Religion and the Candidates

Religion remains a point of interest regarding the presidential candidates in the upcoming 2008 election, with significant media attention devoted towards both Senator Barack Obama’s and Senator John McCain’s religious preferences. Both endorse Christianity in some form, yet both stray from widely accepted Christian viewpoints on specific social issues.

Between McCain and Obama, Obama has been more vocal about religion, especially given the heightened concentration on his 20-year membership at the Trinity United Church of Christ under the controversial Jeremiah Wright.

Obama stated at The Compassion Forum, an event held at the (Anabaptist) Messiah College, that “…I am a devout Christian, that I started my work working with churches in the shadow of steel plants that had closed on the south side of Chicago,” and queried, “what are our obligations religiously, in terms of doing good works, and how does that inform our politics?”

Yet despite his religious rhetoric, Obama endorses opinions on abortion diametrically opposed to basic Christian values on the sanctity of life. As an unapologetic supporter of pro-choice legislation, Obama said the following in an interview with CBN News:

“One of the things I have always said is that abortion is a deeply moral issue, and those that would deny a moral component to it I think are wrong. The reason that I make a decision to support the choice position is not because I don’t think it’s a moral issue, I trust women to make a prayerful decision about this issue.”

Though he alleges a moral component to abortion, he defends his pro-choice position using the ideals of trust and prayerful decisions. Obama forgets that Christian principles remain staunchly opposed to abortion in all forms, and his image of a woman’s prayerful consideration, while touching, is unrealistic. Why would a “devout Christian” endorse a view resolutely counter to his Biblical theology? Perhaps because, in Obama’s words, “….because we are not just a Christian nation. We are a Jewish nation; we are a Buddhist nation; we are a Muslim nation; Hindu nation; and we are a nation of atheists and nonbelievers.”

McCain, the much less religiously vocal candidate, also professes a diluted degree of Christianity. In an interview with Dan Gilgoff of Belief.net, he stated the following:

“I meant to say that I practice in a—I am a Christian and I attend a Baptist church. I am very aware that immersion is part—as my wife Cindy has done—is necessary to be considered a Baptist. So I was raised Episcopalian, I have attended the North Phoenix Baptist Church for many years and I am a Christian.”

He elaborated further in the interview:

“My faith obviously informs my decisions. It informs my strengths as well as my weaknesses. And it makes me aware of how imperfect a person I am. And it is vital in helping me maintain the principles upon which I conduct my political life, as well as other parts of my life.”

Although his voting record in the Senate is as pro-life as his opponent’s is pro-choice, McCain’s relationship with conservative Christians is in some ways as tenuous as Obama’s. His infamous comments about Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell as “agents of intolerance” are credited as the causal factor in him losing the conservative Christian vote and the campaign for the 2000 Republican presidential nomination. “Values voters” also balk at his more recent comments criticizing Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito as being too conservative. Finally, the limits placed on pro-life groups in his signature campaign finance legislation angered many Christians.

As the 2008 elections draw nearer, the train wreck of campaign promises and assertions gains momentum. The candidates’ credibility would be aided were their statements backed by their policy on controversial issues.

Rachel Paulk is an intern at the American Journalism Center, a training program run by Accuracy in Media and Accuracy in Academia.