Does a politician having a religious belief affect how you vote for them?

tech77

If a politician has a religious belief, does this affect how you vote for them.
Not many (mainstream) politicians call themselves atheists (even if they are) AFAIK.
So when deciding to vote for a guy who
a) either genuinely believes or
b) hypocritically says he believes (possibly not to offend some voters)-
Is a) or b) a big deal for atheists when trying to decide whether you should give them your vote.

Going further, would you prefer more candidates/politicians actually promoting their atheism.

eoin5

Meh, they can believe whatever they want as long as they dont make a big deal out of it. Views on secularity would be far more important for me. I dont think politics should be a flimsy popularity contest based on personal beliefs.

How would you figure out b?

Dades

Does a politician having a religious belief affect how you vote for them?

Not unless it's wielded like a stick. Dana or someone like that would be a definite no-no.

Turtwig

tech77 wrote: »

If a politician has a religious belief, does this affect how you vote for them.
Not many (mainstream) politicians call themselves atheists (even if they are) AFAIK.
So when deciding to vote for a guy who
a) either genuinely believes or
b) hypocritically says he believes (possibly not to offend some voters)-
Is a) or b) a big deal for atheists when trying to decide whether you should give them your vote.

Going further, would you prefer more candidates/politicians actually promoting their atheism.

For most of them it doesn't..

Depends on the extent of how fundamenatalist they are ...e.g George Bush - Never!

Goduznt Xzst

tech77 wrote: »

Going further, would you prefer more candidates/politicians actually promoting their atheism.

Politicians are predatory chameleons, they will become whatever is the most appealing to the majority.

A politicians professed religious beliefs wouldn't really phase my decision to vote for them. Not unless, like Dades said, their belief is a center piece for their manifesto. The odd dropping of the G and J words in speeches I could stomach, but turning speeches into pseudo prayers or using the bible as reference for their intentions would be an instant loss of my vote.

garrincha62

Goduznt Xzst wrote: »

The odd dropping of the G and J words in speeches I could stomach...

When they start using the G and J words and saying they are guided by a higher power in public speeches then alarm bells should start to go off...

Goduznt Xzst

garrincha62 wrote: »

When they start using the G and J words and saying they are guided by a higher power in public speeches then alarm bells should start to go off...

Not necessarily, a politician dropping mentions of Jesus and God informally in a speech in an area where a majority of the demographic are Christian is not odd. It's akin to how bands will profess a love of the town/city they are performing in to please the crowd.

Beruthiel

Religion is not much used as a voting tactic here, so it doesn't bother me.
If I were living in America I think it would make a big difference.

toiletduck

Does a politician having a religious belief affect how you vote for them?

Not really, I mean as long as it was within reason e.g. not some nutcase ala Dana.

Zombrex

I wouldn't vote for someone because they are an atheist.

I might not vote for someone because they are religious.

Comes down to what they believe in, rather than what they don't

Dades

Beruthiel wrote: »

Religion is not much used as a voting tactic here, so it doesn't bother me.
If I were living in America I think it would make a big difference.

I'm thinking in America you could ignore it more, as it's a necessary to face to put on to get into office.

Whereas here, if a politician was mouthing off about prayer habits, for example, I'd immediately flag them as one to avoid.

Zillah

If an Irish politician is brave enough to make their atheism public then I think it would be a point in their favour. For several reasons. It shows perhaps that they are somewhat idealistic, they have their own principles and are not willing to put on a facade to pander to the majority. They'd also be more likely to be pro-secular, which is one of my biggest concerns when it comes to politics.

In my experience atheists are generally more reasonable and educated, which are both excellent traits to have in a leader. If someone is capable of seeing through the fallacies of religion then they are more likely to see through the fallacies we see from global-warming-deniers, creationists/ID proponents, holocaust deniers, homophobes, homeopaths, chiropractors and all the world's assorted lunatics, many of whom are trying to see their lunacies supported in law.

Kipperhell

Wicknight wrote: »

I wouldn't vote for someone because they are an atheist.

Out of curiosity what do you think they will do? In general I would expect an atheist would be trying to fix things in this life and not hope it will be sorted in the next.

If somebody had a religion it wouldn't bother me but if it was their fundamental view I would think it would override a rational choice if it was in opposition to their religious view. I wouldn't be voting for their view but that of a religion they are party to. Dana is only real example I know of in this country.

ChocolateSauce

It doesn't affect how I vote, but it does affect how much I respect them. An openly religious politician loses some respect, but a politician who keeps religion out of their public lives (a believer or not) get some respect. For political reasons, I'd be more likely to vote for a secularist, but merely being an atheist wouldn't make me any more likely to vote for them.

I distinguish between respect and how I vote because respect isn't a major factor when it comes to politicians. I respect Joe Higgins but he isn't a person I want running the economy, and while I would like to see labour in power, I don't have any particular respect for any of its TD's.

ShooterSF

Usually unless they are religious nut jobs it's not a huge deal to me. Their opinion on secularism is much more important. As such any standing TD in my area looking for re-election will be asked how they voted on the blasphemy bill. If they voted for it they won't need to bother telling me the rest of their spiel.

