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Editorial: Religion, politics must stay apart
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES SHOULD COMMIT TO SERVING ALL THE PEOPLE
Mercury News Editorial
Article Launched: 12/16/2007 01:39:15 AM PST

Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney have put religion front and center in
the 2008 presidential race, to the detriment of the nation's political
future.

As the Iowa primary unfolds, with Huckabee surging in the polls and
longtime leader Romney losing support, the major topic of debate isn't
their views on the economy, national security or the Iraq war; it's
their religious faith and theological issues.

Huckabee is essentially campaigning as the most Christian candidate.
Romney, a Mormon, is trying to explain his faith to a wider audience
and reinforcing the view that religion is an important part of
politics.

Americans want a president with spiritual qualities and solid moral
values. But until now, specific dogma has not been a campaign focus.
The last time it appeared to be an issue was in the Nixon-Kennedy race
of 1960, when John F. Kennedy's Catholicism made some fear that the
pope would be running the country.

Kennedy deftly addressed that fear by assuring voters that while his
religion had shaped his values, he would not make decisions based on
what his church or its leaders said. He put religion's role in
politics in its proper perspective. The nation would do well to return
to that view.

Most Americans can't name the religion of our greatest presidents.
George Washington? Abraham Lincoln? Franklin D. Roosevelt? Ronald
Reagan? At least two of those four weren't regular churchgoers. One
had no religious affiliation
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at all.

They shared this common denominator, which contributed to their
greatness: They were all men with strong moral convictions, shaped by
their upbringing. They all had a healthy appreciation of the need for
the separation of church and state, and they probably wouldn't be
surprised to learn that in 2007, Americans who attend church on any
given Sunday are actually in the minority - about 40 percent.

Contrast that to the campaigns of Huckabee and Romney.

Huckabee calls himself the Christian candidate, which automatically
excludes millions of Americans. His faith is the central theme of his
candidacy, driving every move he makes. That makes him an excellent
candidate to return to his previous career: the ministry.

If Huckabee's opponents included, for example, Joe Lieberman - a Jew -
his Christian campaign would be seen as inappropriate. But its target
is previous front-runner Romney, who is Mormon.

Romney faces a challenge. His faith is not widely understood by
non-Mormons, and it makes some voters uncomfortable, as Kennedy's
Catholicism did 50 years ago. Romney made a valiant effort to bridge
that gap recently during a speech at George H.W. Bush's presidential
library. His appeal for Americans to respect religious differences was
heartwarming and unifying.

"Religious tolerance would be a shallow principle indeed if it were
reserved only for faiths with which we agree," he said.

But where Romney fell short - and where he differed from Kennedy - is
his contention that "freedom requires religion just as religion
requires freedom."

That makes the former Massachusetts governor sound as if he is running
for minister in chief of a religious state.

The vast majority of Americans believe in God. But the nation was
founded on a principle of religious freedom, and that includes the
freedom to not believe. To unify the nation, a president needs to
respect people of all beliefs, or of none.

In a column last week in the Wall Street Journal, former Reagan
adviser and speechwriter Peggy Noonan speculates that if Reagan were
running for president today, he would lose in the Republican primary.
He would be hurt by not being a regular churchgoer and being too
relaxed about the faiths of his friends and aides, or about its
absence. He was divorced, to boot.

"In my lifetime faith has been a significant issue in presidential
politics," she wrote, "but not the sole determinative one. Is that
changing? If it is, it is not progress."

Religion and politics at their best are unifying forces, bringing
people of different backgrounds and cultures together for a common
good.

At their worst, both can be divisive, creating animosity that tears
communities, states and nations apart for generations or centuries.
Look at the clashes between secular and religious leaders today in
places like Iraq. Think of Ireland's centuries of The Trouble and
Eastern Europe's recent nightmare of genocide.

Religion will always be important in America. The right to worship as
we choose is embedded in our Constitution. But we should elect
presidents who unite us, tearing down walls and tapping into the
values most Americans hold in common, whether or not they go to
church.


--
Sebastián Bassi (ã‚»ãƒ�スティアン). Diplomado en Ciencia y Tecnología.
Curso Biologia molecular para programadores: http://tinyurl.com/2vv8w6
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