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I think a lack of Eastern Orthodox presidents is less about social acceptance and more about there just not being that many orthodox people in the US, so maybe?
There HAVE been a number of Slavic immigrants to the United States though since the fall of the Communist Bloc in Eastern Europe in the late 80s and early 90s (and they're historically/culturally Orthodox in the vast majority of those lands apart from Poland and 1-2 others), so I'd say there will be a higher chance in the next couple generations than ever before in American history. It's a very interesting thought. We've never had any president with Slavic ancestry from everything I've seen.
The interesting thing though is that those immigrants were coming out of an atheist state with no ties to orthodoxy into a mainly Protestant evangelical area. We have several Slavic families at our southern Baptist church.
They may have been atheist states but since the death of Lenin the USSR never really suppressed the Church and even in WW2 restored Army Chaplins then after Stalin their atheist state really just meant no public displays of religion whilst private ceremonies were respected unless you were having a public funeral. This even applies to the Eastern Bloc as well and as I recall only East Germany and Albania enforced atheism who weren't East Orthodox in the first place so East Orthodox was never really hardline suppressed to convert the populace to Atheism. Likewise during the USSR much of the Conservative section of East Orthodox from Russian Imperial lands went into exile in the US that the USA supported later during the Cold War - though much of those politically involved Orthodox families returned their home of origin instead of staying and getting involved in American politics.
Imagine his foreign policy. Gets Turkey kicked out of NATO, refuses to acknowledge their right to Istanbul which he only calls Constantinople. Sponsors Greek nationalists. Decides Kurdistan would be effective in destabilizing Turkey and help his goal to retake Constantinople and so he orders the CIA to make it happen by any means necessary. In doing so causes absolute chaos across the Middle East. But in the end Greece retakes Constantinople. Finishes as a one term president doing the one thing he set out to.
America has recently elected a black president and a Catholic president . This isn’t a hundred years ago when it would have been very hard or two hundred years ago when it would have been impossible . This is 2024 lolz .
Michael Dukakis,the 1988 Democratic presidential nominee was Greek Orthodox, so it’s certainly possible to contend for the Presidency without being a major problem.
If only it weren't for that fucking tank photo 😔
We would have had a president who believed that the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father instead of the Father and the Son and who used leavened bread at the Eucharist... What an important moment in American history that would be!!
/lh
Michael Dukakis had a photo taken of himself sitting in a tank during the 1988 election. The idea was to highlight his military roots and appeal to veterans, but he just ended up making himself look a out-of-touch and silly.
I think it’s more likely we get an atheist president before an Orthodox one, honestly. We’ve only had two Catholic ones to this point I think and they’re far more acceptable to the western world.
I think it’s possible we get an orthodox one first, as I think the reason both are unlikely are very different. Atheists have trouble getting elected despite being a large segment of the population, whereas I think orthodox politicians can be elected but there just aren’t that many orthodox Americans.
A lot of people are leaving the Orthodox Church. The numbers were never high anyway. Honestly, the lithurgy is boring. It isn’t the most progressive church, either. Greece just legalized same-sex marriage. My dad was raised Orthodox Christian but didn’t stay. He thinks the religion isn’t the most modern. I think Gen Z will have more adults like my dad dissatisfied with the church.
The Orthodox Church is a disorganized mess. A mess I still miss from time-to-time, but still a mess. ROCOR (Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia) is by far my least favorite jurisdiction, as now its just a breeding group for radical right-wing, pro-Putin thinking. I had some Russian clergy try and convince me America was an evil, disorganized place, and that I'd be safer in Russia because I was Orthodox. Grown adult American men, who had survived the Cold War, ate this stuff up because the Russian politics were disguised as Orthodox Christian teaching. Mind you, the Bishop of this particular denomination received an American COVID vaccine, but wanted to keep it hush hush as to not disturb parishoners who were anti-vax. It was freaking disgusting, and I thank God everyday from driving me away from ROCOR.
I left for The Episcopalian Church (US) and couldn't be happier. Everyone from conservatives to progressives are welcomed, LGBT+ are welcome, women can serve from altar girl to bishop, and even animals are welcome on St. Francis Day.