Galvasean

Generally speaking I dont mind my politicians having a bit of religion about them. However, if they have beliefs that I consider insane (Creationism, get ready for the Rapture etc.) I would be put off. Of course, that is not just limited to religion. I vote on policies, not belief or lack therof in a particular deity.

Example: There or two politicians in the local election.

Candidate 1: A Christian, goes to mass every Sunday. Is happy to promote secularism and equal education rights for all.

Candidate 2: An atheist, has no time for religion or giving any religiously run/funded institutions aid. Also wants to invade France.

I'd probably go with Candidate 1.

ChocolateSauce

Galvasean wrote: »

Generally speaking I dont mind my politicians having a bit of religion about them. However, if they have beliefs that I consider insane (Creationism, get ready for the Rapture etc.) I would be put off. Of course, that is not just limited to religion. I vote on policies, not belief or lack therof in a particular deity.

Example: There or two politicians in the local election.

Candidate 1: A Christian, goes to mass every Sunday. Is happy to promote secularism and equal education rights for all.

Candidate 2: An atheist, has no time for religion or giving any religiously run/funded institutions aid. Also wants to invade France.

I'd probably go with Candidate 1.

Was it just the France thing that made you go with 1?:pac:

Galvasean

ChocolateSauce wrote: »

Was it just the France thing that made you go with 1?:pac:

Pretty much. It was an (albeit awkward) example of how I wouldn't vote for someone with daft policies even if he/she was an atheist.

bnt

I would draw a line based on whether they do their religion in public. For example: while President Obama has religion, he's made it clear that it's a private matter, and not a platform on which to decide policy.

Muppet Man

Reminds me of when Jeremy Paxman was quizzing Tony Blair on when and how often he prayed... Blair wouldnt give in and said it was a private matter. He stuck to his guns.

Personally, I'll go with the guy who sounds like he's preaching (economic) reality rather than (fantastic) spirituality.

Muppet Man

Handsome Bob

Given the biggest voting demograph in Ireland, I think it would be political suicide for a politician to make his atheism known. So I think in the grander scheme of things a politician having a religious belief is perhaps better for his career right now.

A politician having a religious belief would not influence my decision in voting for him. However, if his entire campaign revolves around fundamentalist beliefs I would most certainly not even entertain the notion of voting for them.

Dr. Baltar

If a politician I were voting for was a member of the Westboro Baptist Church and had good policies I would have no problem voting for them so long as they kept their personal beliefs separate from their political ideals.

Zombrex

Kipperhell wrote: »

Out of curiosity what do you think they will do?

Sorry, let me rephrase that

I wouldn't vote for them just because they are an atheist. I didn't mean to imply I wouldn't vote for them at all simply because they are an atheist, rather that them being an atheist wouldn't make me vote for them, I don't see it as a virtue in their favour. I would want to see what they do believe in.

Tabnabs

I won't vote for any party which espouses christian principles to its policies, so Fine Gael as part of the Christian Democratic umbrella group never gets my vote.

Húrin

Zillah wrote: »

They'd also be more likely to be pro-secular, which is one of my biggest concerns when it comes to politics.....the fallacies we see from global-warming-deniers

If secularism is a bigger political concern to you than global warming I think that you too are a global warming denier!

Goduznt Xzst

Húrin wrote: »

If secularism is a bigger political concern to you than global warming I think that you too are a global warming denier!

Well I think they go hand in hand. A politician who believes global warming is merely a sign of the coming Apocalypse, from which he will be saved, isn't exactly going to be as strongly motivated to care about what happens to this world as an individual who knows that once we lose this planet, we lose everything, there is no redemption.

Coriolanus

Yep it does, most definitely. Not in a hateful way or anything, but anyone who believes in God has demonstrated a certain, imo anyway, willingness to partition their mind to reality.
I treat any statement from any wholeheartedly religious person, that isn't of a self-evident "That peice of grass is green" nature with a grain of salt. They're just too gullible for me to take anything important they say on faith.

In other words, I'm probably more easily mislead and hoodwinked by atheists than the religious

rainbow kirby

In general, politicians with a strong religious belief tend to hold positions on various issues that I care about which are diametrically opposed to my own, so I would be inclined not to vote for them on those grounds.

Effluo

tech77 wrote: »

If a politician has a religious belief, does this affect how you vote for them.
Not many (mainstream) politicians call themselves atheists (even if they are) AFAIK.
So when deciding to vote for a guy who
a) either genuinely believes or
b) hypocritically says he believes (possibly not to offend some voters)-
Is a) or b) a big deal for atheists when trying to decide whether you should give them your vote.

Going further, would you prefer more candidates/politicians actually promoting their atheism.

When i voted in the local elections this year i didn't vote in a protest against the current national government, i didn't vote for a political party either. I voted for people!(which is what i believe everyone should have done)

Although the religious beliefs of a person is something important. In my opinion it is only important to the people themselves and does not define them as being necessarily good or bad at any particular thing(except something like an atheist saying mass or something).

So when i voted these last elections i didn't consider the peoples religions and truth be told.... I only would know one of the candidates religions as he was an Ex-Sinn Fein councillor and me supposing that he's a Catholic is still only a supposition!