Tag: 2012 Presidential Election

November 13, 2012
created image of a Secular Vote logo

President Obama carried Religiously Unaffiliated voters 70% to Mitt Romney’s 26% according to a report from The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life exit poll data of the 2012 election. Although the President’s percentage was lower than in 2008, it still continued a trend of the nones supporting the Democratic candidates. The exit poll numbers were larger than a similar election poll in September when the President held a 65 to 27 lead on Romney.

November 8, 2012
created image with text 2012 US Election

The big news is that President Barrack Obama won a 2nd term as President. Three states voted to allow same sex marriage. Florida’s Amendment 8 went down to defeat but the only publicly known atheist serving in the Congress lost his race. For those of us who support church and state separation, the 2012 election turned out to be a mixed bag but better than if Mitt Romney had won.

November 6, 2012
image of Exterior view of a Church used as polling location, showing a anti-abortion sign
Exterior view of a Church used as polling location, showing a anti-abortion sign

While checking out my hometown newspaper Monday I found a listing of the voting locations for the Presidential election on Tuesday November 6th. The thing that bothered me is a majority of the voting locations are located in churches. Back when I was a kid the majority were in schools. I can understand why they don’t have them in the schools today but having them in churches is not a good idea either for a government based on secular principles.

October 12, 2012
image of VP Joe Biden & Rep. Paul Ryan
VP Joe Biden & Rep. Paul Ryan

Thursday nights Vice Presidential debate between current VP Joe Biden and GOP nominee Rep. Paul Ryan contained topics from domestic issues and foreign affairs. Toward the end of the night debate moderator Martha Raddatz asked, since both men are of the Catholic faith, about abortion. Each man’s answer drew a sharp contrast on the relationship between faith and public policy. I thought Vice President Biden had the correct view.

This is from a transcript hosted by the website Plunderbund but I did view the debate and vouch for the text in this transcript:

September 15, 2012
image of FRC logo with Hate Group written on it

I’ve written before about the Values Voters Summit, which is sponsored by the hate group Family Research Council (FRC). I really don’t want to waste energy on their hate but I feel an informed voter is a defender of democracy and hate groups like FRC shouldn’t be allowed to fly under the radar. FRC isn’t just a group with different ideas, their ideas are the polar opposite of this country’s values of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I don’t like to write these strong words but the Family Research Council’s goals are no different than the goals of the Taliban in Afghanistan. People need to know the truth and need to know about the people who consort with the kind of sedition the FRC calls for in their words and deeds. Voters need to know that people like Republican Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan believes that one’s Christian religious beliefs should trump the US Constitution.

August 25, 2012
image of Mitt Romney
The 1st amendment won’t allow me to id this guy

Both Mitt Romney and President Obama gave lengthy interviews to the National Cathedral’s magazine, “Cathedral Age”. I believe that we live in a secular republic where the government ought to be religiously neutral. There is no religious test to hold office but this interview did gives us a case study in Christian privilege that some like Mitt Romney believe they deserve. While he tore into the wall between church and state, in another interview he tried to use his religion as an excuse not to reveal his tax returns.