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WARS 2004 |
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McFadden |
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TO THE VOTING BOOTH  |
Never has religion played
such a role in our elections
By CHUCK McFADDEN
of TheColumnists.com
We now approach the conclusion of a strange and perhaps formative presidential election. More than any other national contest in recent times, this campaign has been about religion, and homosexuality, and sin.
The president of the United States says on national television he doesn’t know whether homosexuality is a choice or not. He supports an amendment to the Constitution that would forbid homosexuals from marrying one another.
Both John Kerry and John Edwards, the Democrats, manage to mention the fact that the Republican vice presidential candidate has a daughter who is a homosexual. After all, there may be some snake-handling fundamentalists in Possum Holler who wanted to vote for the Bush-Cheney ticket but were unaware of Ms. Cheney’s sexual orientation.
There is talk among fragments of Catholic Church leadership about excommunicating Kerry because of his pro-choice stand on abortion. A Los Angeles canon lawyer wants the Vatican to formally charge John Kerry with heresy. He made no mention of burning Kerry at the stake if he is found guilty.
All of these have been mentioned in headlines and on television. They have not been as prominently mentioned as the war in Iraq, or economic policy, or the terrorist threat, but we are nonetheless not used to encountering words such as “heresy” and “excommunicated” and “homosexuality” in campaign coverage.
There are less-than-heavenly reasons for this. Both John Kerry and George W. Bush want to motivate their base voters to contribute money and get to the polls on Nov. 2. So they have each been sounding themes that either motivate their own voters or tear voters away from their opponents.
Republican strategists recognize that voters inclined to support Bush are more likely to go to church every Sunday and pay attention to the sermon. These voters go to see Mel Gibson's “The Passion of the Christ.” Many of them believe same-sex marriage is another milestone on the road to Hell. Clergymen are to be taken seriously.
To these voters, homosexuals should not be persecuted, but they are immoral. One should regard the “Left Behind” series of apocalyptic novels as stern warnings about the consequences of not being Christian. If a politician presents himself as a man of God, as the president does, that pretty much trumps any other consideration.
Kerry supporters are more secular, although they don’t say so out loud very often. Religion gets a polite, pro-forma bow, but is not a serious factor in daily life. It is an irrelevant, sometimes ridiculous remnant of an earlier age, when people were not as well educated and superstition was widespread. If one goes to church, it is because of social custom, not because utterances from the pulpit are worthy of serious intellectual consideration.
One does not eat fast food.
One does not drive a Chevrolet. Wine means Chardonnay and Pinot
Noir, not Thunderbird and Night Train. If, at a dinner party,
you were to remark that Bob Dole is probably a decent person,
you would draw looks of astonishment followed by an awkward silence.
Contrarians like to point out that there are many weekly churchgoers
who drink fancy wine and think the United Nations is just swell.
And there are legions of people (for instance, Bill Clinton,
in his pre-bypass life) who love fast food and favor affirmative
action.
But this is a big nation of 280 million people and citing exceptions doesn’t prove much beyond the fact that there are exceptions.
Religion has been shoved into politics to a greater extent than ever before in at least recent history. For tens of millions of voters this year, religious beliefs will strongly influence their vote. The media have never before talked to the extent they talk now about connections between religion and lifestyle. Latte-sippers; nonbelievers; beer drinkers; Volvo drivers; born-again Christians. They have become familiar shorthand for people and their beliefs--emphatically including political beliefs.
Full disclosure: A higher degree of media attention to religion has happened in part because of the giggle factor. Reporters and their editors never have been able to resist including bizarre statements in their stories. Does anyone suppose for an instant that Jerry Falwell’s declaration that Sept. 11 was God’s revenge for America’s tolerance of gays didn’t send cackling reporters racing to their keyboards? Is a charge of heresy against a presidential candidate--made in all seriousness--going to escape media attention?
It is also the result of fundamentalist Christians taking a more active role in politics during the past 30 years. Today, they are able to proclaim their beliefs everywhere from local school boards to Congress. So now that they are a political force, what is a Republican candidate to do? Ignore them and lose? Of course not. You start talking about your opposition to same-sex marriage, if you know what’s good for you.
What we need to start thinking about on Nov. 3 is whether the heavy presence of religion in this campaign has started a trend that will continue. Is the founding fathers’ firewall between church and state in danger of being breached? Is it going to be commonplace for people to hear voting instructions from the pulpit?
Sociologists who make it their business to study long-term major directions in American society tell us that year by year we’re becoming more diverse, better educated, more socially progressive and more secular. That would tend to make you believe that the impact of religion will decline in future campaigns.
Born-again Christians would
disagree. And they have worked long, hard and successfully to
bring to the fore the kinds of issues that have never before
in modern campaigns been quite as central as they are today.
©2004 by Charles M. McFadden. The McFadden caricature is
©2001 by Jim Hummel. The cartoon illustration is from IMSI's
Master Clips Collection, 1895 Francisco Blvd. E., San Rafael,
CA, 94901-5506, USA.
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