Does a US President have to be a Christian?

The US Constitution is very important to most Americans and is the basis for countless discussions on many things such as the right to a gun or freedom of speech.

The First Amendment's Establishment Clause prohibits the government from making any law "respecting an establishment of religion." This clause not only forbids the government from establishing an official religion, but also prohibits government actions that unduly favor one religion over another. It also prohibits the government from unduly preferring religion over non-religion, or non-religion over religion.

Of course, this constitutional amendment was and is often misused criminally ... according to the motto "call it religion and you are protected by the constitution"! Whether it will work that way in reality is an open question and a discussion about it is endless ... therefore not an issue here.

Just ... what about freedom of religion in practice in the USA?
On the normal citizen-to-citizen level, religious affiliation may be important here and there, but mostly it doesn’t matter if the neighbor is Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist or whatever.

But what about politics then? Does religion affiliation play a role for a mayor, MP, governor, senator ... up to the President of the United States?
Almost all of the presidents can be characterized as Christian, at least by upbringing, though some were unaffiliated with any specific religious body. Protestants predominate, with Episcopalians and Presbyterians being the most prevalent. The United States has had one Catholic president (Kennedy). There have been four Nontrinitarian presidents. No president has openly identified as atheist.

This gives me the legitimate and serious question of whether a US president has to be a Christian with a view to freedom of religion according to the US constitution!
If yes why? ... also if not, why?

Of course I don't live in a pink fairy tale world and I am aware of the actual realities ... just aren't they in contradiction to the US Constitution?

 

I voted "No" because I don't believe it matters. The primary reason is I don't really care about anything unrelated to the ability to do the job. Labor laws dictate that it's illegal to discriminate against an applicant or employee for their religious affiliation. Why wouldn't that extend to anyone in public office? I believe it should.

 

They only have to say they are Christian....whether they are or not only they know....

There may have been atheists Presidents....no one knows...

It is pretty silly to think they must be since most of them hardly lived a "Christian" life...but that is what gets them elected...

They could be good decent honorable but if they say they're an atheist they will not win...….common sense does not prevail..

 

I doubt "Two Corinthians" and "Why do I have to repent or ask for forgiveness" Trump is a Christian. Frankly, so do most honest Christians.

There is no legal requirement to be a Christian, and legally there can't be, but every serious candidate is going to pretend to be one in order to avoid losing votes.

 

I heard once a news broadcast that some voters didn't vote for Bernie Sanders because he wasn't a Christian, I think he's a Jew, and those we democrat voters.

 

When it comes to politics, as a Christian I'll take a Satanist that respects individual liberty over a collectivist Christian every time. Though there don't seem to be many of either...

 

I don't care if Satan himself ran for president, as long as he doesn't believe in the New Green Deal, its allllllllll goooood

 

Our constitution doesnt limit the president to only Christians....so I'm not sure what your post is relating. People vote for those who share their values.

 

Yeah the thrust of the OP seems to imply there is some hidden constitutional requirement that the President be Christian. That is solely up to the voters. Lieberman was the VP candidate in 2000 and he was Jewish, and Romney ran for President in 2012, although some may regard Mormons as a type of Christian, the seem mostly outside the Christian mainstream. As Christianity declines in importance in the US, it will become a less relevant part of a candidate's bio.

 

Poof - Satan grants your wish ...

 

There is no US constitutional requirement to be a Christian. I still think Romney lost because he is a Mormon and Mormons are more of a fringe cult of Christianity. Americans don’t want to be ruled from Kolob

Nixon chose Quakerism for some reason and I don’t think Trump practices any faith.

 

As a German, Mandelus, you have been used to being in a political/religious environment that is both Roman Catholic and Lutheran (Evangelische Kirche). From what I remember, the ratio is/was about 50%-50%. And, the last time I checked, Germans who are active church members still must pay a Kirchensteuer (church tax)....

