Science fiction author Elizabeth Moon has written a very incisive and
insightful essay about why religious zealots should not hold office.
URL at end.
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"But there are beliefs which, legal in themselves under this
protection, unfit someone for public office, especially at the
national level. Anyone who sincerely believes that he or she is
commanded by their deity to convert others, or impose on others their
beliefs and practices, to appeal to or quote their religion's
scriptures, runs into a problem the moment he or she is elected to
public office, or is appointed as a judge or an officer in the
military. These positions require one to swear, under oath, that the
candidate will "uphold and defend" the Constitution of the United
States. That Constitution includes the proviso that no religion will
be established by the state, that no religion will be privileged over
another. And if someone thinks the Constitution is wrong in so
saying--believes that his/her religion requires trying to force the
nation to behave according to one religion's rules--then that person
cannot take that oath of office honestly.
Note well: that belief is legal--within the private sector. But it
is incompatible with the duty to uphold the Constitution. The
individual who holds such a belief must either choose not to take
that oath--not to run for office, not to become a military officer,
not to become a judge--or choose to lie, to say the words but intend
to undermine the Constitution he or she has just sworn to uphold."
http://e-moon60.livejournal.com/62963.html
