Obama, Clinton and religion

The continuing effort by many Democrats to more publicly discuss their religious faith and how it infuses their politics is highlighted by a new e-mail exchange between Christian Broadcast Network reporter David Brody and Barack Obama. The communication includes the presidential candidate discussing his recent comment that, "Faith got hijacked, partly because of the so-called leaders of the Christian Right, all too eager to exploit what divides us."

Brody, in e-mail questions he submitted to Obama's campaign a few weeks back, noted that some evangelicals were "taken aback" by the remark and asked Obama to expand on it. Obama, in answers Brody posted on his website Sunday, replied that his goal was to "contrast the heated partisan rhetoric of a distinct minority of Christian leaders with the vast majority of Evangelical Christians --- conservatives included --- who believe that hate has no place in our politics."

Obama also elaborates, to a degree that had been rare within Democratic circles, on what he describes as "the role that values and culture play in addressing" social problems.

For instance, after reiterating his support for "keeping guns out of the inner cities" --- and the need to fight the firearms' lobby on this issue --- he goes on to say that, "I also believe that when a gang-banger shoots indiscriminately into a crowd because he feels somebody disrespected him, we've got a moral problem. There's a hole in that young man's heart --- a hole that the government alone cannot fix."

Today, Brody offered his reflections on Obama's responses, as well as ...

some general observations about his prospects for attracting evangelical support. Brody writes: "What has been refreshing about Obama is that he doesn't shy away from bringing up the name 'Jesus.' "

But Brody also spotlights Obama's comment, in one of his posted answers, that, "Whatever we once were, we're no longer just a Christian nation; we are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of non-believers." Policy-makers, Obama said, need to account for that diversity.

Brody, who was profiled by The Times' Stephanie Simon earlier this year, opines that the "just a Christian nation" line is "not going to sit well with fundamentalists."

Another posting worth checking out on Brody's site today is headlined, "Hillary Clinton's Faith Based Talking Points"; it begins: "When it comes to the faith and values debate in this country, Republicans beware. Democrats are hunting in your backyard."

The item quotes Burns Strider, the director of faith based operations for Clinton, as saying his office "is at the table every morning, fully integrated into the campaign."

Brody also quotes from a six-page memo he said he obtained from Clinton aides, a document that is distributed as "talking points" for supporters. It includes this offering: "The teachings of her faith, the principles of the Methodist church, and the examples of her family have been the guiding light throughout her life... ."

That may well be but, based on a close reading of Sunday's New York Times story relating excerpts from letters she sent during her college years to a childhood friend, she may have experienced at least one crisis of faith.

Toward the end of the lengthy story, that prospect is raised by a portion of a letter she penned early in her junior year at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. She wrote: “Last week I decided that even if life is absurd why couldn’t I spend it absurdly happy?” According to the Times article, she challenges herself to “define ‘happiness’ Hillary Rodham, acknowledged agnostic intellectual liberal, emotional conservative.”

We checked Webster's, just to be sure, and agnostic is defined as: "a person who believes that the human mind cannot know whether there is a God or an ultimate cause, or anything beyond material phenomena."

-- Don Frederick

Comments

[fra59e]

The focus on religious views of politicians is getting really, really old. Why don't candidates just concentrate on what's good for the Republic and the people? What matters in government is what's real, not supernatural. And I have never seen any evidence that morality has any necessary connection with religious faith.

[La'Goro, Albany, NY]

Obama's quick rise is in part due to a political strategy not to stay long in any one position as to generate controversial voting decisions. He didn't stay long as an Illinois state senator because doing so would expose him to controversial and complicated votes. In the same manner, he disregards experience in the US Senate and wishes not to involve in Senate votes that will damage his records, if any. Obama desparately wants to win the Presidency now or never because he wants to avoid exposure to major Senate votes which may compromise his voting record. All Senate votes he has participated in have been over obvious, less complicated issues and have generally been supported by majority members of the US Senate - he has been flowing with everyone else and never stood a significantly tough decision on his own or led any. If he continues a second term in the US Senate you can be assured that voting records on complex issues will haunt Obama in future campaigns and that is what he is trying to avoid by gunning straight and fast for the Presidency without leaving a voting record in the Seante that will jearpardize his future chances when referred to.