Christianity Today links to almost everything that’s been said about Brother Dean

(Clears throat)

May I venture out on a limb here? May I make an announcement?

I don’t care about presidential candidate’s religious beliefs.

I don’t care about a president’s religious beliefs.

I. Don’t. Care.

I have never understood the fixation – which strikes me as a modern one, dating, I suppose, from the rise of the Religious Right – on the quality of a government official’s personal faith. (I’m not talking about that good old WASP-y prejudice against Catholics or Jews in office. I’m talking about interest in a candidate’s prayer life, sense of Scripture, relationship with God,etc.)

WHO CARES?

We have a Constitution. We have a particular form of government and specific ways to enact change in this pluralistic society. When it comes to presidents, senators, representatives, governors and city council folk, a person who goes to church has no advantage in my book over someone who doesn’t. As a discrete fact, as a part of a person’s life, it’s irrelevant. What matters is that person’s understanding of the issues and commitment to work in the system to lead.

Of course, religious sensibilities may be tangled up in there, motivating someone or inspiring his or her beliefs, but in and of itself, a person’s spiritual self-understanding really doesn’t seem to me to have anything directly to do with the job of political leadership.

Now, a person’s spiritual self-understanding may help illuminate other aspects of his or character – say, proclaiming that Job is a book in the New Testament reveals to me that the person who would say that is well, stupid, and therefore perhaps, not suited to be the Leader of the Free World. Sure. But if there’s a person out there who isn’t particularly interested in or inspired by religious beliefs but whose views on the direction of our country and particular issues generally coincide with mine (and you might say that is impossible, but that’s another discussion), would their benign disinterest bother me? Nope. And I don’t get who’s so concerned about this anyway.