This weekend a family friend was telling me an interesting story about a religious pamphlet she was mailed from a local church. This pamphlet was full of instructions and suggestions for how the members of its congregation should vote. This struck me as odd: should this really be allowed to happen? I dont think so. This in my opinion undermines the democratic structure of the election. While it is perfectly fine and necessary to provide varied view points and differing ideas, it just seems wrong to attempt to coerce people into voting for one candidate because your church suggests it. Due to the issues at hand regarding abortion and stem cell research the pamphlet took a decidedly conservative stance, which was no suprise to me. According to Publiceye.org, a study conducted in 2000 showed that 79% of people who classified themselves as members of the "Christian Right" voted for Bush and that 14% of the electorate was composed of this supposed "Chrisitian Right". Due to the size of this religious demographic, the role of religion in politics is increasingly important for the candidates.
Another bone I have to pick with this is that it ignores what are, in my mind at least, the biggest issues on the table for America in this election. While abortion and stem cell research are important hot button topics for candidates, it would appear that national security, the economy, the Iraq War and the environment are all issues that should be paid the most attention to, yet were naively excluded from this pamphlet. While pamphlets of this nature are virtually unavoidable, I just "pray" that people can see past the alter and remember that regardless of what their church's pamphlet says about McCain, stem cell research and abortion, there are other issues that deserve serious attention.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment