... which is exactly why I say the RELIGIOUS are absolutely worthy of public office; those perspectives need to be represented to ensure a representative democracy. It's when someone makes the PROMOTION of their religion over all others - aka, priests and their ilk - that the problem emerges, because they now have taken two conflicting vows: to represent everyone regardless of their faith, and to convert everyone to their faith. I mean, dude literally signed on the dotted line that says, "thou shall have no god before me", and then ran for fucking public office for communities of Hindus, and Muslims, and Atheists, and ... everyone else. How does an elected official properly represent communities they literally believe are inferior to them, due to their belief system? Having religious beliefs is fine, and expected for the majority of the population. A tiny minority of the religious, however, believe their role is to convert the "heathens" and help them see the light, and those people pledge a vow to bring those heathens "into the fold" and then... run for public elected office? That's a problem - an absolute conflict of interest - plain and simple. He's lying to someone: god or his electorate.
You're presuming, with no evidence to back it up, that: 1) All religious officials must choose between their religion and their country in all things 2) All public service is a zero-sum game between competing tribes 3) No one who makes a pledge to one entity can serve another entity Why? Why are you doing that? For starters, run your position through the First Amendment and tell me where you land. Then take a brief tour through Article 6. Finally, show me the budding theocracy. Just, for shits'n'giggles. - Galatians 3.28 - Romans 2.11 - Proverbs 22.2 - John 13.16 - Romans 10.12 - Mark 12.31 - Colossians 3.11 - James 2.1-13 I want you to note that I, an atheist, son of a devout atheist, is sitting here throwing scripture at you. And I'm doing it because you know better. "You can't run for office because you work for God" is USSR shit. Cut it out.How does an elected official properly represent communities they literally believe are inferior to them, due to their belief system?