Christian Politicians

There is an assumption among many Americans that the quality of a politician’s character might be evaluated based upon the nature of their religious beliefs. This stems from the prejudice against atheists and non-religious people and leads politicians to think that public expressions of piety are needed.

Molly Ivins writes:

Back in the 1950s, when the late Rep. Bob Eckhardt was still in the Texas Legislature, a bill to cut off all state aid to illegitimate children was under debate. After listening to some of his "Christian" colleagues explain why illegitimate children should be left to starve, Eckhardt rose and said, "I am not so much concerned about the natural bastards as I am about the self-made ones." I consider that one of the most Christian things I've ever heard said during legislative debate.

Is it Christian to cut money for Head Start? Is it Christian to cut poor children off health care? Is it Christian to cut old people off Medicare? Is it Christian to write memos justifying torture? Is it Christian to cut after-school, nutrition and AIDS programs so multimillionaires can have bigger tax cuts?

Historically, the Bible has been used to justify some stupefying crimes, including slavery and genocide. I see no indication we are any better at divining the Lord's intent now than we ever were. ... Again, this may be a matter of taste, but I have seen too many Psalm-singing, Bible quoting, Holy Joe hypocrites in politics to think these frauds improve the moral tone of our public life. Getting snookered by some canting humbug is even more depressing than getting snookered by a plain old crook.

I don’t think that Americans are cynical enough about religion. I don’t want to say that cynicism is necessarily a good thing, but a bit of cynicism can be good in that it may prevent people from taking self-righteous types from being taken too seriously. Cynicism is a knee-jerk reaction, related to skepticism but not quite the same thing because it generally isn’t thoughtful, considered, and cautious. It’s better to be skeptical than to simply be cynical, but a bit of cynicism has it’s place and it’s certainly an improvement over unthinking acceptance and belief.

Read More:

• Separation of Church and State 101
• Church and State News
• Secularism 101
• Religious Right
• Christian Nationalism