Atheists are the only people who appear to have been offended by Mitt
Romney's speech about his Mormon faith. Judging by the reaction contained in
some newspaper columns, editorials and letters to the editor, atheists are
said to have felt "excluded" by Romney's failure to acknowledge that
tolerance of the anti-religious is part of America's tradition.
Most everyone else thought it a good speech and that Romney had the correct
view of the proper roles of church and state while refusing to compromise
his personal convictions.
What no one mentioned (so I will) is the curious practice by a substantial
number of voters who require our presidential candidates to acknowledge
faith in God. Article VI of the U.S. Constitution prohibits a "religious
test" for office, but that hasn't stopped many, especially in Iowa, from
requiring statements of evangelical faith before deciding for whom to vote.
Does one expect to know the spiritual bona fides of an individual, other
than pastor or religious worker, for any other job?
In the 1970s, a curiosity called the "Christian Yellow Pages" made the
rounds of churches and certain businesses run by evangelicals. It contained
names of professions one finds in the regular Yellow Pages - plumbers, taxi
drivers, auto mechanics, dry cleaners - except these were owned and operated
by certified, God-fearing, Bible-believing Christians. The clear implication
was that businesses found in the Christian Yellow Pages would do a better
job at a better price than the presumed "heathen" who advertised in the
bigger yellow book.
I never saw any data that proved a connection between faith in Jesus and the
ability to repair a car at a reasonable cost, so I usually went with the
shop that did the best job at the lowest price and didn't bother to ask if
the repairman went to church.
Voters who require statements of faith from presidential candidates risk
disappointment. Many evangelicals who voted for Jimmy Carter regretted
having done so when they saw his post-election policies and what they
regarded as his incompetence as president. Bill Clinton could quote
Scripture, but not many would hold him up as an evangelical icon, given his
roving eye and impeachment for lying under oath.
Much of this fixation on audible faith has to do with evangelicals having
been ignored by culture following the embarrassment associated with the
Scopes Trial 82 years ago. Emerging from their political catacombs in the
late 1970s, these Christians basked, if not in new respect, then in the
intoxication that comes with public attention. They were told they were now
players in the kingdom of this world and in presidential politics. Their
leaders were invited into the corridors of political power. They exchanged
real power and its ability to transform lives for temporal power, which
changes little of lasting importance.
While requiring politicians to express belief in Jesus and the Bible, many
evangelical voters ignore Christ's statements about the source of genuine
power. They also conveniently forget what Christ said about how they would
be regarded and treated by a world that had rejected Him (and still does as
the best-selling atheistic works of Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins
attest). It was Jesus, in whom Mitt Romney said he believed, who warned, "If
the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first" (John 15:18) and
"If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also" (John 15:20). Those
warnings are not the creed of contemporary evangelicals who think
persecution is a negative newspaper editorial or a disparaging remark by a
skeptic on a cable TV show. Too many contemporary evangelicals want the
blessing without obeying their real commander in chief, who said doing
things His way would bring real persecution.
This election should be more about competence and less about ideology, or
even faith. It shouldn't matter where - or if - a candidate goes to church,
but whether he (or she) can run the country well, according to the
principles in which the voter believes. And, if those principles include a
person of faith, so much the better. God can be the ultimate check and
balance on earthly power.
If a car hits me, I care more about whether the ambulance driver knows the
way to the nearest hospital and the skills of the emergency room doctor than
where they stand with God. That's the attitude we should have toward those
who desire to be president of the United States in a fallen world.