Paul Waldeman has a very nice op-ed in the Boston Globe about presidential candidates bobbing and weaving when it comes to talking about religion on the campaign trail (Mit romney is getting grilled over his Mormon faith but few others if any actually have to articulate their faith.) Waldeman breaks down the issue as follows:
Listen to candidates talk about religion and they seem to be following two rules:
1) Profess that nothing is more important to you than your religion.
2) Be as vague as possible about your religion.
1) Profess that nothing is more important to you than your religion.
2) Be as vague as possible about your religion.
He goes on to say:
Candidates who tell us how important their faith is to them are hoping that religious Americans will come away with warm feelings about them. But if they aren't willing to discuss just what that faith entails, they're saying they want people to vote for them because of their religion, but they don't want anyone to vote against them because of their religion.
They can't have it both ways: either religion is important to them or it isn't. And if it is, then we as voters have a right to know everything we can about what they believe.
I'm more than a little cynical about how political candidates respond to any issue--much less one as personal as their religion. Any chance of spontaneity or reality has already died the death of a thousand focus groups by the time a candidate utters a word in front of the camera.
To me, the vaguaries of politicians about their respective faiths is a perfect match for the mediocrity of religion in America in general--too strong a statement? I'm not afraid to put it out there. I think most Americans want their religion convenient and despite some notable exceptions, I think convenience trumps about everything else. A religion--like a plasma screen TV or a drive in window--should require little of you. Why should the candidates be any different?
The politicians who come at things from the far right are very open about how their religious beliefs influence their politics--especially about key issues like abortion, gay rights, gun control, cetc. Of course, an argument can be made--and I think it is a strong one--that many of the things popular with candidates who cater to the Religious Right are really political views packaged with religion rather than genuinely religiously informed points of view.
The one exception I've heard to the religious mumblings of candidates was Barack Obama's speech last year to the Call to Renewal/Pentecost 2006 Conference in D.C.--a conference on religious and political responses to poverty put on by Sojourners. It is a truly amazing speech that shows a deep grasp of the role of religion in public life.
It's my cynicism showing, but I expect that Presidential Candidate Obama will not be as articulate on these matters--our political system just wouldn't let him or anyone get away with it. I hope to be pleasantly suprised, but I'm not counting on it..
Grace and Peace,
Chase
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