Should the religious belief of a political candidate have an effect on your voting choice?
I believe that it should, at least to a certain extent.
Having a religious background, in most cases, shows voters that you have solid morals and a firm idea of where they stand on issues. They will not always be the same stances, but they've decided what they view to be right and wrong and will probably not vary much from that viewpoint.
Having no religious background as a politician scares me quite a bit. We, as voters, do not know how firm your decisions are on issues, and what worldly thing may cause you to change your mind on an issue. If someone offers to pay you to vote one way on an issue that you've told voters you strongly feel the the other way about, how can the voters know that you would not cave under that pressure. Please don't infer that I'm implying that politicians with a religious background would always be able to withstand this pressure entirely either. But, I believe religious backgrounds help to give voters confidence in the stability of the candidate.
Is there a difference between having a Christian religious background and having a background of another faith?
Again, I believe the answer is yes, to a certain extent. It would scare me greatly were we to have a Muslim president. There are several groups within the Muslim faith that have outwardly expressed their desire to take over the world. Their government is based on their religion. They feel they must spread their religion around the world, and have begun mass migrations, and large numbers of newborns to increase their numbers within countries such as Great Britain and America. I do not believe that this is the intent of all Muslims, but there are several very large radical groups, whose point is to do this. If we had a Muslim President, I can honestly say I may leave the country. Their religious background is not one that I believe provides the solid foundation that voters are looking for behind their political candidates.
Please know that I understand that some of the generalities I made, are just that - generalities. I know of a contradiction or two personally to some of the things that I've expressed, but it's interesting to think about. How would you feel about a political candidate that was an athiest? Would you respect them and give them your vote? How would you feel about a Muslim political candidate? Would you research their religion, to see what type of background they may have? or would you just claim diversity and allow them to win your vote anyways?
Honestly, if they subscribed to a certain religion, but they did not and never had made it a big deal, or a large influence in their political decision-making process, I wouldn't care what religion they were. It's when politicians flaunt their religion (which only happens in America, btw) that scares me. Our politicians are supposed to decide for the public good, and of course they are going to use their experiences and knowledge in their decision-making process, but I think overwhelmingly that too many politicians these days make decisions purely on what their religion dictates. They're supposed to be deciding what's best for ALL of their constituents, and what's best for a Christian may not be what's best for an agnostic, or what's best for a Jew may not be what's best for Buddhist.