Vincent Ferrer/The Mirror
Your next president could belong to a cult. But haven’t they all?
In his official endorsement speech of Governor Rick Perry for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, Southern Baptist pastor Robert Jeffress hinted that voters should mark Perry’s name on the ballot over Mitt Romney simply because Romney is a Mormon.
Jeffress’ official position, clarified in an interview after his speech, is that Mormonism is “a cult.” He later went on “Hardball with Chris Matthews” and remained firm in his decision. He stated that he will vote for Rick Perry over Mitt Romney because Perry is a “genuine follower of Jesus Christ” while Romney is a theological cultist.
Well, Jeffress is a pastor, so maybe we can excuse him for putting matters of faith on a pedestal.
But not even two full minutes later on “Hardball”, Chris Matthews asked whether the pastor would vote for Obama over Romney since Obama is a Christian. His response? He would vote for Romney. I struggled to muffle the sound of my jaw hitting the floor while watching this obvious hypocrite blabber about religion on public television.
The depressing punch line is that Perry could not get his voice up above a whimper when asked directly about the pastor’s remarks against Romney and his faith, simply pushing the questions aside. Since he did not decry Jeffress’s statement outright, one can assume that Perry must believe there is some shred of truth to the pastor’s words.
This incident brings religion back into politics. I thought we bid religion goodbye when Michelle Bachmann was laughed out of the presidential race. Wait, she’s still running? It’s much worse that I thought.
One need not look far to see instances of separation of church and state being ignored. Rick Santorum has tried to put the poorly named “Intelligent Design” pseudo-science postulate into public school science departments across the country. Rick Perry held an official prayer day to stop a statewide drought. Every 2012 Republican candidate—save former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson—is strongly pro-life because “life begins at conception,” despite overwhelming biological evidence to the contrary. The list of proposed policies deceptively rooted in faith goes on.
Is this religious influence in policy really a good idea? I am not against those of religious background holding office, but I hope to never see the day where the best our government can do is pray for God to fix the economy. The Establishment Clause in our constitution warns against the infiltration of matters of faith into matters of reason.
Let me reiterate that: religion is to stay out of politics, and in the churches where it belongs. Pray in your home and pray in your church, but do not pray in our schools or our Capitol building. In short, leave your work at the door when you come home and leave your personal life at home when you walk into work.
Although matters of faith are irrelevant to the president’s obligations as a public official, I do think that this type of discourse is a necessary part of the election process. I am not an expert in evolutionary biology, but I still crumple into a heap when I see candidates leaving their mouths sewn shut when asked if they accept evolution as fact. Similarly, I am not an expert on prayer, but I still lose respect for anyone that prays for rain and honestly expects it to work.
While the discussion on religion might not help me decide for whom I will cast my ballot, it will certainly tell me who not to vote for come Nov. 6, 2012.
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