If God Told Them To Run, Then Run Away From Them...

Look I have no monopoly on theological issues, but I do know this, the Deity doesn’t deign to anoint politicians to run. Invariably when there is a public claim that the Deity did tap somebody on the shoulder to run for office they lose which begs the question of whether or not God understands what makes a good politician or if He just is too dumb to pick a winner. I guess the trade off is that if (and that is a huge presumptive if) the Deity does bother to wander down and tap somebody on the shoulder and tell them to run for any given office given His divine track record you have to conclude that it could be a giant practical joke.

Or I suppose, given Occam’s Razor, it is more likely that anytime a political candidate for any given office publically and openly announces that the reason they have decided to run for some office is that God told them to, it’s as good a reason as any to find another candidate to support as that one is clearly at least a touch whacked. I just don’t believe for a minute that people who run for religious reasons make either good candidates and worse, if somehow they manage to get elected, they don’t usually turn out to be all that effective legislators.

Now before you start lighting the fire to burn me at the stake or launch the Spanish Inquisition, consider a few things and debate from those instead of proprietary doctrine. If God really wanted people in charge that are there solely because He ordained them, wouldn’t some church or other religious organization already be in charge? Moreover, whenever some candidate says that THE reason they are running is to express their faith or because the Deity told them to, what are they really saying to you, the voter?

“God has picked me (I know because He told me) and if you don’t vote for me then you are anti-God and therefore a heathen condemned to the fires of hell” or whatever his or her personal theology happens to believe will become of those who chose not to believe their particular theology.

Moreover, it gives the candidate an easy out on any of the issues, as if you question their position on any given issue it gets twisted into an attack on their religious beliefs.

I am not saying that religious people shouldn’t run for office, I am saying that if the reason that a candidate is running is to express their personal faith or because God told them to, run away. Run as if your hair is on fire.