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Sunday, ABC hosted the latest in the 18-gazillion scheduled Presidential debates, this one for the Democrats.
For the fashionistas, Hillary wore a tan suit, so there were no comments about whether the color was right for her under the TV lighting.
But the voter question that bothered me the most wasn’t about the candidates’ attire — it was about the candidates’ position on prayer.
Call me crazy, but didn’t this country get founded because we didn’t want the government to be all wrapped up with the church? I’m not so naive to think that the candidates don’t have personal views on God and faith and religion. But that isn’t something that figures in to my decision on who to vote for in the Presidential election.
Apparently, though, from the voter question that was posed to the candidates, there are those who feel that it’s fair game to ask what the candidates believe, not only about God, but about how they think the power of prayer figures into stopping Category Five hurricanes and other natural disasters or bad things that happen to our families.
I was sad that most of the Dems took the bait and tried to directly answer the question about the importance of prayer in their lives.
For me, I don’t care whether the President prays or not. I want to know whether the person who is sitting in the Oval Office has a grasp on the conflicts around the world and the hard issues that face us as Americans — Iraq, Social Security, health care, education, the environment.
If they feel that praying helps them come up with the best solution for all of us as a nation, that’s great. But that’s not the first criterion I look to when deciding how I’m going to cast my ballot. And I’m just a tad concerned if there are voters out there who put religion first as a way to decide who should be running the world and what’s best for us as a nation. It doesn’t seem like it’s worked so well for us in the current administration.
I say all that knowing there are many voters who will disagree with me about the role of religion in the Oval Office, but that’s how I feel.
What do you think? Is it fair and relevant to ask the candidates what they think about the power of prayer and the role of religion in the White House? Or should the leader of the free world be making decisions based on facts and not beliefs?
This entry was posted on Monday, August 20th, 2007 at 11:36 am and is filed under Uncategorized.
August 20th, 2007 at 2:50 pm
eh. Loaded question. Do I care about my candidate’s faith? Not really. But I don’t want a flaming secularist on the ticket? No.
I’m not sure how Rove tarred the democrats with the secularist label, but I am quite certain that the association has hurt, not helped democrats. People who have a problem with christmas displays in the town square should just avert their eyes. It doesn’t hurt anyone, and the displays are not contrary to what our founding fathers had in mind when they wrote the constitution.And it’s just fodder for the OReillys of the world. My two cents.
So I’m happy the candidates paid lip service and/or voiced their sincerely held beliefs on the topic, if only to reassure the wingnuts the democrats are not going to ruin christmas.
August 20th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
Jane, that’s a really interesting perspective that I hadn’t thought of. I can definitely see where having that come up last night could be a plus for the Democratic candidates when it comes to the voters who have been impacted by the attacks of Rove, et al.
August 20th, 2007 at 7:14 pm
Hmmm. See, this (among many other things) is why I can never run for public office. I don’t believe in God and frankly I hate having it shoved down my throat. I think it’s completely irrelevant to politics. Does that mean that we should ban Christmas? No, don’t be ridiculous. (I’m not sure what a flaming secularist is, but I’m guessing I’m one of them.) But I don’t want my children praying in school unless I choose to put them in a private school. I don’t want religion to be a part of my life or my childrens’ lives unless I choose to make it so.
Although many people have told me that they consider a candidate’s religion to be related to character, I don’t think a lack of prayer indicates that someone is without moral character. Nor do I think that a belief in God makes someone of upstanding character. The two are unrelated. And yes, it disturbs me as well that this drives voting choices for some people.
Clearly I have no strong feelings about this, PM!
August 20th, 2007 at 9:59 pm
Yet another time when Lawyer Mama beat me to the punch.
I’m an atheist. Everybody hide! We bite!
I agree with your point Joanne, that if prayer helps a andidate on a personal level, then go for it. But…I do get a bit weirded out by the importance faith–and let’s face it when we say faith it is always Christianity–plays in American politics.
August 20th, 2007 at 10:33 pm
“I don’t think a lack of prayer indicates that someone is without moral character. Nor do I think that a belief in God makes someone of upstanding character.” Exactly, LawyerMama.
The Golden Rule is a pretty good standard of morality that doesn’t mention a deity. And history is full of atrocities committed by believers in the name of God - and not just history, current events too.
I think that whole “separation of church and state” concept is a good one, and was a founding principle of this country for good reason. Belief and/or religious practice is a personal thing, sometimes a community thing, but I’m disturbed by how it’s increasingly a political thing as well.
August 21st, 2007 at 2:06 am
Thank you! Sometimes I’d like to jump through this screen and kiss you right on your virtual lips! I have expressed this opinion many times in my part of the country, a.k.a. the bible belt, and am looked as if I were an alien from outer space. I just don’t understand all of the never ending talk about this subject. Sometimes I wonder if people have to have these discussions about prayer so much because they are in fact insecure about their own belief systems and are looking for some validation. I don’t know…I’m just so darn sick of this part of these campaigns.
August 21st, 2007 at 6:12 pm
LawyerMama LOL, yes you are a flaming secularist. And while I’m glad that you exist, you frighten huge swaths of middle america. There are whole books written about why Kerry lost in 2004 - incidentally one just came out and is reviewed on salon.com today - and religion and faith played a huge role. The turnout among religious conservatives basically tipped the scale.
That’s the pragmatic argument. But beyond that, I think we need to be cognizant of the constitutional protection of free exercise of religion, and sensitive to people who do have faith. Like I said, given the choice between averting your eyes and raising a sh*tstorm, sometimes averting your eyes is the better way to go, e.g. town christmas displays.
August 23rd, 2007 at 6:50 am
I’m going to put on my red, white & blue hat here…
This country is sooooo great!
Everyone here has been able to express whatever they believe because, as Jane pointed out so great, “we need to be cognizant of the constitutional protecton of free exercise of religion”—and I”ll add—sensitive to people of any form of faith.
The fact that this blog conversation exists is reason to celebrate and thank all those who served & gave their lives for our country.
I can choose to worship or not to worship and my country won’t bug me either way!
I wish everyone in the world enjoyed the same freedoms we do.
August 29th, 2007 at 6:24 pm
I meant to comment on this last week and got distracted.
This part of the debate made me squirm, because it had that element of gotcha, that I feel it’s just too darn early for.
For what it’s worth, I thought John Edwards had the best response (and the only one to really answer the question as asked) that no, he didn’t believe that prayer could help us avert disasters, but that didn’t mean he stopped praying.
Bill Richardson has the response that would have been closest to mine - that yes he prayed and that his prayers were private.