McCain suggests religious litmus test for President.
“I admire the Islam. There’s a lot of good principles in it,” Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said. “But I just have to say in all candor that since this nation was founded primarily on Christian principles, personally, I prefer someone who I know who has a solid grounding in my faith.” He added, “I think the number one issue people should make [in the] selection of the President of the United States is, ‘Will this person carry on in the Judeo Christian principled tradition that has made this nation the greatest experiment in the history of mankind?’” The U.S. Constitution disagrees.
UPDATE: McCain attempts to clarify his remarks: “McCain contacted Beliefnet after the interview to clarify his remarks: ‘I would vote for a Muslim if he or she was the candidate best able to lead the country and defend our political values.’” Former Bush White House aide David Kuo, now a BeliefNet contributor, said McCain was “pandering to what he thinks the Christian conservative community wants to hear” and predicted he “will have a lot of explaining to do about this interview.”
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Another reason not to vote for this man. He is now talking religion.Isn’t he the one who sang..bomb bomb bomb Iran…!!
September 30th, 2007 at 10:23 amsomeone please send mcdumbass a copy of the constitution….
thanks.
September 30th, 2007 at 10:25 amWhat a funny, cantankerously insane old fart. Past a certain point, these idiots should be barred from the world stage in order to save them (and us) a host of eye-rolling embarrassment. He’s not shuffing around wearing a bathrobe & swearing at the paperboy, but you can easily picture him doin’ it can’t you?
McCain is just praying there’s somewhere he can be forgiven for whoring for bush. Notice the biggest bastards are the same ones with the most egregiously immoral track records.
“bomb..bomb..bomb Iran,” indeed…
September 30th, 2007 at 10:27 amTP and The Carpetbagger Report are absolutely correct. Unless McCain is intent upon establishing a theocracy in this country, to evoke Judeo-Christian principles as some sort of a litmus test to be president is simply ludicrous as well as being unconstitutional. Simply another reason why this man is extremely unqualified to be president of the U.S.
September 30th, 2007 at 10:29 am#3 That should read: Notice the biggest zealously religious bastards are the same ones with the most egregiously immoral track records.
September 30th, 2007 at 10:31 amNot many stories posted - I am guessing the nutrooters have realized that the Dems have used, abused and tossed you aside again. I feel like I am talking to a battered wife who just won’t leave her abusive husband - the Dem Party is not going to change.
Just as Dems have said anything to get the votes of the Black Community without delivering on their promises, the Dems will say anything to the anti-war left. This time, the leading Dem prez candidates are so afraid of losing the election, that they won’t even lie to you - they understand that they may not be able to abandon the efforts in Iraq even by the end of their first term of office - 2013.
How you like them apples? Don’t bother answering, because your silence is deafening. Thanks for playing.
September 30th, 2007 at 10:39 amMcCain is on his knees, bowing and scraping to the religious right. He is saying everything he thinks they want to hear, denying everything he used to believe in, just so he can catch a few crumbs from their table. In the process, he is most likely scaring off the voters who thought he was “reasonable.”
Will anyone remember what he did as one of the Keating Five?
September 30th, 2007 at 10:41 amI see Johnny One-note hasn’t dropped his screed. Try to stay on topic, okay?
September 30th, 2007 at 10:42 amJohn McCain has fallen so far, so fast. Before the 2000 election, he looked like a decent fellow, made sane statements, and seemed to honor the American people.
Now? He is a pathetic man. Truly, and utterly pathetic. That one’s religious affiliation (if one has religion AT ALL) is considered by ANYONE to be the primary motivator in selecting a politician, especially President of the United States, desecrates the ideals of our Founding Fathers. It defiles our Constitution. It drives a wedge between the most number of citizens possible by pitting each religion against one another, and a lack of religiosity against all religions. If you want one way to poison the national dialogue most decisively, inserting such rhetoric as McCain just did in to said dialogue is the perfect toxin with which to do so.
Religious affiliation should really not be much of a consideration at all. Sure, they can state it, and people can be interested, but the message a candidate brings is the most important. The issues on which he or she will campaign are far more relevant.
Separation of Church and State. Repeat it with the class, young John. Separation of Church and State. It protects We the People from religion, sure. But more importantly (from your own perspective), it protects RELIGION from We the People.
WWJD? How about a quote from Yeshua himself?
“But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” - Matthew 6:6
September 30th, 2007 at 10:46 amJust as Dems have said anything to get the votes of the Black Community without delivering on their promises, the Dems will say anything to the anti-war left.
It doesn’t matter. With enough nudging we can force a candidate to do the right thing.
