Quote:
Originally Posted by Thor
I can't wait till a day comes that this question of religion for a candidate isn't important to the voter.
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It's not really just about 'religion' though in some secluded, isolated sense. I think Canadians would be fine with a Zen Buddhist for a PM. I don't really think they would be all that inclined to vote for a bearded Pakistani-Canadian to be PM, though they'd probably be fine with him being an MP. Or a woman in a hijab to be a party leader or a significant presence in Canadian politics.
The issue is that there is a lot of political volatility and questions of loyalty attached to issues of religion. I'm not inclined to vote for certain sorts of Christians because of biases I believe will affect their job performance. I'm also not likely to vote for a Muslim candidate who is very vocal and expressive and serious about practicing his religion. I have read the Quran, I have read much of the hadith. I know what Islam is about. It has its positives like many ideologies, but also poses a worldview that is not remotely similar to mine. A practicing Muslim cannot acknowledge being gay, cannot support gay rights. Cannot support certain aspects of women's rights. Cannot support even my right to bang chicks pre-marriage without being flogged. A practicing Muslim cannot do any of this without directly opposing the word of God, which is unthinkable to most Muslims.
Of course the relevance in America is more religious-minded and rooted in ethnic tensions than practical in nature than it is here. But religion will never cease to matter in politics, for several reasons, until religion ceases to exist, which is unlikely. I also don't really buy that we've progressed THAT much in Canada. I doubt we'll be seeing non-white party leaders for some time.