It's a quiet Saturday morning in my house. At the time of this writing, both my husband and daughter are sleeping peacefully, and I'm content, enjoying the quiet time. It gives me a chance to catch up on the news and the events. While reading the article Faith adopts key role in 2008 campaign (AP, 6/1/07), XM radio just happened to be play My Sweet Lord on their Top Tracks station.
I found myself chuckling over the irony of this. Reading an article on faith and politics, while listening to a song of praise on a rock station. As it normally does, my mind began wondering, as I pondered the article and why the candidates openness about their religious beliefs is a good thing. Before you scoff, before you belittle me or label me, follow me after the fold as my thoughts unwind...
Our household definitely is a very diverse household when it comes to religious beliefs. I consider myself a Christian, while my husband is more of an agnostic, while my daughter considers herself wiccan-buddhist-christian. The one thing that the three of us do agree on is the separation of church and state.
It wasn't too long after the tragedy at Virginia Tech, my once Lutheran, now Catholic father, sent me an email. He does that, sends me emails. Not the kind that says how are you, family here is fine. No he sends me spam. Right leaning, sometimes hate filled, garbage that he continues to foreward to me even though I've repeatedly asked him not to. This email was titled Where was God.
This was supposedly an answer to the question, where was God during the massacre at VTU. A sarcastic, blame it on the liberals, it's their fault type of response. Now, normally I just delete his emails without reading because I usually end up in an email debate with him when I do, yet for some reason, I read it, and yes the debate ensued. Bear with me as I recall some of it for you.
Me: Dad, do you really buy this shit?
Dad: Why not, they don't believe in God.
Me: Get real. There was no moment of prayer when I went to school and I didn't turn into a mass murderer and I don't recall any of my classmates who did.
Dad: Well maybe they should have it. They want to take it out of the pledge, they condemn religion and they don't go to church.
Me: Get real. Do you think having God in the pledge is going to turn everyone into a Christian? Why should others pray the same way that you do, that's what public prayer is, forcing people to pray based on one's individual beliefs.
Dad: Well they want to take God out of the government.
Me: Dad, the founding fathers knew what would happen if we embraced one form of religion in our goverment, do a google and see what Jefferson had to say about it.
Dad: Well, we need more god in our life and they want to take him away.
Me: Get off of it Dad. If I remember, the only times you went to church with us when we were kids was for our baptisms, confirmation and Christmas pageants and only when it didn't interfere with your golf.
My father never came back to me on this one. Anyway, back to the article and back to why faith does matter.
Faith adopts key role in 2008 campaign
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The personal faith of candidates has become a very public part of the 2008 presidential campaign. Seven years after George W. Bush won the presidency in part with a direct appeal to conservative religious voters - he cited Jesus Christ as his favorite philosopher during one debate - it seems all the leading presidential candidates are discussing their religious and moral beliefs, even when they'd rather not.
Some of you may be saying, wtf, why are they doing this? To me, it's a very good strategy. For the past 7 years, we've heard the Republicans spout how they were the party of God, how they embraced family values, and paint those who spoke out against them as godless. Around here, I'm already seeing the signs for Mitt Romney, could it be it's because of his "belief in God"? For many Americans, their faith is a personal thing, regardless of who their faith is in. No longer is it a stigma for a candidate to express their own faith, in fact, it should be encouraged. Often times voters feel disconnected from the candidates, thinking they're unable to relate to them. By acknowledging their faith, a candidate can close that gap between themselves and the American public.
"To many Americans, religion is a very important part of their life and they are interested in how religiosity influences candidates," said John Green, a University of Akron political science professor and senior fellow at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.
But before we thrash and wail and run screaming around about the
separation of church and state, remember that just because someone believes in God doesn't mean that they're going to call for God to be indoctrinated into the government. The majority of those with faith understand that we place our own religious freedoms on the line if we allow our elected leaders to determine what religion is the "correct" on to govern by. We are focused on maintaining the need for the First Amendment to stay in place, though sadly there are some who only want it to exist for them and still want to deny other's their right to exercise their beliefs or lack of beliefs.
Last year, Obama chastised fellow Democrats for failing to "acknowledge the power of faith in the lives of the American people," and said the party must compete for the support of evangelicals and other churchgoers.
"Not every mention of God in public is a breach to the wall of separation. Context matters," he said
By acknowledging their own faith, the Democratic candidates for President and Congress can begin fighting the right at their own game, lessening the effects and jeers of being identified as the godless party. Just don't take it too far and shove it down our throats.
The complete story here