christian thing is an act too. I mean if you think bush is a christian you may as well just believe iraq had wmd's and just believe everything.

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Huh? You think it's an act? I don't. I think he's really a born-again. I think he really believes the earth is 10,000 years old. He has said that God made him president. He unnecessarily invokes God in his speeches. This guy isn't acting.

I stay out of the politics forum for a reason. This guy is without question, the dumbest man ever to hold the office. The next dumbest president isn't even close. I wish they released presidential IQ's. I'm willing to bet George W. Bush is well below any other former president.

[Leaky Eye]

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"Now this subject was about religion, but if you claim that people with minority views on religion shouldn't be given power, you have to use the same argument for other areas and other minorities also (unless religion holds a special place in your universe)."

You are totally missing my point. Perhaps it would be clearer if I said an apt analogous question would be if we should elect a president who believed that astrology was obviously correct.

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So for you being a mormon is the synonyme for being a complete idiot? I share that view, but I do not restrict it to mormons, in fact I treat all religions the same.

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1. Not all religions are equally implausible to an objective observer. Mormonism has some particularly far-fetched notions. A better comparison than astrology would be Scientology imo.
2. If a politician were not a strong believer in the US they would present themselves as a Christian. That someone is from minority religion makes it more likely they hold those religious principals for reasons of deep belief.

[David Sklansky]

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We had a president who apparently used astrology to make decisions. He was a very successful president. Not only did he do this but he was an ignoramus. Members of his own party were virtually unanimous in citing his ignorance of facts and policy when they met with him; he did not know that Grover Cleveland Alexander--who he once played in the movies--was a different person than Grover Cleveland.

The person who he replaced as president was, by all accounts, a brilliant guy--a gifted student, selected by Admiral Rickover to be a key person in the United States' fledgling nuclear submarine program. His presidency was a disaster.

A person can have silly ideas about certain things, or be uninformed about others, and still be capable and competent at their job. Likewise, a person can be brilliantly intelligent and be terrible at their job. Every president we've had believed that Jesus Christ was born of an immaculate conception and was resurrected because he was the son of God. Does this mean they were all destined to be poor presidents?

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Dumber presidents can appear better than smarter presidents because:

1. They have better advisors.

2. They were lucky enough to have events around them give them opportunities to look good.

3. They were lucky enough to not have to deal with situations where their lack of great intelligence would not come to the forefront.

4. They had other talents that made up for it.

None of that changes the fact that it is almost inconceivable that an unintelligent president could not be replaced by someoneone with similar talents and a higher IQ who would be a big favorite to do a better job.

[Lestat]

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An alternative hypothesis is that Mr. Reagan was intelligent enough not to contradict his wife about engaging in such fanciful trivialities.

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Sadly, the evidence does not support this hypothesis.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_R....27s_protector
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Quigley

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I stand corrected. I suppose it was naive of me to assume that those in charge of the most powerful and technologically advanced military on the planet, were smart enough not to believe in a 2nd supernatural world.

I get more scared for this country by the minute.

[chezlaw]

All that really matters is whether they believe in imposing their beliefs on others.

Anyone who does shouldn't be let near power. Mormons are okay on that aren't they?

chez

[Zeno]

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We have never elected a non-Christian president.

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Not true. Jefferson, among others, can't be called Christian. Lincoln may have been an atheist. But many Presidents did have different public persona vs. private beliefs. Jefferson regarded the virgin birth of Christ on par with Minerva erupting, fully armed, from the head of Jupiter.

-Zeno

[Praxising]

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David, you really made me think about this. I guess, the ideal would be to constitutionally require an atheist president, barring that, one whose religious beliefs do not rest on the certainty that they are right and those who do not share his/hers religious view are wrong. Of course I would rliminate lunatics, like the current incumbent who reminds me often of that famous sentence out of the "Blues Brothers" movies ["We are on a mission from God"]. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

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So much fo the separation of church and state.

[Zeno]

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Your president shouldn't only be an atheist, he should also have an extremely high set of moral and ethical values and neither be corrupt nor selfish.



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The latter part of your statement is not only wrong it is silly. For example, Putin has been an excellent President for Russia.

The atheist part of your statement is also completely impractical and borders on the insane, at least for America.

-Zeno

[Zeno]

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All that really matters is whether they believe in imposing their beliefs on others.

chez

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Even if you cast aside Religious belief it is still a fact that in some sense all politicians and office holders impose their other beliefs or value systems on others, overtly or covertly. It is unavoidable.

Just ask Tony Blair.

-Zeno