Mostly lost in the discourse about the Richard Mourdock's comments about God and rape is a larger point that I would like to see brought out more often: If you believe in God, it is not surprising if that belief sometimes shapes your political opinions. This is inevitable, and not a problem. However, your personal religious beliefs should have no bearing -- zero, none whatsoever -- on the public discussion of a political issue, and to raise them as a reason to support a point of view in the political arena is absolutely inappropriate.
More after the break.
First, I do not believe in God or anything that you would call religion. I'm not sure why that matters. It doesn't. But there you go.
More to the point, let's say you think gays should be allowed to marry, because Jesus taught us to care about other people. Good for you!. I hope you live in Washington and will vote (better, already voted!) for Referendum 74. But when you say, "We should pass a law that allows gays to marry because " it's what Jesus would want," you have crossed a line that should not be crossed. Now you are saying that based on your religious beliefs, based on your personal interpretation of the teachings of your particular church, everyone should be legally bound to a particular path.
It's not only, or even foremost, that this thinking runs afoul of the Constitution. It is the worst kind of tyranny, forcing your religious beliefs onto other people who may not share them. It's just so wrong. You understand that, right?
As a corollary, if you do want to make an argument in favor of some political view, and all you have is "It's God's will," or anything similar, you don't have anything at all. If you can't frame your arguments in terms of benefit to society, including people who have no stake whatsoever in your religion, you really need to stop and reconsider jumping into the political discourse.
And yet, political leaders and pundits make these kinds of comments way too often, and we hardly notice, and we just move on. And it is just so wrong.