In my latest reading of Take It Back: Our Party, Our Country, Our Future
(copyright 2006), James Carville and Paul Begala criticize how John
Kerry talked about his faith during the 2004 Presidential Election.
Essentially, according to Carville and Begala, Kerry "usually repeated a
variation of JFK's line that the church would not control him" (page
65). Carville and Begala found Kerry's approach to be outdated,
especially in a time when the Republicans were resonating with a number
of voters by talking about faith, whereas the Democrats were widely
believed to have a problem with religion. According to Carville and
Begala, the Democrats should not be afraid to talk boldly about their
faith and how that shapes their commitment to social justice.
Carville
and Begala most likely have more expertise than I do on what is
politically savvy, but, speaking for myself, I actually liked what John
Kerry had to say about his faith----actually more than what George W.
Bush said about it. And this was a time when I was a conservative and
an avid George W. Bush fan----one who actually admired Bush because of
his commitment to evangelical Christianity. What follows are quotations from the third Presidential debate in 2004, as John Kerry and George W. Bush discuss the role of faith in their lives and their decision-making:
Kerry was asked about the Catholic archbishops who said that it was a sin to vote for a pro-choice candidate, and he replied:
" I
respect their views. I completely respect their views. I am a
Catholic. And I grew up learning how to respect those views. But I
disagree with them, as do many. I believe that I can't legislate or
transfer to another American citizen my article of faith. What is an
article of faith for me is not something that I can legislate on
somebody who doesn't share that article of faith. I believe that choice
is a woman's choice. It's between a woman, God and her doctor. And
that's why I support that. Now, I will not allow somebody to come in
and change Roe v. Wade...Now, with respect to religion, you know, as I
said, I grew up a Catholic. I was an altar boy. I know that throughout
my life this has made a difference to me. And as President Kennedy said
when he ran for president, he said, 'I'm not running to be a Catholic
president. I'm running to be a president who happens to be Catholic.' My
faith affects everything that I do, in truth. There's a great passage
of the Bible that says, 'What does it mean, my brother, to say you have
faith if there are no deeds? Faith without works is dead.' And I think
that everything you do in public life has to be guided by your faith,
affected by your faith, but without transferring it in any official way
to other people. That's why I fight against poverty. That's why I fight
to clean up the environment and protect this earth. That's why I fight
for equality and justice. All of those things come out of that
fundamental teaching and belief of faith. But I know this, that
President Kennedy in his inaugural address told all of us that here on
Earth, God's work must truly be our own. And that's what we have to----I
think that's the test of public service."
That was the JFK answer that Carville and Begala were criticizing.
Later, George W. Bush was asked about the role of faith in his policy-decisions, and Bush replied:
"First,
my faith plays a lot----a big part in my life. And that's, when I
answering that question, what I was really saying to the person was that
I pray a lot. And I do. And my faith is a very----it's very personal. I
pray for strength. I pray for wisdom. I pray for our troops in harm's
way. I pray for my family. I pray for my little girls. But I'm mindful
in a free society that people can worship if they want to or not. You're
equally an American if you choose to worship an almighty and if you
choose not to. If you're a Christian, Jew or Muslim, you're equally an
American. That's the great thing about America, is the right to worship
the way you see fit. Prayer and religion sustain me. I receive calmness
in the storms of the presidency. I love the fact that people pray for
me and my family all around the country. Somebody asked me one time,
'Well, how do you know?' I said, 'I just feel it.' Religion is an
important part. I never want to impose my religion on anybody else. But
when I make decisions, I stand on principle, and the principles are
derived from who I am. I believe we ought to love our neighbor like we
love ourself, as manifested in public policy through the faith-based
initiative where we've unleashed the armies of compassion to help heal
people who hurt. I believe that God wants everybody to be free. That's
what I believe. And that's been part of my foreign policy. In
Afghanistan, I believe that the freedom there is a gift from the
Almighty. And I can't tell you how encouraged I am to see freedom on the
march. And so my principles that I make decisions on are a part of me,
and religion is a part of me."
And Kerry responded:
"Well, I
respect everything that the president has said and certainly respect
his faith. I think it's important and I share it. I think that he just
said that freedom is a gift from the Almighty. Everything is a gift from
the Almighty. And as I measure the words of the Bible----and we all do;
different people measure different things----the Koran, the Torah, or,
you know, Native Americans who gave me a blessing the other day had
their own special sense of connectedness to a higher being. And people
all find their ways to express it. I was taught----I went to a church
school and I was taught that the two greatest commandments are: Love the
Lord, your God, with all your mind, your body and your soul, and love
your neighbor as yourself. And frankly, I think we have a lot more
loving of our neighbor to do in this country and on this planet. We
have a separate and unequal school system in the United States of
America. There's one for the people who have, and there's one for the
people who don't have. And we're struggling with that today. And the
president and I have a difference of opinion about how we live out our
sense of our faith. I talked about it earlier when I talked about the
works and faith without works being dead. I think we've got a lot more
work to do. And as president, I will always respect everybody's right to
practice religion as they choose----or not to practice----because
that's part of America."
So why did I prefer what John Kerry said about faith? As
I reread their comments, I don't think that John Kerry is being
particularly fair if he's implying that Bush does not believe that faith
without works is dead, for Bush talked about how his faith influences
him to pursue policies that enhance the healing and freedom of others.
And yet, I like the low-key, matter-of-fact, succinct, and practical way
that Kerry talked about his faith. When I first heard Bush, I thought
that he focused too much on how his faith comforted him. Kerry, by
contrast, talked about what the Bible taught, and how he tried to follow
that (while not imposing his Catholic beliefs about abortion
on people). I (like Bush) am one who finds comfort in my faith, but I
thought that Kerry's answer had more theological content and was more
orderly than what Bush said. That probably resonated with the religion
student part of me, not to mention the Aspie part!