Religious Views & Reality TV

The other evening when I was with Mac and Julie, we had an interesting discussion about if knowing a contestant's religious viewpoint affects the way we think about, and vote for, a participant on reality television programs such as Dancing with the Stars and American Idol where the viewers call, text, or submit votes online for their favorite performance(s).  And if so, how does it affect us?  We went back and forth on the subject:  one thought knowing about a contestant's religious views didn't affect viewers' votes at all and another thought it would, at least to some degree, influence how viewers vote for a contestant.  We were all quite transparent about our thoughts on the matter.  I won't disclose our opinions at this point, as you'll see why below.  Obviously this topic can lead to an even bigger question:  how does a political candidate's religious viewpoints affect how we vote?  Reality TV, however, is a more light-hearted arena to pose these types of questions, so for the moment, we'll stick with it.

I'm curious to know what you all think about the matter.  If you are willing to participate in a small survey of 4-5 questions about this issue of religious views and reality TV, click here.  The survey is completely optional and will be used for this blog only; all submissions are anonymous.  After you fill out the form, your answers will be linked back to a spreadsheet in my Google Docs to help track the answers.  I will post the most current results next Tuesday, April 15th.  Please only submit your answers once.

In addition, you're always welcome to leave your thoughts in a comment.  You'll have to sign up for a free Vox account, but it's pretty simple, and something you'll have to do in order to participate in the awesome blog contest coming up next week, so might as well get a head start!