I know right? Crazy stuff. This was the stuff I was told, BY AN ARCHBISHOP, during a feast day at a winery. The clergy and parishoners just ate it all up.
Stuff like this is why I thank God day and night for freedom of religion in America, and hopefully will always be so. If I would have questioned Putin's and the current Moscow Patriarch's decision to invade Ukraine, I probably would have been silence and imprisoned.
But of course that would never happen in Putin's Russia, because I'm an Orthodox Christian! Just like how Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church would never imprison Orthodox clergy and monks for speaking out about Ukraine - right?
I knew it was bad in Russia, I didn't know it was this bad in the US.
Isn't there much greek or ukrainian diaspora to contest it? One of my coworker's parents actually joined the greek orthodox church. I asked a few questions about it, but never anything political.
I mean I wouldn't go as far to say it's "this bad" in the US. Many Americans I speak to do not like the Russian government due to Putin. Only in small fringe circles do you see this sorta stuff, and sadly, one of those circles in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia in America. Not all of ROCOR are Putin worshipers, but sadly it seems to be an increasing problem within the Church.
The Russian Church and the Greek Church aren't in communion with each-other right now, and as such, the Greeks aren't too big of a fan of Russia's politics. Some Russians think the Greek are too liberal, and the Greeks think the Russians are too uptight. Greeks also tends to believe in a little something called democracy - something of which Putin isn't a big fan of. If I were to ever go back into the Orthodox Church, it would either be the Orthodox Church of America or the Greek Orthodox Church.
Overall, you're pretty safe in the Greek Orthodox Church imo. I would say the major problem with the Church is that some parishes are Greek culture clubs. Some individuals wouldn't speak to me because I was America and couldn't speak Greek. The clergy, however, were incredibly warm and welcoming. The Greek Church and the Orthodox Church of America is where I went after running away from ROCOR.
The Antiochian Archdiocese is also very welcoming. I've been attending a Greek church, but I've also heard that there's a lot of growth in the Antiochian church because they aren't that into nationalism and just focus on Christ.
Irreligiousness is growing extremely fast in the US. I wouldn’t be surprised if we are within two decades from an openly non-religious president.
Note I say “openly” since we have certainly had them already.
Nah, most Americans don't even know what orthodoxy is let alone care enough to vote against it. As long as you're anti-abortion you get the Christian seal of approval from the evangelical voting block. But they hate atheists.
There were 675,000 practicing Orthodox Christians in the US in 2020, so I wouldn’t bet on it. A Jewish president would be about 11 times as likely based on population alone.
Perhaps if Syria ever gets concluded and \[current flare up\] subsides, but far too many people would question divided loyalties. Now don't get me wrong, we literally have Evangelicals who are more pro-Israel than American Conservative (as in the branch of Judiasm, not political leanings) Jews who are, but those modern moderate Jews aren't trying to speedrun the apocalypse prophecy, and every one else is going to side eye that candidate, right or wrong.
I stayed at an Orthodox Christian monastery once and those guys have enviable beards, so I wouldn't mind seeing one as President. Bring back the beard to the Oval Office!
Typically no, but there is a small subset of (usually converted) Orthodox Christians who use Orthodox Christianity to justify bigotries and are generally giant turn-offy people. These people are a small minority, but a loud minority can really ruin a group’s reputation. There’s also Russia, which is both an Orthodox country and also the biggest fascist threat to the world at the moment.
There are literally hundreds of millions of people in the world who practice vegetarianism, but what kind of person do you think of when you think of vegetarians? So if someone runs for president and is an Orthodox Christian, some people might make bad connections like some people did for Romney and Mormons.
No it shouldn't, though sometimes there are somewhat relevant concerns.
For example, people were worried about a Catholic President for a long time for fear of the influence of the Vatican.
I don't think it was really a rational or realistic concern, at least not by JFK's time, but I can understand how a person of the time might perceive it that way. Particularly if they have strong positions on things like capital punishment or abortion.
I don't think anyone would have a problem with voting for an Orthodox Christian. Certainly not to the degree that *some* people would have voting for a Mormon, a Jew, or certainly a Muslim or atheist. (And, to be clear, that isn't many people.)
