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January 2008
Two Republicans are running for President with religion as a factor. Mitt Romney has to assure voters of his Mormonism and Mike Huckabee is driven by his Baptist religion. Barak Obama, a Democratic candidate, faces detractors because of his Muslim sounding name even though he was never a Muslim, much less a radical one, andhas been a Christian since 1991. This reminded me of previous issues with religion in American politics.
Democratic candidate John F.
Kennedy faced objection to his Catholicism in 1960. Some people questioned
Since 1960 the fundamentalist and evangelical Christians (commonly called the “religious right”) has made a concerted effort to make our country Christian. The first openly evangelical Christian was Jimmy Carter who was elected in 1976. While Carter did not hide his faith he did not use it exclusively to make policy decisions. He has since distanced himself from the fundamentalist Southern Baptist Christians who are his religious tradition.
In 2004 another Catholic was running for President. This time various Catholic Church leaders spoke out against John Kerry because he wasn’t Catholic enough. National interest was not the concern of these outspoken critics but only that Kerry opposed abortion but not Roe v. Wade.
George W. Bush has openly said God is telling him what to do. This ifar worse than the Pope giving advice. We can question the Pope. God’s conversations are private.
No Mormon has been elected
President so Romney is facing the kind of questioning that Kennedy faced nearly
fifty years earlier. Romney told a
select group of supporters at the George Bush Presidential Library in
Mike Huckabee, former governor of
In 1998 when Huckabee
was Governor of Arkansas he said to a gathering of Baptist preachers, " I got
into politics because I knew government didn't have the real answers, that the
real answers lie in accepting Jesus Christ into our lives." (Arkansas
Democrat Gazette on-line). When he was recently asked about this
statement, the Detroit
Free Press reported on January 6, 2008 that he “did not retreat “from it.
We know his faith guides his
positions. For example, he is adamantly opposed to abortion and he supports a
Constitutional Amendment declaring marriage as a union between one man and one
woman. This is clearly an anti-gay position based on his faith. Much to his
credit he also is pushing for more concern and care for the poor. This too
stems from his faith.
What concerns me most is his stance that the solution to
problems in our country is “accepting” Jesus Christ. I can imagine from my
conversations with evangelicals that the rest of this statement is “accepting Jesus
Christ as my Lord and Savior.” Non-Christians might accept Jesus’ message, as
did Ghandi, but not accept him as Lord and Savior.
The First Amendment
says “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” Accepting Jesus Christ would be tantamount to establishing
Christianity as the religion of this country - a violation of the First Amendment. At
the very least Huckabee’s faith would blur the
separation between church and state. Freedom of religion applies to all people.
What concerns me is his stance
that the solution to problems in our country is “acceptance of” Jesus Christ. I
can imagine from my conversations with evangelicals that the rest of this
statement is “acceptance of Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.” Someone needs
to ask him if that is what he means by “acceptance.” If so it is clearly a
violation of the First
Amendment’s “freedom of religion” clause and he needs to be held
accountable for it. It is a violation of the First Amendment to ask or expect
people to accept Jesus Christ. They might accept his message, as did Ghandi, but not accept him as Lord and Savior.