Kathleen Parker has a nice piece up at The Washington Post called "Pastor Rick's Test" in which she laments Barack Obama and John McCain submitting themselves to the questions of "mega-pastor" Rick Warren. Parker's main point is this:
This is about higher principles that are compromised every time we pretend we're not applying a religious test when we're really applying a religious test.
It is sad that the candidates feel the need to essentially prostrate themselves before a representative of one particular flavor of Christianity and declare how great Jesus is. Obama: "Jesus Christ died for my sins and I am redeemed through him." McCain felt his faith in Jesus "Means I'm saved and forgiven."
Reading Parker's piece, I was reminded of something Jonathan Rowe pointed out in one of his blog posts. He points to an article at Christianity Today called "We Shall Answer to God" which notes that our presidents refer to one kind of higher power or another in their inaugural addresses. The entirety of the text is no longer available online and the list of the presidents' religions is now hidden. Rowe captured the first part of the list:
PRESIDENT TERM DATES DENOMINATIONAL AFFILIATION
George Washington 1789-97 Episcopalian (theistic rationalist*)
John Adams 1797-1801 Congregationalist; Unitarian
Thomas Jefferson 1801-09 Episcopalian (theistic rationalist*)
James Madison 1809-17 Episcopalian (theistic rationalist*)
James Monroe 1817-25 Episcopalian (deist?)
John Quincy Adams 1825-29 Unitarian
Andrew Jackson 1829-37 Presbyterian
Rowe says of the it, "What's striking is according to Christian Nationalist standards, the first 'Christian' President was probably Andrew Jackson." Personally I think it's striking to most Americans. We live in a time when presidential candidates must profess just how Christian they are yet none of our first six presidents had any orthodox Christianity about them.
Take the example of George Washington which stands in stark contrast to Obama and McCain. As Rowe says, "Washington never admitted to being an orthodox Trinitarian Christian and simply refused to answer the question when a group of pious ministers asked him to put his explicit religious cards on the table." When Reverend Abercrombie, the rector of the church Washington had attended, was asked about our first president's religious views, he replied, "Sir, Washington was a Deist".
As an atheist, I would like to see non-religious candidates. Barring that, however, it would be really swell if those who seek office could do a better job of emulating Washington and keeping their religion to themselves.
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