This time, the leading Dem prez candidates are so afraid of losing the election, that they won’t even lie to you - they understand that they may not be able to abandon the efforts in Iraq even by the end of their first term of office - 2013.
I don’t think so. No matter what position they take (other than the Bush position), the Dems will win the White House.
September 30th, 2007 at 10:46 amMcCain also goes on to say he would vote for a Muslim president if they had all the qualifications and were best able to defend our country, yadda, yadda, yadda.
We really, honestly don’t know what McCain thinks, neither does he.
September 30th, 2007 at 10:53 amMcCain is getting truly desperate. He’s lost funding, staff and whatever was left of his mind and now he’s making a panicked attempt to woo the very voters he was contemptuous of before: the religious fundies.
At this point, he’s got less chance at the White House than Sam Brownback does.
September 30th, 2007 at 10:56 amthat they won’t even lie to you - they understand that they may not be able to abandon the efforts in Iraq even by the end of their first term of office - 2013.
Comment by Jason M. Hendler — September 30, 2007 @ 10:39 am
All the candidates said that they would immediately start withdrawing troops and that a small contingent may be left there to fight Al Qaeda [if the situation warranted it]. The Iraqis are perfectly capable of dealing with other Iraqis who are claiming to be Al Qaeda so we’ll be long gone before 2013.
September 30th, 2007 at 10:56 amI am on my way to church, but before I leave, I must say “Amen†to Sen. McCain. We need a POTUS with Christian beliefs instilled into his/her life. We need a POTUS who will use biblical principles to make sound decisions. We need a POTUS who has a direct relationship with God. Thanks You, Jesus.
Comment by Daryll — September 30, 2007 @ 10:54 am
Why thank Jesus, Daryll? McCain doesn’t stand an icecube’s chance in hell of getting the nomination, but less being elected.
When you get back from church, though, try reading the nation’s Constitution. You might learn something. Well, probably not, but it would be worth a try. Don’t forget the Bill of Rights.
September 30th, 2007 at 10:58 am“The Islam”?
Oh brother…
September 30th, 2007 at 10:58 amWe need a POTUS who has a direct relationship with God. Thanks You, Jesus.
Comment by Daryll — September 30, 2007 @ 10:54 am
This current president has a direct relationship with God and his God told him to wage war on other countries.
September 30th, 2007 at 11:00 amI am on my way to church, but before I leave, I must say “Amen†to Sen. McCain. We need a POTUS with Christian beliefs instilled into his/her life. We need a POTUS who will use biblical principles to make sound decisions. We need a POTUS who has a direct relationship with God. Thanks You, Jesus.
Comment by Daryll — September 30, 2007 @ 10:54 am
Methinks someone doesn’t understand how one is being protected by our Constitution to worship as one pleases. Methinks one has never thought of the implications of imposed Catholic laws on the country, and how it would affect anyone not of Catholic persuasion in their worship. Methinks one has never thought of the horrific pendulum effect of religious political warfare.
Does one not understand that if one allows religion to sway politics, that it leads to dangerous times? Does one not understand the concept of tit-for-tat?
If one would like to see massive numbers of people jailed or killed for the beliefs (or lack thereof), one would suggest religious benchmarks for their leaders. If one would like to see endless backwash of religions competing for political power to inject THEIR religious laws and dogma into the law of the land, one would suggest such benchmarks.
For one to believe that only a person with Christian beliefs is capable of making sound decisions is the height of arrogance. But then, one who is blinded by faith, believing mere words written by men to be evidence of holiness, while denying that which the world around us reveals, is oft the most arrogant, eh?
September 30th, 2007 at 11:08 amNo point in responding to the troll, he just says things like that so he can get a chuckle out of all of the outrage his crazy posts spawn.
Honestly, if he truly wanted to live under a religious theocracy, there are plenty to choose from in the middle east.
September 30th, 2007 at 11:11 amHonestly, if he truly wanted to live under a religious theocracy, there are plenty to choose from in the middle east.
Comment by TheToonGuy — September 30, 2007 @ 11:11 am
But Daryll and his ilk want to impose their religion on us, not live in a theocracy run by Satan. It does sound like he’ll soon be able to live in a proper theocracy, however. In Russia.
September 30th, 2007 at 11:20 amoh, give me a break! talk about pandering to the religious right…
September 30th, 2007 at 11:23 am#
Comment by Erroll:
“Unless McCain is intent upon establishing a theocracy in this country, to evoke Judeo-Christian principles as some sort of a litmus test to be president is simply ludicrous as well as being unconstitutional. Simply another reason why this man is extremely unqualified to be president of the U.S.”
