I'm surprised nobody mentioned this bit of the Constitution: Article Six, Section 3: "The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several State legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."
So to answer the question asked earlier -- the President is not required to be a Christian. In fact, to do so would violate the Constitution. NO RELIGIOUS TESTS. Pretty plain language. As a practical matter, all presidents have professed a Christian faith, even those who did not seemingly practice it. Jefferson, for example, was a very free thinker and his religious beliefs are, at best, muddied in the waters of history. It's hard to tell what he believed. Other Founders were clearly Deist (Franklin and Paine, for example), and there was at least one Jew (forget his name), but all of our early presidents were "Christian" with John Adams being the most outspokenly Christian. I think it would be very difficult for a non-Christian to be elected in this country, though a Jew might have a shot, but only as a Democrat. No Republican could hope to even have a chance at a major political office these days without being, at least in name, a Christian. The religious right has too much control over the nomination process today. In the Democratic party, being a Christian is more tolerated that encouraged these days. It is allowed, so long as your are pro-choice and show no signs of being evangelical or pressing your faith as part of public policy. But a Democrat who was openly agnostic, and certainly openly atheist, would have no chance of winning a presidential general election in this country today. IMHO. H. ______________________________________________________________________ Dedicated Windows 2000 Server PIII 800 / 256 MB RAM / 40 GB HD / 20 GB MO/XFER Instant Activation · $99/Month · Free Setup http://www.pennyhost.com/redirect.cfm?adcode=cold_fusiona Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/cf-community@houseoffusion.com/ Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists
