Utah Free Press

Christians Should Just Shut Up?

Obamasiah

Originall published August 21st, 2008 by Richard Okelberry

As the campaigns for president looms, one topic that should be addressed is the role of religion in politics. The recent debate at the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California between Barack Obama and John McCain is a perfect example of how concerned each candidate is with appealing to the faithful around the nation. While many, especially those on the far left would argue that religion should play no role in public debate, let alone when deciding between candidates for President, it appears by his very appearance at this debate that even Barack Obama would disagree.  

This topic exploded on the KVNU For the People blog following my recent post titled, “Obama Dances Around Abortion Issue.” In an attempt to shift the conversation from Abortion to Religion, Cliff Lyons of OneUtah.org led a charge against religion by accusing me of “clearly coming from a religious perspective.” While I had not once in my original post mentioned my religious beliefs Mr. Lyons somehow gleamed that my underlying purpose was to force a religious doctrine on the country by commingling religion and politics. Mr. Lyons then wrote a post at OneUtah.org titled, “Some of The Founding Fathers May Have Been Christian But…” where he begins his argument by saying, “They also knew well, how religion can make some people stupid.” He then goes on to argue that the establishment clause of the Constitution somehow prohibits religion from participating in public debates on politics. To make his point he quotes the 1^st Amendment, “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion,” but conveniently leaves out the Free Exercise Clause as well as the establishment of the right of free speech, freedom of the press, the right to peaceably assemble, and the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances. All rights that anyone of both secular and non-secular background enjoy. By the end of his rant he called me “Church Boy,” stated that “No body cares about your personal religious beliefs so SHUT UP!”

Cliff Lyon’s statements against religion, while hate filled and loaded with personal attacks against me, do bring up a valid question. What role should religion have in forming public opinion? During the primaries, many here in Utah were arguing against the religious right for opposing Mitt Romney simply because he was Mormon. During this debate, I argued that supporting Romney because of his religion was no different because ultimately it led to opposing someone else because of their religious views. Regardless, I took the stance that it is perfectly legitimate to stand behind or oppose someone based on religion but dissuaded people from doing so without having a true understanding of their opponent religious views. To oppose someone simply based on religion without a broader understanding of their religious views and how they might affect their elected office nothing more than bigotry. Therefore I concluded that to make a judgment against Mitt Romney simply because of hearsay or conjecture surrounding his religious beliefs is completely inappropriate. I also would argue that few of us would be against opposing most any person for simply belonging to a radical religious sect like the Taliban or a Neo-Nazi religious group. If this is the case it is certainly appropriate for us to use a person’s religious affiliation as a window into the person’s core beliefs. While it may not always be the most accurate way of judging a persons character it is no less accurate than watching an endless number of speeches crafted by high paid speech writers and marketing teams.

While I disagree with clergy preaching politics from the pulpit the way that Obama’s now ex-pastor does, I will certainly argue that it is their right to do so. I would only hope that people of all faiths understand that attempting to establish purely religious doctrine as law, whether it be; school prayer, the ten commandments in court houses and even abortion will only lead to other laws infringing on your ability to freely worship and may ultimately lead to a negative view of your faith. This can be illustrated by Utah’s liquor laws, where the far majority of non-Mormons feel religiously discriminated against.

If anything has come out of this discussion, one thing is certain. Bigotry against religion is as alive as it was during the reign of the Nazi regime in Germany. It seems perfectly acceptable for some to make slanted and even slanderous public attacks against a person simply because of their religious beliefs. While some may feel justified to discriminate because some in the religious communities have decided to take the same tack, broad discrimination of Christians or any broad religious sect and the subsequent labeling of them as fanatics should be completely unacceptable in modern society. In my mind it is no different than someone saying that they hate all blacks because they were once assaulted by a black man. Bigotry is bigotry and hate is hate. None should be tolerated and both should be challenged through regular public discourse.

I am curious about why Mr. Lyons objects to discussions of faith in politics yet fails to turn his disdain towards Barack Obama who has repeatedly publicly affirmed his own faith.

 “The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into red states and blue states, Red states for Republicans, blue states for Democrats. But I’ve got news for them, too: We worship an awesome God in the blue states.” – Obama, Democratic National Convention, 2004 – NPR

“I felt I heard God’s spirit beckoning me, I submitted myself to His will and dedicated myself to discovering His truth and carrying out His works.” – Obama speaking to NPR

“My faith teaches me,” he told the convention the United Church of Christ, “that I can sit in church and pray all I want, but I won’t be fulfilling God’s will unless I go out and do the Lord’s work.” – Obama, NPR

Certainly, one could argue that even Obama who Mr. Lyon has supported repeatedly would include his current campaign when he talks about going out and doing God’s work during a campaign speech at a RELIGIOUS Convention. In fact, Obama seems to be the epitome of every thing Mr. Lyon detests regarding the commingling of faith and politics. According to Shaun Casey, Obama’s advisor on religious issues, “Obama quickly made his personal beliefs central to his presidential campaign. He peppered his speeches with references to his faith and Scripture.” – NPR

To be fair, Mr. Lyons did state in a follow-up post at OneUtah.org,

“Hey Guys, Pay attention! I’m not interested in having a religious debate or a discussion about Obama religious values. I’m interested in decapitating people who think their religious opinions belong in government.” 

Mr. Cliff Lyons is a contributor at www.OneUtah.org and is the founded Look Imaging (lookimaging.com), co-founded Rhythms of Life (rolusa.org), has managed several political campaigns, and served as Rocky’s (Anderson?) Interim Communications Director. He also currently serves on the boards of three non-profits that serve kids and is currently the Board Chair of The Human Rights Education Center of Utah (hrecutah.org) (A fact that he has recently deleted from his OneUtah.org profile after his association was brought up on KVNU For the People.)