The loser in this election is religion. (AP)

Eric Gorski of the Associated Press wrote a poignant piece this week about how religion and politics came head to head in this election and religion ultimately lost.  

Here are some highlights from his article:

Analysis: Religion used divide, mock in ’08

With a few exceptions, whatever seemed odd or fringe trumped serious discussion about how candidates’ religious beliefs shape their approach to governance.

. . . 
As the race nears its end, scholars and religious leaders are using terms like “new low” and “embarrassing” to describe how religious beliefs were distorted and picked over, while candidates were asked to mount theological defenses for their respective faiths or be held accountable for the views of others. . . . “This year we invaded churches with cell phones and started putting sermons up on YouTube,” said Clyde Wilcox, a Georgetown political science professor. “That’s been troubling, because you would like to think a candidate would have a little privacy in church.” David Gushee, a professor of Christian ethics at Mercer University in Georgia, said that more so than in past elections, religion became “a marker of identity” for candidates this year.
. . .
But Martin Marty, one of the nation’s pre-eminent religion scholars, already has reached one conclusion: the rancorous campaign has been bad for religion. The retired University of Chicago professor wrote in a commentary this week that the exploitation and exhibition of religion in the race is “bad for the name of religion itself, for religious institutions, for a fair reading of sacred texts, for sundered religious communities, for swaggering religious communities which are too sure of themselves, for the pursuit of virtue, for extending the reach of religion too far.”
Read the full article at http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hiMOuChrkSX_Qkn-pYa-iVMrz6gQD945K63O0

November 2, 2008 | Filed Under Current Events, Politics, Top Story | Leave a Comment 

Dobson says Obama has “fruitcake interpretation” of the Constitution and is distorting Bible; still won’t vote for McCain

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO – In a soon-to-be-aired episode of his non-profit, tax-exempt radio program “Focus on the Family,” Dr. James Dobson accuses Barack Obama of pandering to the “lowest common demoninator of morality” with his “fruitcake interpretation” of the U.S. Constitution and distortion of the Bible.

“Am I required in a democracy to conform my efforts in the political arena to his bloody notion of what is right with regard to the lives of tiny babies?” Dobson said. “What he’s trying to say here is unless everybody agrees, we have no right to fight for what we believe.”

Focus on the Family has invited both Obama and McCain to visit their campus in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  Obama apparently has not responded, and Dobson declined a meeting with McCain in Denver because Dobson wanted to bring McCain down to the FOTF campus so he could have a better idea of what their ministry is all about.

It is hard to guess whom Dobson is going to vote for, since he has said he could not in good conscience vote for McCain and associates Obama’s legal theory with a sugary Christmas confection.

This is not to say that Focus on the Family does not have some excellent resources for helping families and promoting good values in general, but sometimes it crosses a fine line.

For more information about this story, read an Associated Press article by Eric Gorski at http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gnLulDbwWGYGLiXlDW5hPiNMGMRQD91G3VJ80

Listen to Focus on the Family programs at http://www.focusonthefamily.com

 

June 24, 2008 | Filed Under Constitution, Current Events, Family, Politics, Religion, Tax Exemption | 2 Comments