Consider: Religion and Politics [View All]

[TechBear_Seattle]

Why would you vote for a president who has a different religion than you? If you are certain of the rightness of your own beliefs, and equally certain of the wrongness of a presidential candidate’s belief, that proves the candidate has, in your opinion, bad judgment about the most important question in reality.

For this discussion, I think you would have to say that someone who believes in a literal interpretation of the bible, complete with devils and angels, has a different religion from a Christian who believes much of the bible is not literal. The point is not whether the two have much in common, but how good they are at determining truth from nonsense. That’s exactly the sort of skill you want a president to have.

Arguably, sorting truth from nonsense is the biggest part of being president. Every big question has multiple possible solutions. The president’s job is to pick the right one.

You wouldn’t vote for a candidate who believes in Ouija boards or horoscopes, because such beliefs would be a reliable indication of simple-mindedness. So why would you vote for a candidate who can’t figure out what version of God is right? If he can’t get that right, according to you, how good is his judgment? You probably think picking the right religion is not a hard challenge, because you got it right without much struggle. You want your leader to be at least as smart as you.

Scott Adams stirs the pot yet again at http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2008/01/religion-and-po.html