Today, Mitt Romney said, "I am running for president as an American, not a Mormon. I don't think someone should be rejected [from office] because of his faith." This got me thinking -- what should be our criteria be for a president, on a general level? Let's group the requirements into three categories: mind, body, and spirit. Body immediately fades from view; it makes no difference whether my president is a gold-medaling weightlifter or a paralytic FDR. What matters are mind and spirit, and some would discard the latter. But I vouch that both are equally important for a president. He could be a completely righteous man and make a terrible president. In the same way, a quick-witted, smart, eloquent person could be equally bad. After all, Hitler was a genius. Jesus said, "If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge . . . but have not love, I am nothing." Sorry Mitt, a good leader pairs their mind with their faith.
On a different note (but not too different, only a half a step down or up), I don't see any benefit in separating church from state. After all, their goals go hand in hand. The US government guarantees the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The goal of the church is to look out for peoples' souls. But how can we have life if our souls are condemned to eternal death? How can we have liberty while enslaved to sin? How can we be happy if our souls our separated from Christ. Church and state will always intermingle, despite the efforts of men who would remove God. What some people really want is the separation of spirituality and state. But this is also impossible. Even if we separate Christianity from the government, we can only replace it with another spirit.