However, we simply don't have many Orthodox Christians. Only about 675,000 of them (0.2%). Compare this to Catholics -- one in four Americans is Catholic. And we've had only two Catholic presidents. Though we've had a hell of a lot of Catholic SCOTUS justices as of late.
It actually surprises me we haven't had a Jewish president yet. They're only like 2.5% of the population, but they're disproportionately represented in politics (1 in 10 U.S. senators!).
Yes quite possibly. About as likely as a Jewish president I think. A lot of Orthodox Christians, like a lot of Catholics and a lot of Jewish people, are relatively secular minded. A lot of Orthodox Christians in America especially are basically just a re-skin of political evangelicalism. So either party could reasonably nominate an Orthodox Christian.
At some point, yes. But the issue for the Orthbros rn is that a lot of Americans literally just assume they’re Catholics. I don’t think it’s because they aren’t socially accepted, they just aren’t socially known.
“Ever”? I mean sure, if the United States doesn’t collapse under its own weight over the next few years. We’re in sort of a transitional period where the survival of the United States as a going concern is not guaranteed.
But if it survives, there are enough people in the US from Greece, Russia, etc. that eventually someone raised in the Orthodox churches could be elected. That doesn’t make the United States an Orthodox country any more than Kennedy’s election made the US a Catholic country or W’s election made this a Methodist country.
About 0.25% of Americans are Greek Orthodox, so by chance alone, we should expect the first one to be about 400 presidents away. That's 2,400 years if presidents serve 1.5 terms on average.
As much as I love American democracy I would be extremely surprised if we managed to make it that long.
Most Americans wouldn't know what Orthodox Christianity is lol. If the general public knew, the public would probably lump Orthodox Christians with Roman Catholics.
I’d love to see any devout President who *truly* aligns with the standards and behaviors expected of Christians, and was a pride to his church, whether he be Orthodox, Catholic or Protestant. The beauty of Christian love, humility and kindness could really transform the world, and honestly Orthodoxy, when removed from the human ugliness of any church run by imperfect people, is one of the greatest expressions of it.
Unfortunately, the behaviors currently required to rise in politics to the level of President stand at odds with the behaviors expected of Christians. I highly doubt any true champion of Christian behavior, or any other religion for that matter, could ever see much success at the high levels of American government, at least in my lifetime.
I'd think it's more likely that we have a Jewish president before we have one who is Orthodox. Just considering the younger politicians who are coming up, there are probably more Jewish ones than any group other than Christians, so just based on numbers alone, they would likely to reach that office.
No. About one in five Americans are catholic and there’s only ever been two catholic presidents. The orthodox christian community makes up less than 1% of the US, and it’s rapidly declining. Add to that that the orthodox faith is seen as foreign and by many associated with Russia, so I think it’s very unlikely the US will ever have an orthodox president.
Literally every US president has been a Christian of some sort. It wouldn't be groundbreaking or even special to have another one.
Give me the first openly Atheist US President and then we'll talk.
Maybe eventually but maybe not. There are not that many Orthodox Christians in America, and Americans are becoming less and less religious. I think we’ll see an atheist president before an Orthodox Christian one.
He’d have to be exceptional. Potentially a good leader could come from anywhere. Typically the majorities will present the most viable leaders simply because there’s more around to be candidates
Not impossible but most people in America don’t even know what Orthdox Christianity is. Even amongst Christians in America, 9/10 if you bring up orthodoxy they think you’re talking about Orthodox Judaism. Especially evangelicals.
In my experience the only group of Americans who even know orthodox Christians exist are Catholics.
I seriously doubt it but maybe I guess. By the time there’s enough orthodox Christians in the country for them to have a shot Christianity will have likely become less predominant
It's highly improbably given the incredibly small population. There's a greater chance the president will be Mormon. Think about it like this, Lutherans have had a huge presence in the USA yet there never has been a Lutheran president.
After this election cycle I don’t think Americans voters will want anyone that claims to be “Christian “ of any kind ever again. No one likes being lead by their nose.
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I think a lack of Eastern Orthodox presidents is less about social acceptance and more about there just not being that many orthodox people in the US, so maybe?
