The hostile reaction to expressions of religious belief by presidential candidates suggests that the cultural and media elite in America remain deeply uncomfortable with robust Christian witness.
Is Rick Perry, who led a prayer rally before announcing his candidacy, too religious to become president? Is Mitt Romney too Mormon — and therefore a fringe candidate? Is Jon Huntsman not Mormon enough — and therefore acceptable?
And, after winning the Iowa Straw Poll the day before, Michele Bachmann tussled with Meet the Press host David Gregory Aug. 14 over whether a woman who believed in St. Paul’s dictum on wives being submissive to their husbands can be a serious candidate.
Misunderstandings persist about the proper role and place of religion, in spite of surveys showing strong religiosity in America.
Whatever one may think of Ephesians 5, a believer’s effort to understand and follow the word of God in his personal life does not mean he would turn the country into a theocracy.
Life and marriage issues are a different question. Even an atheist can recognize that life begins at conception and marriage is the union of one man and one woman designed for the procreation and education of children. These are not strictly religious principles. Catholic or Christian candidates should not be silenced by a misguided notion that they are imposing their religious values on a diverse populace.
Gregory also had a hard time understanding how Bachmann listens to God. He asked about some of her statements in the past that God told her to do this or that. She tried to explain how she might seek his guidance in prayer.
Any Christian who seeks discernment in prayer knows what Bachmann is talking about when she says it’s “important for us to seek his guiance and pray and listen to his voice.” It’s not about carrying out orders from a dictator in the sky. God gives man intellect and freedom to make what seems to him the wisest decision.
A president who is serious about acting from the basis of an informed conscience and who struggles to conform his or her life and actions to a higher standard can’t be bad for this country. It may be just what America needs at this critical time in her history.
This is not an endorsement of any presidential hopeful. But a Christian candidate should not pretend to be something other than what he or she is, just to be palatable to the chattering classes. And Americans should not fear a praying president.
Comments
Post a Comment
Your very first paragraph—“The hostile reaction to expressions of religious belief by presidential candidates suggests that the cultural and media elite in America remain deeply uncomfortable with robust Christian witness.” I AM deeply uncomfortable with any individual seeking to become President who holds to the ideology of Dominionism—the devotion to the idea that only evangelical Christians are fit to hold public office and must do so until Christ returns. Yes—it scares the hell out of me that someone would devote himself/herself to turning our SECULAR nation into a theocracy! It should scare the hell out of EVERYONE!
@Ron
Theocracy’s scare me also. Especially, in the era of mass contraception use and abortion used even by ‘devout’ Christians, it is easy to envision am Islamic theocracy when Muslims have 4-8 children but ‘christians’ have 1 ir 2 children.
Though Mr. Perry is Methodist. I have never heard him discuss ‘Dominionism’ I am a citizen of the great state of Texas. So, I am aware of Mr. Perry’s triumphs and failures—he seems human and has a track record that shows his faith in action. He has helped give Texans more options. Now we can choose to buy a vanity license plate that says choose life (the funds raised go to adoption advocacies) and mothers can choose to look at the same sonogram monitor that the abortionist is using.
He has also made mistakes like ordering young ladies to get the gardisal vaccination and perhaps the central Texas tool roads.
I believe that we can have a secular nation with religous freedoms that can be shaped by our religious beliefs. After all our body of law is shaped by the ten commandments. I could easily write about a dystopian society that was not shaped by any religious beliefs but really if you merely read Soviet history carefully then you can get the gist.
I have read enough European history to want to avoid a State Church that led to much bloodshed (most of that I believe was more power hunger and hate fueled under the banner of being Catholic, Puritan, Angilcan or ect.)
and was the underpinning reason that we were founded with the right to religious freedom (not the freedom from religion).
Post a Comment
By submitting this form, you give The National Catholic Register permission to publish this comment. Comments will be published at our discretion, and may be edited for clarity and length. For best formatting, please limit your response to one paragraph and don't hit "enter" to force line breaks.