Voting

toiletduck

Well seeing as how it's polling day I was wondering does yer faith come into play when choosing who to give a tick to in any way? I see Libertas have been targetting the pro-life consistency and wonder would their proclamation of wanting to uphold Irish laws in that regard override the well dodginess about the party for example.

I don't mean this to be a "who did you vote for" or a campaigning thread. Just wondering how much (if at all) religion enters the mind of a Christian voter.

Podman

There is a tradition in this country, especially in the older generation, of voting the way your parents voted. It suits the "controlling" party for us all to vote the way we're told.

I would have thought that having a christian mind means you have a duty to do what you feel is right. Whether that means you vote pro-life (for example) because you agree with all the issues, or you vote because it's what "all the other Christians" are doing, is up to you. It's no different to peer pressure.

Being Christ-like means that you use your God-given Heart and Mind, making choices as your Spirit wills it. If people want to vote "with the crowd" then not only would their spiritual progress be limited, but their vote would also include strictly political issues that may be overlooked from the staunchly Christian "moral" viewpoint.

robindch

Just back from my local polling station. A mildly elderly lady was helping a much more ancient one in the next cubicle fill out the form:

Helper: "Ah, now Mary, you've gone and put a tick in a box. Remember what I told you now, you've to put numbers in all the boxes."
Elderly lady: Uhhhh.
Me: Er, no, you just put numbers in the boxes belonging to the people you like. You don't have to fill all the boxes.
Helper: Oh, right! Ah, jaysus Mary, you've gone and put two "2"s down now. Here, make that one a "3".
Elderly lady: Uhhhh.

A bit of voter education would hardly go amiss.

Fanny Cradock

toiletduck wrote: »

Well seeing as how it's polling day I was wondering does yer faith come into play when choosing who to give a tick to in any way? I see Libertas have been targetting the pro-life consistency and wonder would their proclamation of wanting to uphold Irish laws in that regard override the well dodginess about the party for example.

I don't mean this to be a "who did you vote for" or a campaigning thread. Just wondering how much (if at all) religion enters the mind of a Christian voter.

For me it does. However, my religious beliefs aren't necessarily the deciding factor. The bible is stranghely slent when it comes to Ieiah politics. I vote for the candidate who I believe can do the best job. In this regard, I would generally vote Greens despite their stance on abortion, which I may add, is not completely dirven by my Christian faith. You do realise, TD, that there are atheists and aganostics out there opposed to abortion, right?

toiletduck

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

You do realise, TD, that there are atheists and aganostics out there opposed to abortion, right?

Yeah of course. I was just picking it out as an example (probably most obvious given certain leaflets I've received through the mail!) of a policy where could one tear away a politicians stance on it from voting for them or vice versa.

prinz

It would, and yet at the same time it wouldn't. Voted myself this morning and had an issue similar to Robindch, apparently many voters had marked the boxes to the left on the slips, instead of those on the right hand side.

I'm not sure how much my faith would influence me. That said the second last party I would even/ever consider giving my vote to would be Libertas. Regardless of their attempt to attract the conservative-religious-ish vote, by flirting with various socio-moral issues such as abortion.

philologos

It hasn't come into it this time. I'm going to vote who I think is best for the community and for Europe

PDN

What I've found really funny this time is how many politicians have tried to get me to let them come and speak in some of our churches. They seem to have suddenly woken up to the fact that we have a body of people big enough to sway an election one way or the other, and they seem to mistakenly believe that I exercise enough sway over our congregants to instruct them all how to vote. I've had politicians from various parties promise me the sun, moon and the stars - one even claimed he could get one of our ethnic churches a free building provided by the Council if I delivered him 500 votes from that congregation!

One thing we did do this year was a voter registration drive for immigrants. We encouraged our non-national members to bring their passports & proof of address to church, then got the Garda to come in and stamp their forms.

My only other political involvement was to pray an inauguration prayer at the campaign launch of a candidate from the Green Party - more as a favour to a friend than any allegiance to the party concerned.

