Faith in deed
SPEAKING AT A Baptist church in St. Louis last weekend, John Kerry cited a verse from the New Testament book of James: "What does it profit, my brother, if a man says he has faith but does not have works?" The implied criticism of his opponent was clear.
Later in the day, the spokesman for President Bush's reelection campaign expressed shock that a presidential candidate would use religious language in a campaign, protesting that Kerry's reference was "beyond the bounds of acceptable discourse" and accusing him of exploiting Scripture for political purposes.
More shocking, perhaps, is that anyone in the context of an election campaign would think to pose such a logical question: Is there any connection between the President's oft-cited religious faith and his policy decisions?
Political journalists who go toe-to-toe with candidates on issues of foreign policy or budgetary priorities often appear flummoxed when religion surfaces and tend to resort to one of two strategies.
The assumption is that religion is a concept copyrighted by the Republican Party and that most Democrats aren't genuinely religious. If a Democratic candidate asserts his faith, reporters typically retreat to the game of "Gotcha," trying to trip him up and expose his insincerity. Howard Dean discovered this when he "got" religion during the Democratic primary campaign, at one point fielding questions from Newsweek reporter Howard Fineman such as, "Do you see Jesus Christ as the son of God and believe in him as the route to salvation and eternal life?" Unless Fineman was about to baptize Dean, it's unclear what prompted him to inject that query into a political interview.
If, on the other hand, a candidate vigorously asserts that religion is important to him, political writers will label him a "religious man" without asking what that really means or why voters should care. This usually favors Republicans, who get a pass from reporters reluctant to engage in Scripture-quoting contests, but it can also be seen in the treatment of African-American politicians, who are assumed to be more sincere about their faith, and in the way the press approached Joseph Lieberman's religiosity.
Similarly, when Bush brought religion into the 2000 election by citing Jesus as his favorite political philosopher, no one asked the reasonable follow-ups to that assertion: How do the teachings of Jesus inform your position on the death penalty? Or on tax policy? If you pick and choose Biblical principles to guide your decisions, which principles are those?
If Bush were simply an ordinary politician who seldom talked about religion, it might be unfair for reporters and opponents to question him about the content of his faith. But as
When a candidate makes religion an issue, when he brings it into political debate, he should be prepared to answer tough questions. Kerry is already being pressed to explain why his views on abortion differ from Catholic teaching. Likewise, it's appropriate to ask Bush to draw connections between the religious beliefs he espouses and the political actions he has taken.
Learning to explore the nuances of how religious faith informs a candidate's political thought and behavior -- rather than treating it as a cynical political tool -- would enrich both our political discourse and our understanding of religion's role in public life.
Amy Sullivan is a doctoral candidate in sociology at Princeton University and a contributing editor to The Gadflyer (www.gadflyer.com).
