What’s the big deal about the politics of the presidential candidates’ pastors?
Don’t get me wrong–I love politics, and I think it is only natural that religion and politics are bound up together in people’s lives. Furthermore, I think politics can be discussed from the pulpit in productive manner (side note: barring pro-choice candidates from the Eucharist is not what I would classify as productive).
What gets me about the hype surrounding Obama’s (former) pastor Rev. Wright, and now other talk about John McCain’s (supposed) pastor Rev. John Hagee is that the stories are ultimately meant to incriminate candidates more than the preachers themselves (Why else would these particular pastors make the headlines, right?).
In Obama’s case, he has rebuked the “anti-American” remarks of Rev. Wright time and time again, yet the media continues to question the candidate’s patriotism due to the pastor’s comments. This is precisely what bothers me about the situation: since when did anyone agree with all the religious AND political views of their pastors and church leaders?
I know few people who would claim to side with everything their church leaders believe and teach. And those who do claim to unanimously side with their pastors–they often do not actually agree with everything once there is a close examination of the issues. I am not saying that it is necessarily wrong to unanimously agree with church leaders so long as the issues at hand continue to be critically examined. I am simply pointing out an overlooked contradiction in the association between presidential candidates and their religious leaders: you and I don’t agree with everything our leaders preach, so why should assume that the candidates do?
When we step back to examine our membership in church communities, most people would agree that there is always one imperfection or another. That’s simply part of being a member of a community–we make compromises. Obama and McCain and every candidate and every person affirms certain aspects of a community with his/her membership, while sacrificing other expectations. Its the reality of a broken, human church.
It is possible to be a dedicated member of a community, even if I don’t agree with my pastor’s politics.
Yeah, I think the whole thing was blown way out of proportion. I wouldn’t be surprised if Rupert Murdoch issued some kind of memo to Wolf Blitzer and Rush Limbaugh.
But what was nice to see was that on voting day, none of those issues seemed to matter. I think the majority of exit polling suggested that the media get over their fanaticism.
But I loved your last couple of posts. I have never really noticed the facebook religious profiles, and I still don’t see the point behind Christian dating books. What do they offer or compensate for that a concerned parent couldn’t? And I would be very interested to see if people actually find them helpful.
Save The Date is a good book though. It’s nice to see an author who encourages young people to seek meaningful relationships, while not turning a blind eye to the way things actually are.