The Role of Religion in Presidential Elections - 1233 Words

The Role of Religion in Presidential Elections â€Å"The relationship between faith, reason, and fear sometimes resembles†¦rock, paper, scissors (45).† This is the opening sentence in chapter two of Al Gore’s book, The Assault on Reason. In this chapter Gore talks about how fear takes over reason, reason challenges faith, and eventually faith defeats fear. This is the way that our society worked when he wrote the book, and it has not changed for the better since then, although it has not necessarily gotten substantially worse. Today religion is still a huge player in political debate because people are guided, for the most part, by their morals and it is commonly held that morals come mainly from religious teachings. This is a complex subject†¦show more content†¦People are worried that Romney will place his religious views before the welfare of our nation. The accusation that people are making is that he is incapable of leading our country because he is a Mormon. Some of the big issues on his plate currently involve women’s rights. As a Mormon, he does not believe in abortion and has made it clear that he would try to pass legislation that sets the beginning of life at conception. While there are certainly non-Mormon people who do not believe in abortion, this is being attributed to his religion. Fifty years ago, or even twenty-five to thirty years ago, this would have been a non-issue. Romney’s beliefs would have been more in line with the more conservative nature of the time period. Needless to say Mitt Romney faces an uphill battle on his quest for the White House. Given all of this information, it would seem very apparent that religion plays a huge role in presidential elections. This is true, but not necessarily in the way that one might think. According to an article in the Huffington Post, most Americans say that it is important for the President to have strong religious beliefs, even if the beliefs differ from their own. This information seems to undermine what the media would have us believe. In addition, constituents tend not to know or be confused about the candidates’ actual religion. Only four in ten citizens could correctly identify Mitt Romney’s religion and forty-six percent of American’s said theyShow MoreRelatedReligion : The United States And The European Union1648 Words   |  7 Pages Religion is as old as human civilization itself. It has survived millennia in various forms shaping the way that we live, impacting our decisions and making us who we are. Religion permeates and influences virtually every aspect of our lives and governs both our individual and collective life (Hajizadeh, 2013). 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