With the 2012 elections right around the corner, the American public is about to make a decision on the next leader of the free world. People look at the candidate’s platforms and then usually vote accordingly; however there is one issue that always seems to stir up a lot of emotion and controversy, religion.  I think too many people in the United States let religion over shadow more pressing matters such as the national debt and foreign wars.
Take candidate Romney for instance. He is a Mormon and when he became the front-runner in the GOP nomination race, polling groups were actually examining if people would vote for him based off of his religious views. Does this not strike anyone as somewhat backward?  The same thing was being done when President Obama was running for office in 2008. The media focused on his church rather than his platform for quite some time before the election. I think religion has absolutely no place in government whatsoever, especially when it comes to the presidency. A candidate like Rick Santorum is a prime example of a candidate who let religion dictate political doctrine and at one point won a few of the GOP primaries. The last time I checked, the United States Constitution states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”  If Romney is a good Mormon, that’s fantastic. If Obama is a good Christian, that’s wonderful, but how in the world are they going to fix the unemployment rate?
When voting this fall, do not get wrapped up in something as frivolous as the religion of a candidate because, regardless of your religious views, not everyone will agree. Instead, vote for who you think will implement the best policies to get people back to work, improve education, cut the national debt and tackle a slew of other issues.  I amnot trying to attack religion; in fact I think religion as a whole preaches very important values that we should all try to follow.
The religion a president or a candidate chooses to practice has no significant influence on my vote for them. Who and how they practice their religion is a personal issue for their families and themselves.
Religion should not be the determining factorfor your vote in the upcoming election, choose the person who you think will best lead the country and get us back on our feet.