Far too often in America today politicians troll for votes by bragging about their religious faith (and some even claim that god told them to run for office). This is not an unusual or even a new thing. People have been using religion for thousands of years to justify their actions -- even when those actions are selfish or evil. We must continually remind ourselves that just because a person claims to be following a religion (or god's wishes) does not mean his/her actions are good or even moral. Both good and evil people can claim to be godly, which is why we must separate religion from politics and judge each politician by their actions (or inaction) -- not their claim to have the support of any god.
I agree with the thrust of your argument and the photograph of Hitler adds an ironic flavour given that, despite what he said in public, in private he detested the Churches, both Protestant and RC and only held back from outright persecution because he did not want to outrage German public opinion.
ReplyDeleteHowever, here is an example of a politician's *private* religiosity, enacted in *private*, which casts a rather different view of the man, if not the politician:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.brutallyhonest.org/brutally_honest/2011/11/what-kind-of-man-is-george-w-bush.html