I agree with Mr.Izzard on the fact that the differences appear on either side of the Atlantic.
I believe politicians should have ethics and morals these tend to be seen to go hand in hand with religion. However there are lots of other factors...
. Should a politician/national leader have Ethics and Morals, sometimes decisions have to be made requiring an unjust or ethical dilemma. Sometimes a pragmatist is needed.
. Should politicians/national leaders be religious at all, Religion is a way of life and this should not interfere with the running of a country, Can these people be totally objective when called for... or will the lean towards a viewpoint similar to that of their religion.
For example I believe that there is a huge difference between someone with Christian values and a Good Christian, What makes a good Catholic (for example), someone who goes to Mass every Sunday, prays hard and gives generously to the collection but acts like a lying cheating scumbag the rest of the week, but because he goes to church on a Sunday he's absolved ?? What about the man who has never been inside a church but will go out of his way to help his fellow man ??
As a cynic I am usually deeply suspicious of anyone who is deeply religous as I usually find they are using it for their own ends like the "good" Catholic above or others who are so insecure they need religion to lean on like a crutch.
And before you all start your pish, these are merely my views and a generalization, their are of course "Good" catholics who also have christian values, and lots of others who are religious and do not use it for their own ulterior motives. However in my experience I find them few and far between.
Funny, in this country we actually have a state-funded church (a protestant one), and about 80% of the population are members. However, none of the prime ministers in my lifetime have been openly religious about anything. As Joe points out, a lot of people would probably think them as nutters. Well, I wouldn't since I consider myself a Christian (and go to church), but many would.
This is in complete opposite to the US where church and state are supposed to be separated completely.
The Queen seems to be a quite devout protestant but of course she wasn't elected.
The Queen seems to be a quite devout protestant but of course she wasn't elected.
Lol, well I should hope she would be... considering she's the head of the Anglican Church... if she wasn't it'd be like the Pope skipping mass...
Haha, you're right... I was actually talking about the Danish Queen who is 'only' the head of the Danish church, but the effect would be the same as the English Queen not being Christian, except in a smaller scale :o)
