A Troubling Intersection of Politics and Religious Affiliation

The US Presidential election is next week. It seems that issues relating to religion and religious affiliation are even more important now than before.

The news outlets are swirling with reports that Christian evangelicals and conservatives might not support the Republican ticket because of long-standing distrust of Senator McCain, despite the appeal of Sarah Palin as the VP candidate. Then, other pundits predict that most of the "undecideds" at this point in the race are Christian evangelicals who WILL support the Republican ticket. In either case, Governor Palin seems assured of a continuing high profile status among the Republicans because of her conservative religious views.

The disaffection of the traditional Conservative Christian base of the Republican Party for John McCain has been a story since the 2000 Presidential race. It is interesting that it has become a major story again. It will be even more interesting to see whether that group continues to be enthralled with Governor Palin long enough for her to launch her own bid for the Presidency at some point in the future.

One other story with religious overtones that seems to be gaining ground again is the question of whether Barack Obama is a Muslim. This, of course, was a significant enough issue that Colin Powell, in his remarks supporting Senator Obama for President, addressed it.

In a story from this weekend's Lexington Herald-Leader comes the news that "Despite heavy national media attention about Obama's faith, more than half of likely Republican voters — 54 percent — and one of every four Democrats in the state do not know that the Democratic presidential nominee is a Christian, the poll found. The poll showed that 14 percent of likely Kentucky voters — 28 percent of Republicans, 4 percent of Democrats and 11 percent of independents — think Obama adheres to the Muslim faith." And, in a story from the Agence France-Presse, carried on the Pew Forum website, comes this report, "US Muslims are facing tough times fearful about growing suspicions of Islam amid false rumors that Democratic nominee Barack Obama is a Muslim and could have links to terrorists. ... 'This is part of an islamophobic hate campaign that fuels prejudice against Americans who practice their Islamic faith and Muslims worldwide,' [said a group of Islamic scholars]. In September, a controversial DVD on Islam was circulated in Florida, adding fuel to the fire of the US election campaign. The video, titled Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West and released more than a year ago by a group called Clarion Fund, showed images of young children reciting appeals for jihad mixed with archival footage of Hitler Youths."

{Sidenote to this report - the group that has been bombarding my office with fax messages to ensure that I do the "right" thing for my congregation and tell them how horrible Obama is and how they should vote for McCain sent me a packet of material just in time, containing a 'sample sermon' - to tell me exactly what to say - a copy of the Obsession DVD, and another DVD to drive home the point. I hope to have enough time in the next few days to look at all the material.}

So, let me ask you some questions. Since identification of what religion a candidate holds is important to some folks, at least, in this campaign: Is John McCain considered enough of a Christian, whatever that means, to be supported by the evangelical/conservative Christian groups? However you answer that question, would that affect your support for him? Is Barack Obama considered enough of a Christian to have the support of the Christian majority in America? Do you think Barack Obama is a Muslim? Either way, would that have an impact on your support for him? And, in a question I have raised in this blog before, even though there is no religious test for public office defined in the Constitution, do you think there should be or do you think that there is an unwritten religious expectation for people seeking office?