David Barash - What He Said: The Words of Jesus Christ https://whathesaid.com Making the words of Jesus Christ easy to read and explore Mon, 09 May 2011 15:29:46 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 Religion and Politics https://whathesaid.com/2011/05/09/religion-and-politics/ https://whathesaid.com/2011/05/09/religion-and-politics/#respond Mon, 09 May 2011 15:29:46 +0000 https://whathesaid.com/?p=892 How’s that for a combustible post title? Feeling a little feisty this morning, I thought I’d stir up the pot. I’m a little late to this piece from David Barash over at The Chronicle of Higher Education’s website. He did indeed publish it on April Fool’s Day, but he assures everyone there is at least […]

The post Religion and Politics first appeared on What He Said: The Words of Jesus Christ.

]]> How’s that for a combustible post title? Feeling a little feisty this morning, I thought I’d stir up the pot. I’m a little late to this piece from David Barash over at The Chronicle of Higher Education’s website. He did indeed publish it on April Fool’s Day, but he assures everyone there is at least some seriousness to his argument. Which is, devout people should be excluded from politics. There, the lightning is striking all over the place!

In response to a radio talk show caller who said “I don’t really care what religion [a presidential candidate] might be, I just want a president who prays,” Barash writes:

“But how about, instead, a president who reads: briefing papers, and maybe some detailed, complex, and even occasionally contradictory and nuanced analyses of alternative courses of action and their likely consequences? Someone whose views are reason and reality-based, founded on good, hard thought instead of theological doctrine? Instead of someone who prays, what about someone who thinks?”

Perhaps the two sides are not mutually exclusive?

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