over the importance placed on a candidate's religious beliefs -- it sometimes appears to outsiders as though the US were almost a quasi-theocracy rather than a modern secular democracy with a separation of church and state. We fear the power of the religious right, of the fundamentalist and ultra-conservative evangelical lobbies. We struggle to understand those who conflate Christianity with Republicanism, and who don't seem to be able to see past single issues like abortion, gay marriage or Israel. However important those issues are, they cannot be allowed to trump all else when so much is at stake. Please, please don't let that happen. Of course I can't tell you who to vote for. I can only say that the idea of a Republican win and a Romney presidency fills me, and countless others in the non-American world, with utter dread. Republican presidencies may (or may not) be great for America; I don't know. But they've rarely been unmitigated blessings for the rest of us. America, in many ways as you vote you hold the fate of all of us in your hands. Please don't vote on your own behalf alone, but for all of us who are powerless to influence the outcome yet will be hugely affected by it nonetheless. Particularly if you are Christian, vote also for the alien and foreigner and the rest of the world who have to live with the consequences of your leaders' policies. I'm not quite saying vote for Obama, but if I