Posted on 07/03/2011 5:17:18 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Though the United States has a tradition of separating church and state, the 2012 presidential campaign may test the limits of that tolerance. Not only do some Republicans continue to question Barack Obama’s Christianity, but GOP front-runner Mitt Romney is a Mormon and other contenders, such as Sarah Palin, are Christian fundamentalists, as the Rev. Howard Bess explains.
Many religious Americans have an ambivalent view toward the separation of church and state, wanting political figures to be religious but to leave their religion out of political encounters.
The reality has been that for most of U.S. history, American politics at the highest levels was dominated by a Masonic brand of Protestantism. However, in 1960, when John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon competed for the presidency, there was a sizeable minority of Americans who firmly believed that a Roman Catholic president would make America subservient to Rome and the Catholic Pope.
For instance, one false story was circulated claiming that Kennedy planned to change the name of the Statue of Liberty to Our Lady of the Harbor.
Kennedy’s Catholicism was such a major issue that he made a trip to the hostile environs of Texas to make a clear statement that he was a better American than he was a Roman Catholic. He won the presidency by the narrowest of margins.
Since then, religion has become an ongoing and open topic in American politics led by the emergence of a unique American Evangelicalism.
All of American Evangelicalism, as we know it today, has its roots in the Baptist and Methodist traditions. Both religions were known as aggressive, proselytizing denominations, although those tendencies diminished in the last half of the 20th Century, except in the South.
However, the Baptist and Methodist religions spawned the Evangelical movements, both independent and the Pentecostal, which hold generally that the Bible was divinely inspired and is infallible.
At first, American Evangelicals were politically quiet. However, Jerry Falwell and other Christian fundamentalist ministers perceived the potential political power of the burgeoning Evangelical movement and went into action.
In 1979, Falwell and others right-wing religious figures launched what they called the Moral Majority, which gave the political life of American Evangelicals a giant push. Ever since, Evangelicals have been a dominant political force. Every American president since Jimmy Carter has found it necessary to make known his “born-again” experience with Jesus.
The 2008 presidential campaign became an even more complex web of religion and politics. Sen. John McCain, though raised an Episcopalian, quietly had become an Evangelical. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a Mormon, made a speech that reminded many people of John Kennedy’s Texas declaration. Romney promised to be more American than Mormon.
Barack Obama had to clarify his relationship with his controversial pastor, Jeremiah Wright, and Wright’s Christian church in Chicago where Obama was “born again.” Obama’s denial of being a Muslim is still questioned by some opponents.
After securing the Republican nomination, McCain surprised the nation by choosing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his vice-presidential running mate. She was no ordinary outspoken Evangelical. She was a Pentecostal Evangelical, part of a non-rational Christianity in which personal experience with God trumps all other considerations.
Pentecostalism is the fastest growing segment of American Christianity, and the rise of Sarah Palin is truly historic. Her staying power may surprise some, but it does not surprise those who grasp the strength of American Pentecostalism.
Today, Mitt Romney is considered the front-runner for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, and in a campaign dominated by jobs, health care, finances and unpopular wars, nothing much has been said about Romney’s religion, so far.
However, in Robert Putnam’s and David Campbell’s book about American religion, entitled American Grace, the authors note the political difficulties Romney may face as a Mormon. Though Mormons, Evangelicals and Pentecostals have much in common – they are pro-life (anti-abortion), oppose gay marriage, speak forcefully about family values and are all aggressive proselytizing faiths – they have important differences.
Many Christians, and especially Evangelicals and Pentecostals, consider Mormons not simply heretics, but a cult. Voting for a Christian with a differing opinion can be accepted, but voting for a candidate who is a member of a cult is an entirely different matter.
Most political leaders will speak of tolerance and acceptance of religious diversity; however, polls show a different story. In a 2008 Harris poll, 58 percent of Evangelicals indicated they would be bothered by a Mormon president.
The tensions produced by the intersection of religion and politics often are underplayed by columnists and television talking heads. In the process, they may be missing a huge part of the story of the 2012 presidential elections.
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The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist minister, who lives in Palmer, Alaska. His email address is hdbss@mtaonline.net
Yep.
Yes, and they were going to collect old bowling balls to make her a rosary. This was a joke, reverend, an irreverent joke, but a joke. Not a "false story."
Idiot preachers need to stay within their depth, which in this guy's case is a wading pool.
Are they preparing to call her a snake handler next?
Are they preparing to call her a snake handler next?
Well, it’s a plus for me. I’m a Catholic myself, but I have no problem with Evangelicals and Pentacostals if they are genuine Christians, as I believe Sarah Palin is.
As a result, she has rock solid values. She isn’t going to change with the political winds, the way someone like Newt Gingrich did, who only SEEMED to have solid values.
At the same time, she has demonstrated in her performance as Mayor and Governor that she doesn’t expect everyone else to become a Pentacostal. She is very far from being a fanatic, as the left thinks of real Christians. She has no intention of forcing her religion on others. Persuasion, yes, but not force—the way the left tries to force their values on everyone.
“...American politics at the highest levels was dominated by a Masonic brand of Protestantism.”
First time I’ve heard the term, “Masonic brand of Protestanism”. Any idea of what this actually means? Anyone?
I have no question at all about the communist druggie's alleged Christianity:
"Islam has always been part of America"
-BHO
"we will encourage more Americans to study in Muslim communities"
-BHO
"These rituals remind us of the principles that we hold in common, and Islam’s role in advancing justice, progress, tolerance, and the dignity of all human beings."