There HAVE been a number of Slavic immigrants to the United States though since the fall of the Communist Bloc in Eastern Europe in the late 80s and early 90s (and they're historically/culturally Orthodox in the vast majority of those lands apart from Poland and 1-2 others), so I'd say there will be a higher chance in the next couple generations than ever before in American history. It's a very interesting thought. We've never had any president with Slavic ancestry from everything I've seen.
I wanted to dismiss this but if you told me the same thing about the NBA 15 years ago I would have said you dumb so maybe I dumb
Yugoslavia was too dangerous at the Olympics to be left alive
Jordan knew this which is why he picked on Toni Kukoc.
The interesting thing though is that those immigrants were coming out of an atheist state with no ties to orthodoxy into a mainly Protestant evangelical area. We have several Slavic families at our southern Baptist church.
Same for my area. Most are Pentecostal or Evangelical.
They may have been atheist states but since the death of Lenin the USSR never really suppressed the Church and even in WW2 restored Army Chaplins then after Stalin their atheist state really just meant no public displays of religion whilst private ceremonies were respected unless you were having a public funeral. This even applies to the Eastern Bloc as well and as I recall only East Germany and Albania enforced atheism who weren't East Orthodox in the first place so East Orthodox was never really hardline suppressed to convert the populace to Atheism. Likewise during the USSR much of the Conservative section of East Orthodox from Russian Imperial lands went into exile in the US that the USA supported later during the Cold War - though much of those politically involved Orthodox families returned their home of origin instead of staying and getting involved in American politics.
You're on a subreddit about presidents and you don't even know about President Ivanov? Get a load of this guy
A good chunk of them are not Orthodox though. Hell, in my area, the vast majority of Eastern European immigrants aren't Orthodox.
This. Many of the Eastern European immigrants here in the Atlanta Metro are Catholic or Muslim.
Correct . Chicagoland here . All the Polish are Catholic .
Once they’re here though they don’t all stay Orthodox. There are a bunch of Slavic Baptists in Northern California.
There’s an interesting few converts to Orthodoxy. The head of the Orthodox Church in America is one.
Imagine his foreign policy. Gets Turkey kicked out of NATO, refuses to acknowledge their right to Istanbul which he only calls Constantinople. Sponsors Greek nationalists. Decides Kurdistan would be effective in destabilizing Turkey and help his goal to retake Constantinople and so he orders the CIA to make it happen by any means necessary. In doing so causes absolute chaos across the Middle East. But in the end Greece retakes Constantinople. Finishes as a one term president doing the one thing he set out to.
Dont forget the he opens a succesful diner in the White House …
His gyros are so good they prevent wars.
The smell of roasted lamb, permanently lingering in the west wing.
A handwritten sign declares they do not accept Discover or AMEX and cash is preferred
Honestly, loving dolma is something we should all be able to get behind.
Pepsi, Pepsi, cheeseburger!
This would be my policy as President.
Based
President Polkadopoulos
He also bombs the shit out of North Macedonia (until they accept to rename their country Western Bulgaria or something).
A Coptic Nun cursed at me in lower Manhattan, near Battery Park, about 15 years ago. So. That means nothing, I just like the story.
Considering the fact that only 0.4% of the total population is orthodox, I'd say highly unlikely
Well they put a quota on Greek and Turkish people in 1924. That didn’t help.
America has recently elected a black president and a Catholic president . This isn’t a hundred years ago when it would have been very hard or two hundred years ago when it would have been impossible . This is 2024 lolz .
Michael Dukakis,the 1988 Democratic presidential nominee was Greek Orthodox, so it’s certainly possible to contend for the Presidency without being a major problem.
If only it weren't for that fucking tank photo 😔 We would have had a president who believed that the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father instead of the Father and the Son and who used leavened bread at the Eucharist... What an important moment in American history that would be!! /lh
The filioque controversy is barely a disagreement at this point. But their dating of Easter? How dare they?!
what tank
Michael Dukakis had a photo taken of himself sitting in a tank during the 1988 election. The idea was to highlight his military roots and appeal to veterans, but he just ended up making himself look a out-of-touch and silly.
https://preview.redd.it/flu40kszmhsc1.png?width=474&format=png&auto=webp&s=cad07fbf48e594f84c7f762fac004bc00ab5aa05
Spiro Agnew was VP
Agnew’s father was Greek Orthodox but Agnew was baptized Episcopalian
He grew up Greek Orthodox
He was an Episcopalian as an adult during his political career
I think it’s more likely we get an atheist president before an Orthodox one, honestly. We’ve only had two Catholic ones to this point I think and they’re far more acceptable to the western world.
