Erica Campbell of the groundbreaking gospel duo Mary Mary said, "My president doesn't have to be a Christian. They have to be a good president. Just because you're a Christian doesn't mean that you can run the country. You have to be so well-educated and so well aware of so many issues."
Campbell made this statement during a recent interview with the Grio while promoting the new season of the WEtv series, Mary Mary, along with her sister Tina.
Erica told Grio she also believes the next U.S. president needs to be able to understand the diverse needs of the country's citizens.
"I don't need a president who is just going to serve the African-American community, because my Spanish, Caucasian and Asian neighbors need to be catered to as well. I need a capable president who understands social security, who understands our police departments all across the country," said Erica.
"The fact that we don't have clean water in Flint, MI, in the United States of America is absurd. I need a president that can candle all of that."
Tina said her bottomline is that Christians need to understand the president is not their pastor. "There's no one president that we all agree with on every single issue. We have to be just honest about that. At the end of the day, whoever my president is, you're not my pastor, you're not my spiritual leader. So I don't need to agree with all that you agree with."
The Campbell sisters grew up in Inglewood, Calif. They began singing as small children in their local church.
They broke through music barriers in 2000 with their pioneering crossover hit, "Shackles (Praise You)," and went on to win four Grammy Awards, two American Music Awards, 18 Stellar Awards, four NAACP Image Awards, a Soul Train Award and two BET Awards.
They have created seven albums with uplifting messages.
One online poster on the Grio website, Sheila Ann, said "She is right, as a follower if I only voted for the president based on whether or not he was a follower I would never vote. In biblical days they were of different religious backgrounds. I concur you need more than Christianity to be president. And if you know your word, you pray for all government officials as we are instructed to; furthermore, if you believe in prophecy then you believe some things are predestined and necessary."
Willie Nixon said what Erica is saying is that "you don't have to be a Christian to be a 'good' person, smart or capable. America never was a Christian nation and never will be."
Nikia D-Shiznit was in agreement because "our founding fathers made it their business to separate church and state."
"Hum, I see it's going to be real easy to get some to wear the mark of the beast," stated Jacqueline Newsom.
