Yes, but all too often, morals and ethics have little to do with religious swayings. For instance, if someone decides they believe abortion is immoral or unethical on their own, I'm fine with that. What I'm not fine with is religious leaders deciding they believe one candidate better upholds their morals and ethics and then telling their entire church to vote a certain way. Some religious leaders even take it a step further, and dare to make comments like "a true Catholic would never vote for John Kerry." That just discourages free thought and mocks democracy.

The thing about the issues you have described: Abortion, Gay Marriage, etc. are based on moral and ethical issues. It is the same on whether or not we should torture people in war. The left says it's unETHICAL. It's the same thing. More than half the issues in politics can be traced back to a moral or ethical foundation and beliefs.

The Last time we mixed government and religon, people got burned at the stake. Now people are losing futures, loves and even lives, all because religon is seeking governmental power.

If I may ask then, smile, did you find that one candidate clearly beat out the other when it came to Christian values and beliefs?

i am a Christian...and even though i know enough that i can make a descision w/o my faith i don't know why i would want to. Christianity is a HUGE part of who i am, and not only base all of my beliefs and how i view things on it, but i stand by them to.

I heartily agree. I"m a Christian, but I'm also capable of making decisions based on information and policy, not just my moral values, which may be very different than the next person. Come on people, again, vote with your heads! not with solely your bible.

I agree. I have two halves of me- the Religious half and the Political/Equal Rights Half. They can usually co-exist peacefully, but sometimes things need to be done in this country that AREN'T necessarily condoned by my church. There are more religions than Christians who live here, and we can't force our own beliefs on them.

ummm, yeah...The confrontation is one of the reasons religion should be eradicated. Besides the lies, treachery, enslavement, bigotry, and the other millionfold pups of the pious.

people say that you will go down there if you deny god's word or something like that, then they pressure you to b elieve what they believe and bash people that dont..i dunno, does that even seem christian? isn't that kind of defeating the purpose??

Religion is an influence, and it's becoming even more of an influence. Just take a look at how we voted by religion in 2004 compared to how we voted in 2000:

Protestants:
2000: Bush: 55%; Gore: 43%
2004: Bush: 59%; Kerry: 40%

Evangelicals:
2000: Bush: 79%; Gore: 19%
2004: Bush: 78%; Kerry: 21%

Catholics:
2000: Bush: 46%; Gore: 50%
2004: Bush: 52%; Kerry: 47%

Jews:
2000: Bush: 17%; Gore: 81%
2004: Bush: 25%; Kerry: 74%

Other Faiths:
2000: Bush: 33%; Gore: 54%
2004: Bush: 23%; Kerry: 74%

Agnostics/Atheists:
2000: Bush: 28%; Kerry: 61%
2004: Bush: 31%; Kerry: 67%

So, yes, religion is not only a factor in how people think and vote, it practically decides it. I don't know how to talk to those who honestly believe God endorsed Bush this year, but what I do know is that what the Dems need to win in '08 in a self-righteous, holier-than-thou, vote-for-me-or-go-to-hell (literally) religious fundie far Right of any sensible Republican. Sort of like an über-religious, über-rightwing Nader. That would be sweet beyond sweet.

Unfortunately it's foreseeable response to the tremendous jumps in science. The simple fact is that Christians are getting their butts kicked in philosophy due to the continuing success empiricism and its other branches of thought; so fundamentalism is the response. Furthermore with the tremendous amount of confusion in these times, fundamentalism is an easy thing to jump onto to try and numb your mind from the chaos that is the present world; can you say opiate of the masses. What many fundamentalist fail to realize is that by trying to take up the battle in the empirical world they are continually wearing away at their own religion and will ultimately dig their own graves. Im looking forward to that day.

Yeah. Nowadays it seems like some people are too conservative.