Why should McCain be any different from the rest of the Republican field? By now all of them have demonstrated themselves to be unqualified through their own words & actions. All are either openly contemptuous or unconcernedly ignorant of this country’s founding principles and ideals. The fact that they’re taken seriously in this country as potential “Leaders of the Free World” is by far the most alarming aspect of their respective candidacies.
jb
September 30th, 2007 at 11:27 amWhoa, whoa, whoa. Back it up. McCain is suggesting here that Judeo Christianity was the ultimate reason why “this nation [was] the greatest experiment in the history of mankind.”
What about democracy McCain?
If anyone buys this garbage, then they need to have their brains looked at. Anyone with a proper high school education will tell you that those rich Judeo Christians were the ones that persecuted everyone else, and in fact the combination of democracy and the persecuted was what made this nation the greatest experiment ever.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Thomas Jefferson
George Washington
Booker T. Washington
Rosa Parks
Susan B. Anthony
I am Catholic myself. You can peach all you want about Christianity shaping this great nation, but where’s your evidence and support?
I am not buying it.
September 30th, 2007 at 11:48 amI am not buying it.
Comment by Picklee — September 30, 2007 @ 11:48 am
The Constitution wasn’t based on “Christian principles”. It was based on John Locke’s work. The attempts of McCain and others to say this sort of nonsense never ends. Talk about pimping yer own sorry *ss…
September 30th, 2007 at 11:54 amAll right, I wish someone would tell me how the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness derive from Christian doctrine.
The way I’ve heard it, nothing is given by theact of birth (except for original sin). The only bebefits come from swearing fealty to Jesus Christ, God Incarnate . Then and only then do you get stuff.
So Christianity seems directly opposed to the principles sworn to in the Declaration of independence. They say that everybody, no matter what, is given rights that inhere in the being by the act of creation.
What Christian sect believes that unbelievers have the right to happiness?
McCain must have realized that what he said was prettyy anti-semitic, so he fell back on that Eisenhower-era dodge, ‘Judeo-Christian.’ So, John, now it’s the Judeo Christian Church you went to? Not the Baptists, because they don’t seem very friendly to the Judeo’s.
Most of the dominionists jump on the mention of a creator and ride it all the way to Jesus Christ and the redemption of sins. they figure they can get away with it, since their main enemy is atheistic secularism–and the Founders mentioned God! Game over, man!
But there’s a sect which believes in God, who believes that life, libertty and the pursuit of happiness are the direct gifts of God, and that all religions worship the same God. That sect is the Freemasons, and nearly all the founders belonged to it.
The Declaration embodies a vision that Christianity of the time did not, and that the Darylls of today still do not. that unbelievers and believers have the same basic rights, the right to live, the right to be free, and the right to strive after happiness. Fundamentalist Christians believe that rights only derive from adherence to Jesus Christ, and that all else is depravity.
I for one am proud to live in this Masonic country.
September 30th, 2007 at 11:56 amI am guessing when the Repugs start their circular firing squad, Johnny Boy will be one of the first to fall, and it won’t be a pretty sight, either. Remember how he rolled over like a $3 whore when the rover ripped him in SC in the 2000 election? He has no cajones left, just a lot of scar tissue from the Hanoi Hilton stay and a misplaced sense of morality and a warped view of reality.
September 30th, 2007 at 12:01 pmGo ahead, McCain- split the C.C. vote!( Conservative cretins) ; water down these foole’s influence. Grand plan!
September 30th, 2007 at 12:25 pmYikes! McCain is off his rocker.
Human Goodness has nothing to do with religion, but a lot to do with how one is raised. love, security, guidelines.
Only the lowest of the low (or the most fearful & so the most dangerous) are trying to coopt God and Religion to further their own political agendas…
Our Constitution was created to protect US, the PEOPLE from those who seek to be all powerful and destroy our government. (and there are always people and forces who seek to do that in whatever guise they choose to hide their ambition) That is why we had separation of church & state, balance of power between the branches, habeus corpus etc.
Now we see again the scalywags who would use religion and religiousity to gain and hold power.
If you mix religion with government you create a monster of huge powerful proportions …and because PEOPLE are not GODS they misuse this power. Saying you belong to a religion does not make you good. Just look at all the religious politicians now in jail or soon to be tried. Christians ALL!!!!
Our founding fathers had seen how governments misuse their power over and over and how religion combined with government created monster power. That is why they strove so hard to keep ideology OUT of our government and constititution. Why they wanted it to be by and for the people…..not someone’s religion and certainly not by and for the corporations.
