anvi
anvikshiki
YaBB God
Posts: 4,400
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« on: February 08, 2009, 10:32:02 AM » |
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I don't know, maybe by the middle of the century. I certainly am ready right now and have been for a good while.
I've taught university classes on religion for some time, and I've occasionally asked my classes this question. My students have expressed great skepticism that a non-religious candidate will ever be president. When I have asked them why they think this, they respond, very thoughtfully, that they would be afraid of a president who did not think there was any authority in the world more powerful than themselves. I thought this was a good answer. But, if I were a non-religious candidate and had to face that worry, I would simply say that, as president, there are lots of forms of authority superior to mine, such as the authority of the constitution, the authority of the voters that I am elected to represent, the authority of the other branches in many other facets of governing, and that I am furthermore subject to the natural limits to what governments and human beings can do. I'd also point out that it has often been precisely those presidents who have arrogated God's sanction to themselves that have often done the most harm to the world (with the notable exception of Lincoln, of course). Anyway, I did find it interesting that worries about a non-religious president had to do with concerns over the power or the presidency in the mind of the person in office.
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