CE Week #12: “The Authenticity Test”
Just 40% of Americans go to church weekly, but 70% want a president with strong religious faith.
By Lisa Miller
NEWSWEEK
Updated: 1:39 PM ET Nov 10, 2007
Over the past three years, Sen. John Kerry has had a lot of time to think about his God, and at a meeting with journalists in Washington earlier this month he shared those thoughts. He grew up in a Roman Catholic home before Vatican II; though devout, he prayed in private behind his closed bedroom door, as was the custom at the time. In Vietnam, he prayed to God to save his life, and when he came home some of his foxhole promises no longer felt so pressing. Kerry, a divorced, pro-choice Democrat with a foreign-seeming wife, ran for president in 2004 against an incumbent whose personal Christian-conversion story was intricately woven into his public persona. Yet, out of principle or stubbornness, Kerry chose not to expound upon his own faith until late in the race—too late, he says in retrospect. In the spring and summer of ‘04, a handful of U.S. Catholic bishops announced they’d refuse Kerry holy communion on the grounds that his stance on abortion went against church teachings, and Kerry suddenly found himself having to answer fundamental questions about who he was and what he stood for. “I should have started earlier to introduce who I really was—in ‘02 or ‘03,” he told NEWSWEEK last week. He gave a big Catholic-values speech in Florida in October, but by then it was too late. “October is October. You’ve got to do this earlier,” he says. “People have to have a sense of this as a continuum. Explaining how Catholicism has shaped my view of public life—it would have made a difference.”
These revelations should be instructive to the field of ‘08 hopefuls, who as a group represent a dramatic range of religious views and observance, from Catholic to Mormon to— potentially—Jew, and from extremely orthodox (Mitt Romney) to much less so (Rudy Giuliani). Despite their religiosity or lack thereof, all will have to tell a convincing faith-and-values story to the American public—for Americans, though cynical about politicians, still love public piety. Although just 40 percent of Americans go to church every week, 70 percent say they want a president with strong religious faith, and 94 percent believe in God, according to an August survey by Pew. Kerry believes that a candidate doesn’t have to be a regular churchgoer to be elected, but cannot under any circumstances be an atheist or agnostic. John Green, a fellow at Pew, agrees. “Supporting a candidate who’s religious is shorthand for supporting a candidate with values and principles,” says Green.
If Kerry is right, then a successful candidate must neither remain mute on the faith question nor pander, but tell an authentic personal-values narrative early and often. The thrice-married Giuliani, who told values voters last month that “I don’t easily publicly proclaim myself as the best example of faith,” seems to have passed the authenticity test: last week Pat Robertson endorsed him despite their many ideological disagreements.
Americans have elected and loved secular presidents before, from Thomas Jefferson, who decided to edit the miracles out of the Gospel stories, to Ronald Reagan, who, though a movie actor and not a regular churchgoer, was able to convince people of his sincerity and commitment to high principles. In the absence of an orthodox religion story, Princeton sociologist Robert Wuthnow suggests that candidates tell a story about “a sense of rebirth or change or insights or awakenings.” As the religious right scrambles to cohere, perhaps this is a good moment to remember that authentic belief in God is a personal matter, and if half of Americans can’t find God in church, maybe the president doesn’t have to, either.
URL: http://www.newsweek.com/id/69531
I found this article interesting in that politicians are looked at so critically for their religion and even religion background. I don’t think that it is right for the bishops to refuse Kerry’s holy commission simply because his stance on abortion went against the church. Everyone is able to have their own opinions on different issues and just because Kerry does not agree with all of the same ideas of the church, does not mean that he cannot consider himself “Christian”. It’s kind of like people and their choices of politicians; they aren’t going to agree with every stance that a candidate promotes, but if they do agree with a majority of the candidates issues, then they are going to, for the most part, support that candidate. It seems very rare that someone would agree and support all issues and ideas of any politician, or even religion.
This article also talked about how not all American’s are churchgoers or religions, yet a religious President is a key factor. I think that people have ideas in the back of their minds that those who are “religious” have everything together and would know how to run the government. This may not be completely true, as we have seen Presidents come through who have been strong “Christians” and yet have not made some of the best decisions for our country. I think that this next election is going to be interesting with all the different religious backgrounds of the candidates. From Mormon to Orthodox, it will be interesting to see if something as simple as a religion will change the outcome of the votes.
It might have been nice to have another Roman Catholic president since i believe our only other one was JFK and well he didn’t last that long. (My respects to John F. Kennedy). He should have brought out his faith sooner in the race because i believe more people might have liked that or seen him as more of a JFK figure than just a democratic candidate. I think that happens to anyone with a religion. There comes a time that they have to sit down and ask the tough questions to themselves to see what they really believe. It might be good for him to do something with his religion and maybe that could help him in another presidential run for office. Who knows. Maybe this could be a lesson to many of the candidates on the trail in this race. Speak out about what you beleive don’t shy away from any issue if it is important to you. I guess it comes down to be who the American people want you to be. Also keep yourself to who you already are and who you want to become. Many presidents or presidential candidates change to become something they are not and that shouldn’t happen. Just shape yourself into what you will become and be who everyone wants you to be.
RE: Morgan McDonald
The Bishops didn’t deny Kerry’s communion because they thought he couldn’t be a Christian. The Bishops, generally, are pretty open-minded about the open-mindedness of their parishioners. They wouldn’t ever, in a normal situation, deny one of their flock the body of Christ because of an ideological stance. The bishops though, are pretty big political figures (don’t get me into the political hierarchies of the Catholic Church, though. Eww) and this action was not made within the religious but within the political realm. It was a public snub in a public-attention grabbing way of the candidate Kerry.
Also, the idealogical scale (I’m referring to your last sentence now) doesn’t go from Mormon to Orthodox; those are on the same side of the scale.
RE: Evan D.
This has nothing to do with sitting down and asking oneself the “tough questions.” This has to do with getting elected. The lesson in this all is definitely not, “Speak out about what you bel[ie]ve don’t shy away from any issue if it is important to you.” The lesson is, “Atheist or not, pretend that you love Jesus. You might not fool him, but you sure as hell (hell) can fool the electorate.”
When you think about it, it is most definitely true. Many Americans do profess themselves to be religious, but when it comes right down to it, there are a lot of discrepancies that go with a certain set of beliefs. Christianity for instance is a very widely practiced religion, and yet there are differences in almost every family or specific group of people that practice it, depending on where they live or how they were raised.
But then we look at someone like John Kerry, who grew up a devout Catholic, and turned into a pro-choice deviant who supports very un-Catholic, un-Christian, and un-saintly acts in life. And he tried to use his religion to get him elected, only once he realized that it was working so well for his opponent. His problem was that his opponent was sincere, and had not deviated from his message and then tried to jump on the bandwagon. It is true the public generally picks a candidate that has an established religion. And maybe it’s for good reason. Having a religion that one has invested in is something that shows that the person has values, morals, and ethics on which to stand. And that image is shattered if you are trying to catch up by saying, “Oh, by the way, yah I have a religion!”
~Liz