-BHO
"America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles of justice and progress, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings."
-BHO
"So I have known Islam on three continents before coming to the region where it was first revealed"
-BHO
"Ramadan is a celebration of a faith known for great diversity and racial equality"
-BHO
"As a young man, I worked in Chicago communities where many found dignity and peace in their Muslim faith."
-BHO
"I look forward to hosting an Iftar dinner celebrating Ramadan here at the White House later this week, and wish you a blessed month."
-BHO
"That experience guides my conviction that partnership between America and Islam must be based on what Islam is, not what it isn't. And I consider it part of my responsibility as president of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear."
-BHO
"I also know that Islam has always been a part of America's story."
-BHO
"Whatever we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation"
-BHO
"Which passages of scripture should guide our public policy? Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is OK and that eating shellfish is an abomination? Or we could go with Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith?"
-BHO
"Even those who claim the Bible's inerrancy make distinctions between Scriptural edicts, sensing that some passages - the Ten Commandments, say, or a belief in Christ's divinity - are central to Christian faith, while others are more culturally specific and may be modified to accommodate modern life."
-BHO
"The American people intuitively understand this, which is why the majority of Catholics practice birth control and some of those opposed to gay marriage nevertheless are opposed to a Constitutional amendment to ban it. Religious leadership need not accept such wisdom in counseling their flocks, but they should recognize this wisdom in their politics."
-BHO
"I am not willing to have the state deny American citizens a civil union that confers equivalent rights on such basic matters as hospital visitation or health insurance coverage simply because the people they love are of the same sex—nor am I willing to accept a reading of the Bible that considers an obscure line in Romans to be more defining of Christianity than the Sermon on the Mount."
-BHO
"I find it hard to believe that my God would consign four-fifths of the world to hell. I can't imagine that my God would allow some little Hindu kid in India who never interacts with the Christian faith to somehow burn for all eternity. That's just not part of my religious makeup."
-BHO
"Those opposed to abortion cannot simply invoke God’s will--they have to explain why abortion violates some principle that is accessible to people of all faiths."
-BHO
"If people find that controversial [civil unions] then I would just refer them to the Sermon on the Mount."
-BHO
"I believe that there are many paths to the same place, and that is a belief that there is a higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people."
-BHO
You don’t have to believe in my religion to believe in my political goals. The only religion that doesn’t believe in job growth and economic prosperity appears to be the Democrat one.
“Not only do some Republicans continue to question Barack Obama’s Christianity”
We know him by his fruits.
The concealing that all churches, including Catholic and Greek Orthodox have about the same teachings on Mormonism is appearing to be like a 100% media wide.
I think that every mention that I have ever read makes it seem as though only Evangelicals are hostile to the Mormon religion.
Well the MSM didn’t see any problem with Baraq attending Rev Wright’s Temple of Hate. So they certainly wouldn’t have a problem with some Republican’s place of worship, would they?
/s
Everybody should read what you posted.
I noticed that too. Never heard of it either, and I certainly know plenty about both Protestantism and Freemasonry.
As thay say these days, “What does that even MEAN?”
“He doesn’t sound like a Baptist to me.”
I’m sorry to say, but the word “Baptist” doesn’t mean much anymore. Too many different groups call themselves “Baptist.”
I will tell you this, among Conservative Baptist groups...American Baptists are not. That particular wing has been way left of center for a long time.
Something else....I don’t think Sarah Palin associates with a “Charismatic” or “Pentacostal” congregation anymore. I think the congregation/church she is currently associated with is plain ole Evangelical. Essentially an old timey Baptist. Please correct me if I have this wrong.
“I think that every mention that I have ever read makes it seem as though only Evangelicals are hostile to the Mormon religion.”
Being a conservative evangelical Southern Baptist....I can tell you that I am “hostile” towards Mormonisn. I consider it to be as insidious as “chocolate covered poison.” Plus, those seriously into it are not truthful or honest in what they trully believe. They will intentionally hide inconveinent history or use religious double talk to hide their beliefs. It isn’t remotely true Christianity....just the ravings of the 19th centuries Ron Hubbard flim fam man...Joseph Smith. One of the biggest frauds in history...followed by Brigham Young...in many ways a bigger fraud.
However, I am breaking my own rules not to get into diatribes against Mormonism this election cycle. Romney has plenty of secular reasons to NOT be elected without bringing in religious ones. But, I must be honest when I say I consider Mormonism to be an evil on par or worse than the obviously false nonsense the current Obamination puts out. At this point...I need to shut up.
My guess would be any Christian sect except for Catholicism. The pope (and even in recent times) banned Freemasonry because catholics are not free to associate. I suppose catholics would see it differently. Not wanting a religious war involving Freemasons, Catholics, and some fundies, but just expressing an opinion.
I’ve seen few writers who are more ignorant than this one.
I wonder if he even knows how to tie his own shoes.
Obama is NOT a Christian! This is not a matter of opinion but fact!
Overwhelming PROOF that he is NOT. Where to start? Abortion, who he just appointed to the Supreme Court.
The guy spit on Christ when he appointed the 2 Non Christian judges to the court. He had spit on Jesus long before that even. Obama is a enemy of Christ...Case Closed!!!
Freemasonry? I just paid a pant load for some masonry work around my house...if I had only known of the program ;)
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