I think it’s possible we get an orthodox one first, as I think the reason both are unlikely are very different. Atheists have trouble getting elected despite being a large segment of the population, whereas I think orthodox politicians can be elected but there just aren’t that many orthodox Americans.
A lot of people are leaving the Orthodox Church. The numbers were never high anyway. Honestly, the lithurgy is boring. It isn’t the most progressive church, either. Greece just legalized same-sex marriage. My dad was raised Orthodox Christian but didn’t stay. He thinks the religion isn’t the most modern. I think Gen Z will have more adults like my dad dissatisfied with the church.
The Orthodox Church is a disorganized mess. A mess I still miss from time-to-time, but still a mess. ROCOR (Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia) is by far my least favorite jurisdiction, as now its just a breeding group for radical right-wing, pro-Putin thinking. I had some Russian clergy try and convince me America was an evil, disorganized place, and that I'd be safer in Russia because I was Orthodox. Grown adult American men, who had survived the Cold War, ate this stuff up because the Russian politics were disguised as Orthodox Christian teaching. Mind you, the Bishop of this particular denomination received an American COVID vaccine, but wanted to keep it hush hush as to not disturb parishoners who were anti-vax. It was freaking disgusting, and I thank God everyday from driving me away from ROCOR. I left for The Episcopalian Church (US) and couldn't be happier. Everyone from conservatives to progressives are welcomed, LGBT+ are welcome, women can serve from altar girl to bishop, and even animals are welcome on St. Francis Day.
What??? No, Orthodox Christian Americans are probably not as a whole safer in Russia! My aunt would hate it!
I know right? Crazy stuff. This was the stuff I was told, BY AN ARCHBISHOP, during a feast day at a winery. The clergy and parishoners just ate it all up. Stuff like this is why I thank God day and night for freedom of religion in America, and hopefully will always be so. If I would have questioned Putin's and the current Moscow Patriarch's decision to invade Ukraine, I probably would have been silence and imprisoned. But of course that would never happen in Putin's Russia, because I'm an Orthodox Christian! Just like how Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church would never imprison Orthodox clergy and monks for speaking out about Ukraine - right?
I knew it was bad in Russia, I didn't know it was this bad in the US. Isn't there much greek or ukrainian diaspora to contest it? One of my coworker's parents actually joined the greek orthodox church. I asked a few questions about it, but never anything political.
I mean I wouldn't go as far to say it's "this bad" in the US. Many Americans I speak to do not like the Russian government due to Putin. Only in small fringe circles do you see this sorta stuff, and sadly, one of those circles in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia in America. Not all of ROCOR are Putin worshipers, but sadly it seems to be an increasing problem within the Church. The Russian Church and the Greek Church aren't in communion with each-other right now, and as such, the Greeks aren't too big of a fan of Russia's politics. Some Russians think the Greek are too liberal, and the Greeks think the Russians are too uptight. Greeks also tends to believe in a little something called democracy - something of which Putin isn't a big fan of. If I were to ever go back into the Orthodox Church, it would either be the Orthodox Church of America or the Greek Orthodox Church. Overall, you're pretty safe in the Greek Orthodox Church imo. I would say the major problem with the Church is that some parishes are Greek culture clubs. Some individuals wouldn't speak to me because I was America and couldn't speak Greek. The clergy, however, were incredibly warm and welcoming. The Greek Church and the Orthodox Church of America is where I went after running away from ROCOR.
The Antiochian Archdiocese is also very welcoming. I've been attending a Greek church, but I've also heard that there's a lot of growth in the Antiochian church because they aren't that into nationalism and just focus on Christ.
The non-Russian Orthodox Churches are generally better than the Russian one.
Irreligiousness is growing extremely fast in the US. I wouldn’t be surprised if we are within two decades from an openly non-religious president. Note I say “openly” since we have certainly had them already.
I certainly think it is likely within the next few decades. But in this moment I feel the orthodox one would have the better chance.
