Strip the Catholic Church of their tax exemption.

Merry
Maybe I was not clear enough. I said I would not vote for a devout catholic. One who would follow the dictates of the man in the Vatican not those of the US citizenry.
PS. I voted for kennedy also.

I don't care if a presidential candidate is a devout anything. The important thing for me is that the person has clear boundries, and adheres to the Constitution. For me, a presidential candidate needs to follow the Constitution, even if certain parts of it goes against his faith. His first loyalty needs to be to the US, and not his religion. If his religion comes first, he has no business being president.

Well said, Phoenix. I doubt that a presidential candidate could even get to the position of being a candidate if it was apparent that he/she would put prcedence on orders from the Vatican over orders from the constituency. But, again, we're off-topic on the taxation question.

I suppose we need to come up with a test for the devoutness of a candidate.

I don't know of any candidate in history that ever took orders from his or her religion. Bush has certainly pissed off the Religious right on several occasions. Historically Kennedy pissed off the Vatican, and there is no question but that Nixon pissed off the Quakers (yes Nixon was a Quaker).

Any candidate comes with a set of his or her beliefs, values and priorities. That's democracy.

If a candidate has a set of values that I disagree with, she will not get my vote. I would suggest you do the same.

I agree with the principle that someone should not be excluded from any aspect of public life because of his or her religion.

Of course, you can use your vote any way you would like.

Would this not occur if church income was taxed?



(leaving aside questioning the veracity of these claims) Would this not occur if church income was taxed?

I posit that if church income was taxed then neither of these aspects would be changed in the least. Ergo, that argument is irrelevant.