The Religious Right remains as determined as ever to usher in a fundamentalist Christian theocracy in America.
Religion has played a large — and largely unfortunate — role in the presidential race so far. Reporters have grilled candidates on their sins, their prayers and their personal beliefs about God. The candidates, in turn, have wooed — and then often spurned — religious leaders who turn out to be too incendiary for the average American voter. It’s been quite an unholy mess!
But apparently some Religious Right forces want to pour a little gasoline on the fire. A group called the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission (CAC) is circulating a petition demanding that the presidential candidates choose a “Real Christian” as their running mates.
In an e-mail last Tuesday, CAC President and CEO Gary Cass insisted, “The three major presidential candidates, Democrats Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Republican John McCain have presented Christian voters with a vexing problem for Christians. Both Mr. Obama and Ms. Clinton have declared they are Christians, yet based on their votes, both have consistently demonstrated a failure to support the values and policy positions important to Christians. While Mr. McCain proclaims support for traditional Christian values and morality, he has chosen to not discuss his own religious beliefs.”
Cass has a solution to this “vexing problem.” He wants the candidates to select a “Real Christian” as their vice presidential nominees.
“What qualifications are embodied in a truly Christian candidate for the Vice Presidency?,” Cass asks. “Quite simply, the candidate will demonstrate actions and hold the beliefs personified by all of us who proclaim the name of Jesus Christ as Savior: the need to be re-born in Christ and the affirmation of historic Christianity, having a demonstrable and proven record of support for traditional Christian morality.”
By “traditional Christian morality,” Cass surely must mean someone who helps orphans and widows, gives food to the hungry, comforts the sick and afflicted and visits those in prison, right? Sorry. He has other criteria in mind. Try support for “traditional marriage” (no gay people need apply) and the “right to life” (no abortions for any reason from the moment of conception til birth).
I doubt if any of the three candidates will pay much attention to Cass’s gambit. He moved to the Commission after his gig with the D. James Kennedy’s mega-bucks Center for Reclaiming America for Christ fell through. The petition is largely a publicity and fund-raising stunt. (As a tax-exempt group, is the Commission violating federal tax law by panning the current presidential candidates and seeking to influence the selection of their vice presidential candidates? Just asking.)
But Cass’s appeal is important in one way: it serves as a blunt reminder that the Religious Right remains as determined as ever to usher in a fundamentalist Christian theocracy in America. Most Religious Right leaders are too savvy to make such blatant appeals to religious bigotry, but Cass lays out the full ugly agenda for all to see.
You hear a lot of media loose talk about how moderate evangelicals are these days. And it’s true that some of them are. (They always have been; the media just didn’t pay attention in the past.) But the Religious Right’s big-money operations have the same goal as always: an America where their narrow version of Christianity is the law of the land. They want all public officials to be committed not only to their theocratic political agenda, but also to profess allegiance to their fundamentalist theology.
It isn’t technically a violation of Article VI of the Constitution for Cass and Company to call for this kind of religious test for public office. That constitutional provision only forbids government to impose religious qualifications. But the Cass appeal certainly violates the spirit of the Constitution and the expansive vision of our nation’s founders. That’s bad enough.
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