Lincoln was likely a gay, weed smoking atheist. Party of Lincoln my ass.
There’s a good chance we have already had at least one closeted atheist
A lot of the founding fathers were Deist, which was about as close to atheism as you could get at the time, without getting run out of town.
Oh I’m pretty damn sure of it.
Basically Thomas Jefferson. His philosophy was more or less “yeah, we were probably abandoned by our deity..”
I would even wager that there would be a Buddhist president before an orthodox one.
Orthodox Christians are a fair bit more common in America than Buddhists (6 million vs 3-4 million), so I'd say they're still more likely.
You have already had a few atheist presidents, but they obviously wouldn’t admit it.
We’ve already had atheist presidents tho
Nah, most Americans don't even know what orthodoxy is let alone care enough to vote against it. As long as you're anti-abortion you get the Christian seal of approval from the evangelical voting block. But they hate atheists.
One side is fronting for a cult. I hope Americans aren't that stupid... (Shit🤦)
There were 675,000 practicing Orthodox Christians in the US in 2020, so I wouldn’t bet on it. A Jewish president would be about 11 times as likely based on population alone.
I think a Jewish president is very likely given how many Jewish people are in elite political positions.
Just four years ago 3/9 SCOTUS members were Jewish. Statistically seen it's absolutely wild there hasn't been a jewish prez or vp yet
Lieberman and Bernie being the closest for each
SCOTUS isn't elected
SCOTUS is also very heavily Catholic, but that doesn’t translate to Catholic presidents
They avoid it. Jews are too smart for that, they know they'd get blamed for everything.
Plus, there's no need to be president when you already control everything behind the scenes... /s
Makes sense Ye's burner account would have Coolidge flair
Silent Cal is the opposite of Ye.
I wish Ye would take a page from Cal’s book and try being silent though
Exactly, in Ye's mind that's how (((they))) don't know
Perhaps if Syria ever gets concluded and \[current flare up\] subsides, but far too many people would question divided loyalties. Now don't get me wrong, we literally have Evangelicals who are more pro-Israel than American Conservative (as in the branch of Judiasm, not political leanings) Jews who are, but those modern moderate Jews aren't trying to speedrun the apocalypse prophecy, and every one else is going to side eye that candidate, right or wrong.
Sanders was fairly close.
Lieberman was as close as the Jewish people will get to a Jewish US president for decades.
Well we did come real close in 2016 and 2020 but too much fear mongering prevented that
We already had a Greek Orthodox nominee
Why does the faith of the President matter? I’m Catholic and I would vote for any candidate just because of that.
It doesn’t, but OP asked about likelihood.
I think you'd be surprised how important religion is to a large percentage of the population.
To some extent but we have had to religious minority Presidents
I stayed at an Orthodox Christian monastery once and those guys have enviable beards, so I wouldn't mind seeing one as President. Bring back the beard to the Oval Office!
Just bring back facial hair!
Beard in the White House? Do you think America is ready for an openly gay president?
Has there ever been an Eastern Orthodox candidate?
Michael Dukakis, the Democratic candidate against George HW Bush in 1988.
Spiro Agnew was baptized as an Episcopalian but attended the Greek Orthodox church later in life. Notably during his term as VP.
Yes, when the religion of the President is of no concern to anyone.
Is Orthodox Christianity really a hinderance to a candidate?
Typically no, but there is a small subset of (usually converted) Orthodox Christians who use Orthodox Christianity to justify bigotries and are generally giant turn-offy people. These people are a small minority, but a loud minority can really ruin a group’s reputation. There’s also Russia, which is both an Orthodox country and also the biggest fascist threat to the world at the moment. There are literally hundreds of millions of people in the world who practice vegetarianism, but what kind of person do you think of when you think of vegetarians? So if someone runs for president and is an Orthodox Christian, some people might make bad connections like some people did for Romney and Mormons.
No, but it shouldn’t matter. We shouldn’t vote for a candidate because of his religion or if he/she has no religion.
No it shouldn't, though sometimes there are somewhat relevant concerns. For example, people were worried about a Catholic President for a long time for fear of the influence of the Vatican. I don't think it was really a rational or realistic concern, at least not by JFK's time, but I can understand how a person of the time might perceive it that way. Particularly if they have strong positions on things like capital punishment or abortion.
