Monday, August 29, 2011

Religious Questions GOP Candidates Need To Answer

The other day a person asked Republican candidate for president Michele Bachmann a question regarding her religious beliefs. The question regarded the statements Bachmann had made about being submissive to her husband, and the questioner wanted to know how that would affect her as president (if elected). She didn't really answer the question, and I guess that was all right with the crowd because they had groaned at the question as though it should not have been asked.

Normally I would agree with the crowd -- if the candidates had all pretty much shown through their previous words and actions that they respected the separation of religion from government. After all, we live in a very diverse country with people of many different religions making up the population (and about 10% who have no religion at all). That makes it important that the government remain secular, and not slanted to any particular religion (or toward any religion at all).

But this is not a normal year, and several Republican presidential candidates wear their religion on their sleeves. And some of those candidates have even indicated that they would in some way include their religion in the way they govern -- especially Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, and Rick Santorum (and doubts even exist about Cain, Gingrich, and others). The American public has a right to know exactly how much and in what way is their religion going to affect our government if they were to be elected.

These are legitimate concerns for a citizen to have. And to address those concerns, Bill Keller in the New York Times has composed a short list of questions he would like for each of the candidates to answer. I think his questions are good ones, and I would like the candidates to answer them also. Here are his questions:

1. Is it fair to question presidential candidates about details of their faith?
2. Is it fair to question candidates about controversial remarks made by their pastors, mentors, close associates or thinkers whose books they recommend?
3. (a) Do you agree with those religious leaders who say that America is a “Christian nation” or “Judeo-Christian nation?” (b) What does that mean in  practice?
4. If you encounter a conflict between your faith and the Constitution and laws of the United States, how would you resolve it? Has that happened, in your experience?
5. (a) Would you have any hesitation about appointing a Muslim to the federal bench? (b) What about an atheist?
6. Are Mormons Christians, in your view? Should the fact that Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman are Mormons influence how we think of them as candidates?
7. What do you think of  the evangelical Christian movement known as Dominionism and the idea that Christians, and only Christians, should hold dominion over the secular institutions of the earth?
8. (a) What is your attitude toward the theory of evolution? (b) Do you believe it should be taught in public schools?
9. Do you believe it is proper for teachers to lead students in prayer in public schools?


He also has some specific questions for specific candidates, and you can go here to read those.

5 comments:

  1. Here's a very interesting response to Keller's column written by Alana Goodman in Commentary. My favorite quote:

    "I’m sure Keller would also 'care a lot' if Obama was a secret Muslim intent on destroying America and replacing it with a socialist empire/American caliphate. But he wouldn’t innocently write about this unfounded concern in a column. Why? Because there’s no evidence of it. Just like there’s not a shred to suggest that Romney, Perry or Bachmann are Trojan horses for some bizarre Christian theocratic conspiracy."

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  2. You do realize that you are comparing a fantasy (a made-up situation) to a real situation, don't you? While Obama is not a muslim, Perry and Bachmann do have strong dominionist christian roots - that are verified by their words and actions.

    If you want everybody, including Obama, to answer the questions, I don't have a problem with that. But comparing fantasy to reality is not a valid argument.

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  3. One man's reality is another man's fantasy (and vice versa).

    Read this article by Lisa Miller in the Washington Post (no hotbed of right-wing fanaticism) and chill out.

    Like Alana Goodman, Bill Keller, and even Byron York, I agree that questions to presidential candidates about their religious beliefs (and how those beliefs would inform their policies) are legitimate. Wild speculation and guilt by association (by either the Left or the Right) are not.

    Don't believe everything the pundits at MSNBC say. As Ed Schultz's "creative editing" of Rick Perry's "big black cloud" remark proves, they have at least as big an axe to grind as Fox News.

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  4. "One man's reality is another man's fantasy (and vice versa)."

    That's very glib, and it's also very wrong. Fantasy and reality are not the same thing at all. Wishing something was real (fantasy) does not make it so. And wishing reality was different does not make it a fantasy.

    I can't believe you even said that CT. You're smarter than that.

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  5. Perry and Bachmann do have strong dominionist christian roots - that are verified by their words and actions.

    You obviously take this to be a reality, yet you provide absolutely no evidence of how "strong" these "roots" are.

    Regarding their "roots," Perry is a life-long Methodist; Bachmann a life-long Lutheran. Both Perry and Bachmann recently began attending Baptist churches in their respective communities that have dropped the word "Baptist" from their church names in order to be more inclusive of Christians from all denominations. Neither Mtehodists, Lutherans nor Baptists hold to dominionist beliefs.

    There are some in the left-wing media who have characterized Perry a dominionist because on June 6, 2011, members of the New Apostolic Reformation played an active role in The Response (the prayer meeting held at Reliant Stadium in Houston).

    If cooperating with one religious group for one event constitutes "strong roots," then I guess President Obama must have "strong roots" in Islam, since he hosted Muslim leaders for a Ramadan iftar at the White House this month.

    Both of these assertions are fantasies.

    Reality is based on facts. Where are yours, Ted?

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