Why doesnt religion play a bigger part in UK politics?

[steeljack]

Religion does play a big part of political American life , but in ways completly unfathomable to Europeans , example Good Friday , one of the most important dates in the Christian calender is totally unrecognised here in California ,even though we have big Catholic population ,(private empoyeers are obliged to allow 2hrs without pay for anyone who wants to attend Mass) though I think maybe in Massachussetts it is a State holiday but nowhere else , just a normal day everyone goes to work .
We have one guy running for President , Mitt Romney , hes a Mormon (4th largest religious group in the US) and the media are now starting to stir things up a bit by calling it a 'sect', a couple of hit pieces have called for him to explain the Mormon belief that the original 'garden of eden' was in Illinos , not the middle-east and that Native Americans are one of the lost tribes of Israel !!
Think it was the 2000 election when Al Gore lost to George Bush , and the guy running for vice-president with Gore was a guy called Joe Lieberman , the election was close , but in my opinion Gore would have won easily but for the folks who balked at having a jewish guy only one bullet away from having the top job , the same i think will happen this time if Barrack Obama runs for vice-presidential spot .
I think the political power of the fundamentalists, evilgelicals and re-borns is ovestated ,just a vocal minority who manage to get TV news time, most folks I know just want to get along with each other .

think Bullseyebarb or LYY when the log-on will be able to give more lucid answers

[steeljack]

Originally Posted by Eric

But in certain parts of the US, it does verge on fanaticism. If an American, in certain parts of the country, asks you if you are a Christian or tell you that he is a Christian, he is not referring to C of E or Catholicism, but good ole, down home bible thumping fundamentalism, faith healing, speaking in tongues and all that good stuff. .

you forgot dancing with rattlesnakes

Yep , Have agree with you , whenever the good ole bubbas ask me what I am , I say Anglican .......it usually causes a blank look but gets them to leave me alone , it's just a way of being friendly and one thing is for sure the Bubbas and Bubbettes sure came together and helped each other out after Katrina hit .

[Eric]

Originally Posted by steeljack

Religion does play a big part of political American life , but in ways completly unfathomable to Europeans , example Good Friday , one of the most important dates in the Christian calender is totally unrecognised here in California ,even though we have big Catholic population ,(private empoyeers are obliged to allow 2hrs without pay for anyone who wants to attend Mass) though I think maybe in Massachussetts it is a State holiday but nowhere else , just a normal day everyone goes to work .
We have one guy running for President , Mitt Romney , hes a Mormon (4th largest religious group in the US) and the media are now starting to stir things up a bit by calling it a 'sect', a couple of hit pieces have called for him to explain the Mormon belief that the original 'garden of eden' was in Illinos , not the middle-east and that Native Americans are one of the lost tribes of Israel !!
Think it was the 2000 election when Al Gore lost to George Bush , and the guy running for vice-president with Gore was a guy called Joe Lieberman , the election was close , but in my opinion Gore would have won easily but for the folks who balked at having a jewish guy only one bullet away from having the top job , the same i think will happen this time if Barrack Obama runs for vice-presidential spot .
I think the political power of the fundamentalists, evilgelicals and re-borns is ovestated ,just a vocal minority who manage to get TV news time, most folks I know just want to get along with each other .

think Bullseyebarb or LYY when the log-on will be able to give more lucid answers

There seem to be so many confusions ... People still talk of Kennedy's catholicism, and he is the only catholic, I believe, to have been President. Is Lieberman the only jew to have been on the ticket? I know the VP is only one bullet away from the top job ... but it wouldn't take a full clip to put Con Rice in the Oval Office, and this doesn't seem to bother too many Americans. In fact, I do believe, that she is the most popular member of the cabinet.

But I come from a country where which hockey team a politician supports can be a hot issue

[Wynonie Harris]

Originally Posted by steeljack

the Mormon belief that the original 'garden of eden' was in Illinos , not the middle-east and that Native Americans are one of the lost tribes of Israel !!

Do they really believe that?...incredible!...and what a frightening thought that somebody who believes that load of old cobblers could be in charge of the most powerful nation on earth!

[steeljack]

Originally Posted by Wynonie Harris

Do they really believe that?...incredible!...and what a frightening thought that somebody who believes that load of old cobblers could be in charge of the most powerful nation on earth!

sorry not Illinos , but Independance, Jackson county Missouri
Basic Beliefs of Mormons - Category: The Garden of Eden

the Native American link has been debunked by DNA testing
Book Review - Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church, by Simon G. Southerton

[Wynonie Harris]

Thanks for that, SJ...interesting stuff. Just wait until next time they come knocking on my door on a Sunday morning!