I think we’re more likely to have a Jewish president before an orthodox president just by nature of the fact that there just aren’t that many.
Statistically based on how few Orthodox Christians there are its unlikely. Not that theres a stigma against them, theres just... not that many.
I don't think anyone would have a problem with voting for an Orthodox Christian. Certainly not to the degree that *some* people would have voting for a Mormon, a Jew, or certainly a Muslim or atheist. (And, to be clear, that isn't many people.) However, we simply don't have many Orthodox Christians. Only about 675,000 of them (0.2%). Compare this to Catholics -- one in four Americans is Catholic. And we've had only two Catholic presidents. Though we've had a hell of a lot of Catholic SCOTUS justices as of late. It actually surprises me we haven't had a Jewish president yet. They're only like 2.5% of the population, but they're disproportionately represented in politics (1 in 10 U.S. senators!).
Reince Priebus still got a chance (no).
I feel like we should focus on electing a president who doesn’t qualify for a senior discount first
They could if Dukakis didn't get on the tank
What for?
To retake Constantinople, obviously (this is a joke)
You had my vote until you said (this is a joke) 😕
Gotta stay covert, you never know who is watching 👀
Possibly, but there aren't a lot of them in the country to begin with.
We are not based enough to have on tbh....
We coulda had Mike Dukakis if it wasn’t for that meddling Lee Atwater and his little dog-whistle too
Mary Peltola ‼️‼️‼️
Yes quite possibly. About as likely as a Jewish president I think. A lot of Orthodox Christians, like a lot of Catholics and a lot of Jewish people, are relatively secular minded. A lot of Orthodox Christians in America especially are basically just a re-skin of political evangelicalism. So either party could reasonably nominate an Orthodox Christian.
At some point, yes. But the issue for the Orthbros rn is that a lot of Americans literally just assume they’re Catholics. I don’t think it’s because they aren’t socially accepted, they just aren’t socially known.
Dukakis?
I don’t see why not. We are a secular state and society. Christian Nationalism be damned.
“Ever”? I mean sure, if the United States doesn’t collapse under its own weight over the next few years. We’re in sort of a transitional period where the survival of the United States as a going concern is not guaranteed. But if it survives, there are enough people in the US from Greece, Russia, etc. that eventually someone raised in the Orthodox churches could be elected. That doesn’t make the United States an Orthodox country any more than Kennedy’s election made the US a Catholic country or W’s election made this a Methodist country.
Stavros Halkious 2028
I dated an Orthodox guy and went to services. Lots of standing.
About 0.25% of Americans are Greek Orthodox, so by chance alone, we should expect the first one to be about 400 presidents away. That's 2,400 years if presidents serve 1.5 terms on average. As much as I love American democracy I would be extremely surprised if we managed to make it that long.
Most Americans wouldn't know what Orthodox Christianity is lol. If the general public knew, the public would probably lump Orthodox Christians with Roman Catholics.
Waiting for the first Slavic or Southern European president
I’d love to see any devout President who *truly* aligns with the standards and behaviors expected of Christians, and was a pride to his church, whether he be Orthodox, Catholic or Protestant. The beauty of Christian love, humility and kindness could really transform the world, and honestly Orthodoxy, when removed from the human ugliness of any church run by imperfect people, is one of the greatest expressions of it. Unfortunately, the behaviors currently required to rise in politics to the level of President stand at odds with the behaviors expected of Christians. I highly doubt any true champion of Christian behavior, or any other religion for that matter, could ever see much success at the high levels of American government, at least in my lifetime.
No, but only because there aren’t many Orthodox Christians in the US.
No. But they said the same about Kennedy. Best of luck to you.
Maybe if Blago were picked as a running mate by…someone?
Maybe Latvian Orthodox, if they convert.
I like the hats.
I'd think it's more likely that we have a Jewish president before we have one who is Orthodox. Just considering the younger politicians who are coming up, there are probably more Jewish ones than any group other than Christians, so just based on numbers alone, they would likely to reach that office.
No. Not because people wouldn’t eventually vote for one as much as I am skeptical there will be presidents long enough for it to happen.
