Go to the New York Times, Newsweek, or CNN websites and do a search for McCain and religion. What comes up? Basically nothing. Go to those same sites and do a search for Obama and Religion. What comes up? A slew of articles about Barack Obama's religion and articles questioning his religious views. Newsweek's cover story back in July of this year showcased Obama's faith his beliefs. With such an abundance of information on Barack Obama's religious views, where are the articles about John McCain?
The Right seems to be so concerned with Religion and its place in this the political sphere, and, in this election, it would make sense to me that John McCain's religious views or even his religion would be known to anyone with an interest in this election. So what religion is he?
Before I answer that question, I'd like to pose another: why does it even matter? Frankly, it shouldn't. During election seasons, the media tends to focus on the fist-bumps and local bar photo-ops, rather than the substance of a candidate's positions and character. As the media covers what it finds interesting, John and Jane Q. Public have to watch the idiocy. Quoting Jon Stewart's comedy routine from a cold October night at the University of Connecticut, "70% of us have s**t to do." And yes, I do realize his biases, but he makes a good point. Get to the issues that will make our lives better, that we care about. Talk about how we're going to pay for that next prescription; talk about how we will pay for our groceries; talk about how we can keep our homes; talk about bringing our soldiers home safely; talk about how we will be able to retire; talk about how we'll be able to pay for college.
Religion is an important issues, I will admit. But when it divides us, we should realize the deadlock in which it places us. Whether Barack Obama or John McCain is Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Agnostic, Atheist, or whatever, it shouldn't matter. What should matter is how these men will help rebuild our confidence, rebuild our reputation, and reshape our country.
Oh by the way......John McCain is a Baptist.....Wikipedia.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
If Obama is Muslim, What is McCain?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
5 comments:
In light of such prominent articles as the Newsweek cover story, it certainly would seem that Obama's religious views have received more media coverage than those of McCain. This made me curious, and I began to do some Google searching. I did find a helpful link from the Pew Forum with articles from a variety of well-known sources regarding each candidate and his or her faith. For anyone who is interested in looking more into the role of religion for each candidate, the link is http://pewforum.org/religion08/profile.php?CandidateID=3
After commenting on the media's coverage of each candidates' religion, Matt's post raises a broader question that is definitely worth considering, "Why does it even matter?" While the professed religious stance of a particular candidate should not be a sole criterion for who to choose, it is something worth looking at. I think that many of us voters who take an interest in a candidate's religion choose to do so because we would hope that a candidate's beliefs lead to morals that somehow come into play when he or she is choosing how to best govern our nation. Granted, these beliefs and morals are not always manifested in ways we would expect. Take Biden, for example. He is the only candidate who is Roman Catholic, and he accepts that life begins at conception. He does not wish to "impose" this belief, however, by using it to shape our nation's policies (see Grant's post). In this case, if Catholics were to seek to ally themselves with Biden soley because he is nominally Catholic, they would in fact be in favor of a candidate whose pro-life stance is not in line with Church teaching. I do not personally know anyone who is voting this way-I'm just offering the Biden situation of an example of how voting for a candidate who is technically the same religion as you does not guarantee that the candidate's policies will be morally acceptable.
In short, professed religion should by no means be the only thing we look at in candidates, but it does have a role. I for one, would not be comfortable with an atheist as president. At the end of the day, ideally, I would like the president of our nation to have the humility to admit that we need God. While this may sound too optimistic, it is my hope and prayer that such a seed of faith would eventually blossom into a way governing that respects the dignity of all human life in all its stages, for this life is a precious gift from God.
Matt, you raise an interesting point here about McCain's religious views receiving less attention than Obama's. I think perhaps a root of that may be the inability of the Christian Right to rally behind a particular candidate during primary season. Some conservative Christians went with Huckabee, others Romney, some even flocked to Giuliani. Many, in fact, were upset by McCain's victory because of his views on, say, Roe. V. Wade. There were many media speculations that certain evangelicals would sit out or go with third parites on election day, dissatisfied with their lack of representation. Now, though, with the addition of Sarah Palin to the ticket, I think the McCain camp is very clearly making a stance on religion. They are wooing--successfully--conservative Evangelicals. We may not all be clear on McCain's religion, but Palin's beliefs, and their correlation to her views on abortion and other social issues, are crystal clear. Perhaps, in the eyes of McCain's strategists, the lack of emphasis on religion in his campaign had the potential to do more harm than good.
Probably due to Barack Obama's relatively recent entry onto the national stage, as well as his unusual name and history, many americans see him as more of an "unknown." His biography and religion are therefore of much more interest to the media and the public. However, the intense focus on Obama's religion has distracted everyone from McCain's, which has effectively been glossed over. As opposed to the Republican Party at large, McCain is comparatively silent on the topic of religion. Any irregularities involving Obama's religion would likely garner a lot of attention, while McCain's apparent confusion over whether he is an Episcopalian or a Baptist (link: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,296973,00.html) has not been discussed at all.
This is an interesting point to bring up because rarely have we heard from John McCain about religion over the past 6 months. He has never worn his religious beliefs on his sleeve, like numerous other figures in his party, most prominently, President Bush. John McCain's reluctance to discuss his religious beliefs may be part of the reason that he has had a rather strenuous relationship with the religious right until just recently. McCain, however, does not face the pressure that Obama faces on the religion issue because the criticisms always come from the religious right of the Republican party. Religious leaders like Pat Robertson, the late Jerry Falwell and others feel far less threatened by even a moderate Republican candidate than they do by anyone on the Left. Democrats always face criticism on the religion issue, from Bill Clinton, John Kerry and now Barrack Obama. Democrats are forced to prove and explain their "faith" because of this pressure and because they understand that a significant portion of the American public does care about the candidates' religious traditions.
I don’t agree with pcr002’s post. I believe that both John McCain and Sarah Palin’s religious views have been put under a magnifying glass by many people including the media. For example, the churches that Palin has attended in the past/currently and some of their practices have been brought up for debate. McCain’s religious beliefs have been called into question on issues such as abortion. I think that many of the criticisms that the candidates face regarding religious issues come from numerous places, but do not solely come from the Republican Party. It is important to keep in mind that all of the candidates face criticism at some point on religious issues. That is simply part of politics because people on both sides of the table want to know about the candidate. As for McCain’s religious beliefs, I think it is still early in the election, and any further questions about his beliefs will be answered during some of the debates.
Post a Comment