The God Factor

Can humans be religious without being political? Martin E. Marty, an ordained Lutheran pastor and Professor of Divinity, states that almost anything can be religious - football, beauty, making money, human rights, environmentalism. As long as the religion possesses five characteristics: Ultimate Concern, community, myth and symbol, and rites and ceremonies. It is the first characteristic, the Ultimate Concern, which concerns us here. Marty defines the Ultimate Concern as "what we live by," what gives our life meaning, what is our ultimate concern in this life. For some this includes a god or gods, for others it does not. With this definition of being religious in politics, I ask again: is it possible to be religious and not political? Can we learn to balance and separate our personal bias of religion and work with others whose ultimate concerns may not match our own?

In this upcoming election, the main concerns of the American public have surfaced to be the economy, health care and in Obama's case, faith...or rather Christian faith...or rather Muslim faith - meaning Obama's "Muslim faith."

Despite our supposed separation of church and state, Christianity is as difficult to keep out of politics as any other religion of Marty's definition.

I'd like to offer a purview of how religion has crept, nudged, and out-right plowed its way into the media agenda this cycle.

The first hints of the God Factor occur when we question a candidate's faith. More specifically, we question a candidate's Christian faith. Obama's faith has been under scrutiny from the moment the news surfaced that both his adopted and biological fathers were Muslim.

Back in September, Obama made an appearance on This Week with George Stephenapolous, in which Obama commented that McCain has not yet mentioned his "Muslim faith." Stephenapoulos corrected Obama, interjecting that he must have meant to say "Christian faith." Several right-wing media outlets took his mistake out of context. Obama was trying to explain that McCain never mentioned his "Muslim faith," meaning that McCain never accused Obama of being Muslim, but Rose Tennent of the radio show, The War Room with Quinn and Rose, accused Obama of being a Muslim, Marxist and a Black Liberation Theologist.

With all radical accusations aside, there is still genuine confusion about Obama's faith. In a rolling Hawkeye Poll 8.3 percent of people thought Obama to be Muslim, 33.4 percent could not name his religion. Surprisingly though, these numbers were about the same concerning McCain's faith.

Even though Obama's mother comes from a Christian background, and Obama has attended Trinity United Church of Christ for 20 years (Obama left the church after a well-known scandal we will discuss later). Obama set the record straight on his religion, stating that even though his fathers were Muslim and he grew up in Indonesia, a Muslim country, he still attended secular and Catholic schools and is still a dedicated Christian today.

Obama's faith has even risen from the level of rumor to that of mysterious urban legend. Several e-mails were disseminated, claiming that Barack Hussein (yes, they use his middle name in every e-mail) Obama is actually a Muslim and is lying (and always has lied) about his Christian life-style. Obama's "terrifying" faith may give new meaning to the wearing of presidential Halloween masks this year.

If Obama's Muslim affiliations through his fathers weren't enough to discredit him to some Americans, his Christians affiliations would certainly suffice.

Obama's religious affiliations were so seemingly important to the media and to the American public that when the "scandal" broke about his "radical" pastor of 20 years, Rev. Wright, Obama went so far as to quit his church. (If I can't stress his commitment to that community any further, Obama has been a member of that church for nearly half of his life). If the mix of religion and politics isn't clear enough, CNN reported that Rev. Wright believed Obama had "distanced himself...for political reasons."
To be fair and balanced, Obama also alludes to the mixing of politics and religion. After Father Pfleger, a visiting pastor, made negative remarks about Hillary Clinton, Obama stated that:
"That is why I am deeply disappointed in Father Pfleger's divisive, backward-looking rhetoric, which doesn't reflect the country I see or the desire of people across America to come together in common cause."
Obama links his religious affiliations with those of the rest of the country (The U.S. has a population of over 300 million).


The God Factor is enforced not only by the media and voters, but also by the candidates' campaigns. Last weekend, McCain made a stop in Davenport, Iowa where the opening prayer given by Rev. Arnold Conrad caused some controversy. Conrad implied the Christian god is bigger than all the others, and that He (the Christian god) must help McCain get elected to uphold His "reputation." It is very common for candidates to open rallies with a prayer, but Conrad walked a fine line of asking a divinity for support and claiming Christian supremacy. By including Conrad's prayer in his rally, McCain reinforces the importance and prevalence of the God Factor in this race. Obama's campaign rallies also include an opening prayer, however less controversial and offensive.

Coming from one of the most revered positions in Christianity, second only to Jesus Christ, Pope Benedict XVI, has even entered the political arena by encouraging Catholics to "reject pro-choice politicians."

A candidate's religious affiliation, home church and prayer life has been public knowledge in presidential elections for the past dozen or so cycles. In this election, our candidate's religion has become equivalent in importance to their economic and foreign policies. We see this because a candidate's religious views and strength of faith is actually a deciding factor for many voters. Just as voters bring gender, race and socio-economic status into the voting booth, so do they also bring religion. Each aspect of our lives is equally important in shaping our decisions.

So what happens when religion enters the decision-making process? It certainly has proven to mean greater voter turnout, as is evident in the droves of Christian Evangelicals that voted-in Bush for both elections. It could also mean something more dangerous: bigotry, ignorance and hatred. While religion can be a driving force for social justice, protection of life, peace and tolerance, it can also be a driving force for fear, which in the wise words of Yoda, leads to hate and hate leads to suffering.

It seems that keeping religion out of the voting booth is near impossible. But until we find a balance between acknowledging religion as our Ultimate Concern and using religion to hurt and oppress, I suggest we try to keep religion and politics as separate as possible.

Because the Christian religion is a dominating topic of this discussion, I would like to end with a passage from the Bible, Matthew 22: 15-22:

Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians.

"Teacher," they said, "we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are. Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"

But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, "You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? Show me the coin used for paying the tax."

They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?"

"Caesar's," they replied. Then he said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."

When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.