In an article titled, “McCain Shies Away From Religious Talk” by Jonathon Martin, McCain seems to be criticized for not speaking openly about his religion or religious beliefs. The interview took place in April, while Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were trying to capture the democratic parties nomination. Martin, along with Senator Sam Brownback, believe that McCain’s shyness about his religion could have a negative impact on the presidential race, especially because both Obama and Clinton are “accustomed to discussing the role faith plays in his or her life.”
McCain says that his religion is a personal decision and implies that it would not have an impact on his politics. What really drives McCain is his of a “love of country and sense of duty instilled by a military family with a long legacy of service.” Although both of those things are important, the American voters are going to want to know were McCain stands in terms of religion. Although most people are taught that there is a separation between church and state, a large amount of people know that it is not that simple. Many decisions that presidents make are based on what they believe are the morally and ethically correct things to do. Most of their moral and ethical decisions come from their faith, which typically comes from their religious background. Therefore, without knowing about what he believes in terms of religion, it could be hard to speculate on what his policy-making decisions could be.
The article then goes on and talks about a story that McCain told when he was a prisoner of war in Hanoi. The story was about a North Vietnamese guard that loosened the ropes, one night that tied the prisoners together. McCain said, “On Christmas, that same guard approached me, and without saying a word, he drew a cross in the sand.” Although that might have been a proud moment for McCain, it does tells a lot more about the religion of the prison guard than about his own religion, reinforcing the idea that McCain in uncomfortable discussing his faith. Orson Swindle, one of McCain’s closest friends and a fellow POW said, “I don’t recall us talking specifically about our faith. We talked about our friends, families, our resistance posture, and that our country didn’t seem to have the will to win.”
Typically the Republican Party is more open about religion and discussing faith, but that is not always the case, McCain as proof. I am certainly not saying that John McCain is not a deeply religious person or does not have a strong set of beliefs; my point is that it is the nature of American politics to have to be able to openly discuss them, and not being able to discuss them could be a problem for McCain in November. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0408/9361.html
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3 comments:
I agree with the poster in that McCain may have risked losing some support by not speaking as openly about religion, and also that he should not have to. As was discussed in my group while we were editing our papers, Jefferson read his Bible daily, but he thought it was inappropriate to write publicly about his religion. Obviously, a person's openness has nothing much to do with the strength of their religious convictions.
That being said, a base of the Republican Party is evangelicals and McCain would benefit by being open about his faith, just as Obama has done to try to reach out to those same voters. I think at Saddleback we saw McCain open up a bit about his beliefs, even if he did revert back to the tired story about the cross while he was a POW. However, I think it was clear that he was playing to the crowd at Saddleback, and it probably was much easier for him to be open in front of people who would like that and applaud it.
I think the issue lies in the question, should religion be a private matter? Over my past three and a half years at PC, I have heard many of my peers state in one way or another that religion is a private matter that should not be brought into most public matters. I find this claim hard to justify when discussing Christianity due to that fact that Christianity is not meant be a private individualistic religion. It is clear that community and solidarity of all people is a strong theme that runs throughout the Christian religion. It maybe be shown different among different dominations, but when you get to the heart of it, it all goes back to community in Christ. With this being said, I find there to be a conflict between keeping religion private when it is meant to be a public matter for those who follow the faith. We cannot be sure of reasons why McCain does not openly discuss his religious views. What I find troubling is that making one’s religious views public in the political arena can be seen as a weakness or a reason not to vote for that candidate. I do not think it is right to reprimand people for being too religious or not religious enough in the public/political arena. I know it is much more complicated then this, but I think it makes clear the conflict that separation of church and state can cause for those who do allow religion to be the focus of their life and guide their decisions.
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