September 30th, 2007 at 12:30 pmThe Constitution wasn’t based on “Christian principlesâ€. It was based on John Locke’s work. Comment by The Republic of Stupidity — September 30, 2007 @ 11:54 am
Thank you. Wasn’t Locke’s work nearly plagerized for the Declaration? Weren’t terms like ’self-evident’ scientific terms of the time? I get so tired of the idea that the Bible was used directly when there’s more evidence that it wasn’t. Our founding is based on life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness regardless of faith.
September 30th, 2007 at 12:35 pmSorry, Sen McCain, Darryl, and anyone else who agrees with these two people, but the constitution specifically prohibits what you are advocating. You can’t have religious freedom in this country if our government officials are only allowed to adhere to one set of religious beliefs. Besides, what evidence (meaning, something based on provable facts) do you have that we atheists aren’t right?
September 30th, 2007 at 12:38 pm… American Taliban.
.
September 30th, 2007 at 12:48 pmBesides, what evidence (meaning, something based on provable facts) do you have that we atheists aren’t right?
Comment by Wayne A. Schneider @ 12:38 pm
ugh… why did you even have to go there…
it doesn’t matter.
September 30th, 2007 at 12:54 pm.
McCain is insane…he appears to be batshit crazy ever since he started being Dubya lite.
September 30th, 2007 at 1:01 pmI guess I’m the only one who thinks that if you still have invisible friends past the age of six, you are not qualified to hold any position of actual power? Oh and, uhh, senator, I’ve got some bad news for you about the Easter Bunny…
September 30th, 2007 at 1:08 pmMr. McCain,
News flash!
“But I just have to say in all candor that since this nation was founded primarily on Christian principles, personally, I prefer someone who I know who has a solid grounding in my faith.†- John McCain
Voices I respect much more:
The government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion.
— John Adams
It is the duty of every true Deist to vindicate the moral justice of God against the evils of the Bible.
— Thomas Paine
Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between church and State.
— Thomas Jefferson
These quotes are direct and very easy to understand even for the likes of you, Mr. McCain.
September 30th, 2007 at 1:12 pmSigh… It’s time for John to take a nap. He is not making sense here. And I agree. McCain needs to read the Constitution because he lost me at a hello on this one.
September 30th, 2007 at 3:49 pmPerhaps Sen McCain might want to recall just how long it took for a Roman Catholic to be elected President. This country’s first President (under the terms of the Constitution) was inaugurated in 1789; the first Catholic wasn’t inaugurated until 1961 (and, even then, during the election campaign he had to reassure the American people that he wouldn’t take orders from the Pope). Also, Sen McCain obviously needs reminding that, among the current group of men and women running for President, we won’t be seeing a Jewish President being inaugurated (in this country) in 2009 (220 years after Washington’s first inauguration).
September 30th, 2007 at 4:05 pmI would also remind Sen McCain that, until the mid-1980s, there was no such thing as “Judeo-Christian” anything. The JC phrase only came about to allow the Religious Right (Falwell, Robertson, Dobson and cohorts) to minimize their earlier anti-Semitic comments (note that all of them were avidly pro-Israel, but only because of the position of Israel as it pertained to Christ’s Second Coming; as far as Jews were concerned, they still needed to be converted to Christianity, but *that* position had to be muzzled for the Religious Right to make any real political headway).
“Art. 11. As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Mussulmen; and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.”
This is from the Treaty of Tripoli:
September 30th, 2007 at 4:49 pmhttp://www.stephenjaygould.org/ctrl/treaty_tripoli.html
this is good:
How Long Before McCain Apologizes? At the top of the Huffington Post we have John McCain’s remark that he’d prefer a president who has a “solid grounding in my faith.” I’m in New York, about to take a flight for Las Vegas (to give a speech, not to gamble). My question is: how long before McCain apologizes? Before I land?
September 30th, 2007 at 11:06 pmP.S. I’ve just landed in Las Vegas and McCain has already clarified his statement.
-Arianna Huffington
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
United States Constitution, Article VI, Paragraph 3.
Nothing more need be said.
October 1st, 2007 at 10:12 amSorry, Sen McCain, Darryl, and anyone else who agrees with these two people, but the constitution specifically prohibits what you are advocating. You can’t have religious freedom in this country if our government officials are only allowed to adhere to one set of religious beliefs. Besides, what evidence (meaning, something based on provable facts) do you have that we atheists aren’t right?
Comment by Wayne A. Schneider — September 30, 2007 @ 12:38 pm
McCain didn’t say non-Christians shouldn’t be able to hold the office of president, only that people should consider the candidate’s faith when voting. He made this statement based upon the fact that the majority of people in this country claim to be Christians. ;)
October 1st, 2007 at 11:21 am