My problem with religion and religious leaders is twofold.
I will first preface this by saying that anyone can be a great leader. It doesn't matter what ideology someone subscribes to. However, there are two glaring problems that I see here:
1) Religion was developed as a means of controlling the populace. It was the first crime-stopping force. It was not developed by any government (for the most part) but by the people and groups of people who came together and eventually became a kind of governing entity, which collected taxes (tithing) and provided social benefits to its members who stayed in line. Although religion was developed by numerous people, it is lead by very few powerful religious elites. Throughout time, history has shown numerous precedents of people using religion in harmful ways. The crusades, Jihad, Benny Hinn, Ireland, mormon and fundamentalist cults allowing pedophelia, mass suicides (murder) etc etc.
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Now I'm not saying that all religious people are bad, or that Sarah Palin is bad. I'm just saying that I don't trust people who are in a position of power who also claim strong religious ties. It is too deadly a combination. Let the religious elite control religion and let the politicians control politics and government. The reason being that it is far too easy to turn sway public opinion through religion. Want to go to war but the people will be against it? Just subtly throw it in there that this is part of "a bigger plan (for us)"- "killing good Christian Americans" - etcetc.
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Secondly, I don't trust religious people because they pick and choose what to abide by and what not to abide by. For instance, the Bible says that you can't tattoo your body or deface it in any way. The Bible also says to give tithing to the holy people, and that church is the least effective way of servitude. In many places in the Bible, the church is almost outright condemned. It's just a corrupt system entirely.