Schumacher1

PDN wrote: »

My only other political involvement was to pray an inauguration prayer at the campaign launch of a candidate from the Green Party - more as a favour to a friend than any allegiance to the party concerned.

This is so wrong. Religon has its place. Your numbers are dwindling. But it has no place in politics. Its scary that you are allowed to have "an inauguration prayer"

toiletduck

PDN wrote: »

What I've found really funny this time is how many politicians have tried to get me to let them come and speak in some of our churches.

That's shocking, "And now the gospel according to Labour.." Politicians never fail to amaze.

Schumacher1

PDN wrote: »

My only other political involvement was to pray an inauguration prayer at the campaign launch of a candidate from the Green Party - more as a favour to a friend than any allegiance to the party concerned.

This is so wrong. Religion has its place. Your numbers are dwindling. But it has no place in politics. Its scary that you are allowed to have "an inauguration prayer"

toiletduck

Schumacher1 wrote: »

This is so wrong. Religion has its place. Your numbers are dwindling. But it has no place in politics. Its scary that you are allowed to have "an inauguration prayer"

I don't see a problem. If the candidate wants one, why not?

Schumacher1

toiletduck wrote: »

I don't see a problem. If the candidate wants one, why not?

You do not have a problem with someone in power who feels the need to speak to a non existent being.

Why would he pray. Is he thanking his God for electing him? or what, I don't understand.

I cannot see any difference between that and if he got up and prayed to Santa.

I personally would believe he was nuts.

toiletduck

Schumacher1 wrote: »

You do not have a problem with someone in power who feels the need to speak to a non existent being.

Why would he pray. Is he thanking his God for electing him? or what, I don't understand.

I cannot see any difference between that and if he got up and prayed to Santa.

I personally would believe he was nuts.

Well at least by having an a prayer for the launch of a campaign (the election was only starting) you'd know where you stand with him and could vote accordingly! Or even challenge him on it at the doorstep.

I wouldn't withhold a vote from a person due to their religious affiliation (within reason). If they're gonna work hard for the community, represent all of their constituents (religious and atheist) and be the best person for the job then that's that.

studiorat

It's not all that shocking really, people pray before eating and lots of other things. I suspect there's some who even pray before having sex. And let's face it the Greens are going to need all the help they can get if they think it will help.

Good to see the PND's church helping to get more people to vote though.

Personally any candidates I've noticed who are wearing any sort of religious colours on their sleeve have been despicable gombeens with vague manifestos and nothing more than some sort of moral high-grounded self imposing view that they would be better off keeping to their own personal life.

Personally I voted 1 for the only person who actually bothered to ask and 2 for the neighbour who's already a councilor and seemed to get that planning permission for his extension so quickly.

PDN

Schumacher1 wrote: »

This is so wrong. Religon has its place. Your numbers are dwindling. But it has no place in politics. Its scary that you are allowed to have "an inauguration prayer"

First of all, my numbers are not dwindling. My brand of Christianity is growing very rapidly.

Secondly, candidates with strong religious beliefs are entitled to participate in the political realm as much as anyone else. Thank God we don't live in a North Korean type gulag where such things are forbidden. If you don't like that then you are free to choose not to vote for any theist - that's how democracy works.

philologos

Schumacher1 wrote: »

You do not have a problem with someone in power who feels the need to speak to a non existent being.

That's your anti-theism talking. If you are going to say that God doesn't exist as a fact I'd like you to substantiate it from now on.

Schumacher1 wrote: »

Why would he pray. Is he thanking his God for electing him? or what, I don't understand.

Hm, to give him integrity should he be elected to office. To give him guidance to serve his position to the best of his ability. Not to serve himself, but to serve his community and his fellow man? Seems reasonable to me.

Schumacher1 wrote: »

I cannot see any difference between that and if he got up and prayed to Santa.

Yes, because you are an anti-theist.

Schumacher1 wrote: »

I personally would believe he was nuts.

Up to you. The rest of us are more reasonable and realise that religion is a part of our society.