Religion getting squeezed out of the race
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- February
- 29
Isn’t it funny how religion kind of evaporated from the presidential race?
Obama and Clinton are both pretty devout mainline Protestants who don’t have many faith-based issues to tussle over.
And John McCain isn’t all that interested in talking about religion. He will, of course, as he tries to rev up the GOP’s evangelical base. But he’s not too good at it.
In fact, Columbia prof Randall Balmer has written an hysterical piece about McCain’s earlier confusion over whether he is an Episcopalian or a Baptist.
Balmer, an Episcopal priest (whose new book is God in the White House: A History) walks McCain through the differences. One example:
If the pews are filled, you’re probably in a Baptist church. Sadly, if there are a lot of empty seats and a lot of grey hair, it’s likely you stumbled into an Episcopal church.
I did come across an interesting interview with John Green, the maven of religion and politics, about why McCain may need to win over evangelicals. Among other things, he says:
White evangelicals have been a very strong Republican constituency – the exit polls in the 2004 general election showed that 78% of white, born-again Protestants voted for George W. Bush. Thus, in that very close election, evangelicals were quite important to Bush. And if the 2008 election is close, they would be as important to the Republican nominee. McCain may have some trouble achieving that level of support from white evangelicals given that a majority of them preferred other candidates in the primaries. In addition, many of the leaders of the Christian right have been hostile to McCain.
(Photo: AP/Gerald Herbert)
This entry was posted
on Friday, February 29th, 2008 at 1:20 pm by Gary Stern.
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The world of religion, we don't have to tell you, is vast. The purpose of this blog is for Stern to note, flag and comment on some of the more interesting religious developments on the scene – weighty and quirky, somber and laughable, far away and just down the road. He won't interpret Scripture, take sides in conflicts or judge anyone. But he will take advantage of the journalist's license to observe.
