Speak of the devil

Timothy Egan, author of The Worst Hard Time,  suggests in the NY Times today: Let’s go Godless for the rest of the campaign. He quotes Kennedy thus:

“I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute.” And, “I believe in a president whose views on religion are his own private affair.”

He continues:

That was John F. Kennedy, of course, sounding light years removed from Mitt Romney, who declared this year that “freedom requires religion,” and Mike Huckabee, who called himself a “Christian leader” and advocated amending the Constitution to follow Biblical principles. Both men are being touted as running mates for McCain.

“Where we are today is almost the antithesis of Kennedy’s time,” said David Domke, a professor of communications at the University of Washington and co-author, with Kevin Coe, of “The God Strategy: How Religion Became a Political Weapon in America.”

“It’s the verbal equivalent of an American flag lapel pin: few notice if you do it, but many notice if you don’t,” Domke and Coe wrote in a recent essay in Time.

At a meeting with prominent Christian leaders on Tuesday, Obama discussed his “personal journey of faith,” as one participant recounted. That, alone, goes against Kennedy’s dictum of keeping it private.

Teddy Roosevelt, a McCain hero, was prescient on this point as well. He argued against putting, “In God We Trust,” on the currency in 1907, saying it cheapens the divine. “It not only does no good,” he wrote, “but it does positive harm.”

Read the whole column here: http://egan.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/11/godless/

I was interested in one comment on Egan’s blog that asked, are we concerned about the separation of church and state or the separation of religion and state? Is it acceptable for candidates for office, or for elected officials to express religious sentiments, and if so, when? And is it reasonable to expect that candidates or officials will not express religious sentiments if they happen to have religious beliefs?

We are very sensitive to religious speech, especially by those we don't agree with. The common term innsh'Allah sticks out of a Muslim's speech just the way "the will of God" sticks out of a Christian fundamentalist's. But listen to yourself talk sometime. It is hard to get through the day without making some kind of religious or Biblical reference in everyday speech. We say “Thank God,” to express relief or “Go to Hell,” when we get pissed off. We speak easily of Heaven and paradise, Pearly Gates, The Devil made me do it,” etc, etc. Where is the line we ask candidates not to cross?