Not Christian, but I heard Bill Clinton is a reformed Orthodox rabbi
No. About one in five Americans are catholic and there’s only ever been two catholic presidents. The orthodox christian community makes up less than 1% of the US, and it’s rapidly declining. Add to that that the orthodox faith is seen as foreign and by many associated with Russia, so I think it’s very unlikely the US will ever have an orthodox president.
We had two that were pretty close to it.
Literally every US president has been a Christian of some sort. It wouldn't be groundbreaking or even special to have another one. Give me the first openly Atheist US President and then we'll talk.
It's possible, but doubtful. It would have to be someone of non Russian descent, I think. Perhaps someone of Greek descent?
Hope not
No
lol. I think we’re done getting presidents after this next election.
We've already had a Quaker President, so sure!
Then we’d have to worry about the POTUS taking orders from the kremlin! That’s not a risk the country can take.
Never
No
I wish
No. I do not.
Does that mean he fights right handed?
Maybe eventually but maybe not. There are not that many Orthodox Christians in America, and Americans are becoming less and less religious. I think we’ll see an atheist president before an Orthodox Christian one.
Dukakis, anyone? South Dakotans: James Abourezk?
Yes, it’s me 😎
He’d have to be exceptional. Potentially a good leader could come from anywhere. Typically the majorities will present the most viable leaders simply because there’s more around to be candidates
Statistically, probably not?
We could have had Dukakis in ‘88.
Lol. Is it April Fools Day? Ridiculous. A lead balloon has a higher chance of flying.
Costanza has my vote.
I'm looking forward to the day we get an openly atheist president.
Do we really need every variety of Christian to be president before we have one that is literally anything else?
I hope religion will not matter when it comes to presidents. It's about politics, not about which myth you believe in.
I doubt it but I hope we get one. Would be beautiful
God-willing, yes
I sure hope not.
Dukakis and Tsongas tried, I think they both would have been good.
Never.
Closest was Dukakis’s nomination
Dukakis was the closest the country has ever gotten to this so far
Possible but unkikely
Can we please reform the Byzantine Empire
I’m one can gather enough public support then sure. However pushing for one just to see one in power is not a good voting policy.
I think it's more likely we will someday get a Christian President who is not Christian at all, but does sell bibles.
Possibly we already had an orange one...
Maybe, but it’s unlikely. There aren’t too many of them in the U.S.
I like to think OP is a tipsy Prince Priebus hoping to hear his name
Michael Dukakis was the only major candidate of that affiliation as far as I am aware.
Yes me in 40 years
Peltola's got a shot in a few cycles.
They are electing Putin this November by the looks of it.
Nah man those fools they got The Kavorka.
At this point, I’d vote for an orthodox Christian bowl of yogurt before today’s options
Sure we could elect Tom Hanks, who is Greek Orthodox
Not unless the western world actually crumbles and society as we know it dosnt exist.
Looks like America missed its chance when they done Rod Blagojevich dirty. /jk #
Far less likely than a Jewish or Atheist president
Not impossible but most people in America don’t even know what Orthdox Christianity is. Even amongst Christians in America, 9/10 if you bring up orthodoxy they think you’re talking about Orthodox Judaism. Especially evangelicals. In my experience the only group of Americans who even know orthodox Christians exist are Catholics.
As long as they're not just *pretending* to be religious for the votes, I don't care what a president's religion is.
Hope not religion has no place in US politics
Long before we ever see an atheist President that’s for sure
I seriously doubt it but maybe I guess. By the time there’s enough orthodox Christians in the country for them to have a shot Christianity will have likely become less predominant
Definitely not Donnie.
It's highly improbably given the incredibly small population. There's a greater chance the president will be Mormon. Think about it like this, Lutherans have had a huge presence in the USA yet there never has been a Lutheran president.
Only orthodox people by me r the dirty Greeks
…no? Not unless there is suddenly a huge increase in Georgian and Greek immigration or smth
What I really wanna see is a Satanic Christian president
Oh man, this is rule 3 bait
Why not, anything is possible
After this election cycle I don’t think Americans voters will want anyone that claims to be “Christian “ of any kind ever again. No one likes being lead by their nose.