Over here, yes, many rejected John Kennedy because he was Roman Catholic, but that was WAY back in 1960, and everything has changed since then. Example: in 2012, Republicans nominated for the presidency Mitt Romney, a member of the Church of Latter-Day Saints (Mormon), a thing that probably would have been unthinkable not so long ago.

Our Constitution forbids the establishment of an 'official' national religion, and that's a good thing. Some think that the Constitution forbids government having any ties to any religion at all, and that is simply NOT true.

Here's the relevant portion, in the First Amendment (my emphasis added):
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...."

 

In my opinion Mormons are definitely Christian.... and I heard the theory from several sources that Romney would have won in 2012 were it not for George Soros voting machines..... and other types of voter fraud.

If a Presidential candidate came right out and admitted that they are an Atheist.... they would lose a significant percentage of votes in the USA election.


I promoted Dannion Brinkley for President a few years ago....and he would not fit in very well with any church that I know of but..... he has done more than thirty thousand hours of visiting veterans in the last weeks and days of their lives to tell them about his near death experience.... and to just be with them at that critical time.


If Dannion Brinkley's campaign gains momentum.... the G.O.P. can be reformed!

 

Correct ...
Your constitution doesn't say that a US president has to be a Christian, but ... why has every US president so far been a Christian, at least according to his own statement, and never of any other religion?
Of course, the values are ultimately the most important point ... but does religion of a candidat also belong to these values at least?

And why are / were all US Presidents at least Christians according to their own statement?
And even if Christian ... the only catholic one was Kennedy and there were at his time once much discussion in US society if he then is not under control of a foreign power = the pope in Rome due to be catholic!

Anyway ... "God bless America", "God bless you", "God bless whon and whatever" is much told in the USA and I can't remember any President who doesn't chose these wordings in his speech. Can you imagine a US President telling "Allah bless America" instead, because he is Muslim or "Vishnu bless America" because being Hindu and not Christian?
Sounds strange, I know ... but due to freedom of religion it will be OK, but in reality too?

 

Right ... the core word is secularism, i.e. the separation of state and church / religion. Anything other than that is wrong and unacceptable.
But let's be honest ... as already written in my answer to another member of the forum: Can you imagine that a US president does not end his speech with "God bless America" but with "Vishnu bless America"?
Even this "God bless America / God bless you" is actually already in a gray area with regard to OK or not OK if you take it very carefully with regard to secularism. Does this also mean that a US president generally has to be neutral in all religious matters?

 

Correct! If a candidate is not even ... let me say "playing" the Christian in election campaign, he can forget to get any votes from deep or more religious Christians, for example from the so called "Bible Belt" in the USA.
So ... isn't there at least a hidden requirement existing that a US President must be Christian?

 

nope, some say Trump is not a Christian, other say he is the chosen one.... but it doesn't matter one way or the other

 

yet, they would vote for a man that paid off strippers, committed adultery, divorced and remarried many times

 

Good point ... but:

Most of the "white" Christians in the USA belong to one of the various branches of Protestantism, e.g. the Presbyterian. And with most branches of Protestantism, divorce and remarriage are OK and legal.

 

Who is an example of a good choice for US president in your opinion?

 

It took me a while to decide but I finally went with this response because...... it seems to me that any Presidential candidate who does not identify as Christian... .will lose the election. Legally and technically a Presidential candidate does not have to be a Christian... but they will fatally shoot themselves in the foot..... .if they are actually of another religion and admit to that fact publicly.

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Yes, every US President has to be a Christian

 

Obama was a good President imo

but has nothing to do with him being Christian or not

good people can be Christians, not all Christians are good people

 

I'm not sure I understand your surprise. Wasn't Angela Merkel raised a Lutheran? Aren't most leaders of Western nations either identified with some branch of Christianity or raised in it?

 

Sadly I can’t think of a good US president in my lifetime. The first Bush/Clinton era was the best.
Reagan was clearly suffering from dementia so it’s hard to judge him. I think both Carter and Obama were hopelessly naive. Before that probably Truman but that was long before my time.

 

"Obama was a good President imo"

In what possible way can you measure that?