[Bonnyboy]

Neither religion nor politics play a major role in my life. I really don’t care what religious persuasion my political leader has, he should be wise enough to separate the two. I vote on the basis of their political views meeting my approval. By the same token, the overseer of religious ceremonies in the family is used due to his religious preaching’s ( plus being one of his flock might get your kids into certain schools in the community, hypocritical I know, but who cares ) not his political views. I think both issues should be just that. Two separate issues.

[LancYorkYankee]

Originally Posted by steeljack

think Bullseyebarb or LYY when the log-on will be able to give more lucid answers

Steeljack, I wouldn't even know where to start. Was gonna start responding to the first of Eric's major generalizations. However, they just kept coming and coming. There were so many odd misinterepretations/errors/views on American religious thought and function, I truly wouldn't know where to start.

Seriously, the generalizations were too numerous to address one by one. Not trying to slam you Eric but you've gotta lay off smoking that moose "stuff." It'd be like me trying to speak on the idea that in Canada, hockey is just another sport like baseball, American football (go Argonauts), or hop scotch. Or that French and English go together like moonshine and hillbillies!

[mani]

ok i'm sure alot of u guys voted blair the very first time round - so this question is aimed at them

if back then he came out and said openly i'm a catholic i'm a firm believer of god, the bible and its beliefs - would it have affected ur vote?

[Wynonie Harris]

If I was a Blair voter, that would have definitely put me off. I don't care for politicians parading their religion in public. Must say I'm glad that we don't have a lot of Christian fundamentalist politicians in this country, though. The thought of someone loopy enough to take the bible literally making decisions on the running of the country makes me shudder!

[WillowTheWhisp]

Originally Posted by steeljack

sorry not Illinos , but Independance, Jackson county Missouri
Basic Beliefs of Mormons - Category: The Garden of Eden

the Native American link has been debunked by DNA testing
Book Review - Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church, by Simon G. Southerton

Well when you think about it in the beginning wasn't there one humumgous land mass? The Garden of Eden would have been part of that and then when the continents drifted apart that part drifted over to what became the Americas.

The second bit about the DNA debunking is flawed because the people of whatever tribes they were that the present Native Americans are now descended from are not actually the Nephites of the Book of Mormon because they were all wiped out by the end of the Book of Mormon. The Lamanites, some of whom were descended from the same parents as the Nephites mingled with other tribes who had gone there earlier. The DNA they are being compared with in the Middle East is of the descendants of the tribes who remained there and who mingled with others there as well. By the time you get down to the Sioux and the Apaches and Navajo they might not have any ancestors who came from Laman. All their ancestors could have come from the earlier bods.

I'm not sure I explained that very well but I know what I mean.

It's odd that people say they wouldn't trust a politician who has strong religious beliefs. I would much rather have a leader who lived by his religious moral code and believed in it strongly enough not to lie or steal or cheat. It wouldn't matter to me whether he was Mormon, Catholic CofE 7th Day Adventist or Jehovah's Witness.

[Eric]

Originally Posted by LancYorkYankee

Steeljack, I wouldn't even know where to start. Was gonna start responding to the first of Eric's major generalizations. However, they just kept coming and coming. There were so many odd misinterepretations/errors/views on American religious thought and function, I truly wouldn't know where to start.

Seriously, the generalizations were too numerous to address one by one. Not trying to slam you Eric but you've gotta lay off smoking that moose "stuff." It'd be like me trying to speak on the idea that in Canada, hockey is just another sport like baseball, American football (go Argonauts), or hop scotch. Or that French and English go together like moonshine and hillbillies!

If you guys wouldn't make your politics so complicated one wouldn't have to generalize .... And the Argos???? The real team is the Saskatchewan Roughriders ....

[Eric]

The one really good reason why non-Americans should concern themselves with US politics and the sociology that surrounds it, is that America has most of the best nuclear toys, and the guy (or gal) in the White House has the ultimate say in whether these things are fired or not ... and spare the argument about safeguards and security measures; "unsinkable" didn't keep the Titanic afloat. I don't think that personal faith should be an issue when the future of the planet is at stake. I wouldn't trust the bomb in the hands of extreme Islam, why should I trust it in the hands of extreme Christianity?

[Sue1]

Personally I don't think religion should play an obvious place in public life, especially Governments - after all religion has been known to cause one or two wars during history.

Anyway, why would our "public employees" want to bother with religion when they have their Masonic Lodges.

[andrewb]

We have a secular society in the UK which in itself explains why religion doesn't play a big part.

I think one of Karl Marx's only good points are that religion is bad.

I think theres a line to be had between /beliefs influencing politicians moral values and God "Told me to invade Iraq"