Dear Americans.....

[Charlotte Smith]

  Up until now, we have had a Catholic/ Christian president. How would you feel if we had a mormon(sp?) president?? Just wondering what you would think about that.

[Abreo]

Mormon? Not too fond of the Mormon church either. They sort of made the boy scouts stupider and generally oppose things I'm okay with so unless our Mormon president is a bad Mormon or every other candidate is threatening to nuke the moon if elected I probably won't vote a Mormon in. 

Some people say religious beliefs shouldn't matter but they kind of do. It's hard to say every Mormon (for example) is going to oppose things I want to legalize because we live in a world where people often deviate at least a little bit from the labels they apply to themselves but if they do follow the Mormon Church I generally won't support them.

Just to emphasize an point though, Ron Paul is running for president as a Republican but he isn't a conservative as much as he is a libertarian since he doesn't support the government regulating social-morality. Labels are helpful but individuals are generally more complex than their labels would imply. 

Theoretically though I could care less about a Wannabe-President's religious identification and more about their political opinions, work-ethic, ability to speak (it is actually important), ability to lead (reluctantly mind you) and charming characteristics (once again, actually important).

[Julia Chapman]

Religious beliefs matter greatly, because the religion to which you belong affects your outlook on life. You (I assume, maybe, possibly, from your other posts but if not so sorry) are an atheist, and you definitely believe different things than I do as a Catholic. 

[Abreo]

Exactly! It bothers me so much when someone says "religious preferences shouldn't matter" when they're speaking about something like this.

Yeah, they only define a person. Not entirely of course, but I would be a different person if I was a Muslim or a Christian. It would affect all of my philosophical ideas and many of my mannerisms.

[Crimefridge]

Mormons? More lunatics in religious fervor? I'll take a scientist.

[Wayne Dirac]

There have been some pretty significant mormon scientists. See Harvey Fletcher and Henry Eyring.

[Alix Laya]

I don't really focus on the religion of the president too much unless I am writing a paper on him.  To me, the election is about policies and politics.  I don't know enough about the Mormon religion to know if a Mormon candidate would be bad, but it would shine through to their policies and politics.

[Contradiction]

I'll admit that everything I know about Mormonism comes from a combination of stand-up comedy and the Book of Mormon soundtrack (which I do take with a grain of salt, but yes, that's all I know).

I do not think it would necessarily be a bad thing. I think Romney would make a bad president, but that has nothing to do with his religion.

It's not like he/she could start banning things that his/her religion bans - first of all, because every president wants a second term; and secondly because he/she still would have to work through a Christian legislature and (I think) judiciary. I'm fairly certain that it really wouldn't make too big of an impact on how the office was run.

[Wayne Dirac]

Harry Reid, the current majority leader in the Senate, is an active Mormon. There have already been many LDS people in presidential cabinets including Terrel Bel, Ezra Taft Benson, and J. Reuban Clark. U.S. Treasurer Angela Buchanan is LDS. There are many senators and representatives who are LDS as well as governors, mayors, and city council members. Like it or not members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have been involved with the politics of America for a long time. An LDS president would not be worse than any other religiously affiliated president. 

[Angel Navarro]

I personally think a religion has nothing to do with solving out countries economy.

It's just a belief and I don't think it affects anything dramatically.

I don't really care.

[Johanna]

Aren't catholics and mormons also christians? I think you're looking for the word protestant.

[Jackalope Joe D'Antonio]

protestant is also christian, in fact the sects of protestant are why not all christian's are the same. Mormonism is a cult not recognized by any church as Christianity. 

[Wayne Dirac]

There are thousands of churches that recognize mormonism as Christianity. Way to pass on intolerant lies.