So, there’s Mitt* and I’ve lost track of how many others. Anyway, bye-bye Michelle. Probably the repug (yes, I meant that) that I liked the least. One of these days a human being at the female end of the gender spectrum will have what it takes to serve as the president of the United Snakes. Alas, not this time around.

As an independent voter, I can’t say I am crazy about any of the repugs. But that is largely because the Grand Old Party has moved waaaaayyyy to the right of me. As a pro-choice human being at the female end of the gender spectrum, I could babble incoherently for the next week about the social issues involved. But I won’t, at least not tonight. I am pretty sure that not all of my five readers agree with me and that doesn’t mean they are bad people. It just means we don’t agree.

What is bugging me more than ever (and it’s been bugging me for a long time) is why it seems to be so important to proclaim your faith in God and participate as a member of an organized [Christian] religion to be taken seriously as a presidential candidate. In the first place, I think there are plenty of folks of other religions (or no religion) who might qualify. Islam (for example) may be the religion “everyone” in the western world hates these days but not every Islamic person is Osama bin Laden.

I suppose the best description of me when it comes to religion is Christian. I grew up going to Sunday School (and sometimes church if I was forced to (I spent my time looking at the patterns in the carpet mostly)) at the Central United Methodist Church in Sault Ste. Siberia. I am a confirmed member of that church. And yet one of my lots in life has been large Catholic families. The families I grew up with on Fin Family Moominbeach prepared me pretty well for marrying into a beloved large Catholic family. The GG and I have never been involved in any religion in our adult lives and our kids are un-baptized heathens or whatever. But they’ve turned out to be very wonderful, compassionate people who care about others. I think that’s what religion is all about. Or do I have it wrong?

The thing is, I don’t know that belonging to any particular religion gives a person an automatic ticket to morality. To me, it’s more than just reciting bible books and verses and listening to long boring sermons and whatnot. It is living your life in a way where you try to take care of your own responsibilities and, when you have a little bit more than some others, you help them if you can. There are hypocrites not to mention sexual offenders in our churches just as there are everywhere else. Why does belonging to a church make someone presidential material?

* If I were still a kid, I would prob’ly vote for Mitt. Why? My grandparents were acquainted with his father, Michigan governor George Romney. And my uncle Austin also, because he was the director of the Michigan DNR. But that was yesterday, and yesterday’s go-o-o-one.

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