This is only June. We have five months to go before the GE.
But the public has already been treated to a toxic mix of religion and politics, starting in February with the Rev. John Hagee's endorsement of John McCain (which was subsequently withdrawn after Hagee's comments "that Adolf Hitler had been fulfilling God's will by hastening the desire of Jews to return to Israel in accordance with biblical prophecy").
Then in March, we met - in earnest - Barack Obama's former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, whom Obama later "denounced" after Wright made an even bigger spectacle of himself at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
Now, presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama is actively "reaching out to" the religious community (again):
Reaching out to the faith community is a priority for Barack Obama and will be a priority under an Obama Administration. This is one of several meetings he will have over the coming months with religious leaders....He's done it before. He'll do it again.
Those in attendance represented Evangelicals, Mainline Protestants and Catholics. Among
them:Mega-pastor TD Jakes and pro-life Catholic constitutional law professor Doug Kmiec...Rich Cizik with the conservative National Association of Evangelicals, best selling Christian author Max Lucado, Luis Cortes, Paul Corts, Cameron Strang, Bishop Phillip Cousin, Rev Stephen Thurston, Glenn Palmberg and Dr T Dewitt Smith.
The Christian News Network celebrated the meeting, noting:
"This is one more example of how Obama is not just bringing in the 'religious left' into his coalition. He wants to bring in conservative figures, too. McCain has some work to do."
First of all, a "religious community" encompasses Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, and non-mainstream religious and spiritual views, in addition to the mainstream groups.
Second, this type of "pandering" always makes me queasy. In my view it cheapens the role of elected public officials and public servants and it emboldens people on both ends of the religious spectrum to engage in influence peddling and hate mongering of the worst kind (see Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Rev. John Hagee, for example).
Finally, I am reminded here of Barack Obama's oft-stated vow to keep special interests (read as lobbyists) out of his administration. Yet here is a perfect example of a huge special interest that has had undue and dangerous influence over public policy as far back as Ronald Reagan's presidency (and probably further, but I don't have specifics at the moment).
How can religious influence of public policy be any better than that of lobbyists? And what exactly is the difference, except perhaps that one industry is paid by corporations to influence public policy while the other uses biblical teachings to influence public policy and that frequently runs counter to civil and human rights of outcast minorities of all stripes?
This is just one reason I find Obama's "outreach" effort spectacularly hypocritical, politically calculating, and dangerously toxic. Just my opinion here, but in some ways I prefer the influence of lobbyists to that of religion...
In case you missed Obama's first religious "outreach" effort, I provide it here:
The Flier of Faith - mailed to voters in South Carolina and (updated) and repeated to voters in North Carolina, prior to each of these state's primaries.
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