Religion Writer, a blogger and frequent God-o-Meter commenter, thought last night’s Compassion Forum with Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton was “a little dull”:
[A]fter all, how much new ground can be covered after the endless months of campaigning? Jon Meacham, editor of Newsweek and co-host of the On Faith blog, tried to liven things up with off-the-wall theological questions reminiscent of SNL’s Deep Thoughts. So Meacham asks, “Senator Clinton, why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?” “Does God want you to be president?” The natural next question was, of course, “If you were elected president, how many angels would you allow to dance on the head of a pin?”
Okay, yes, we’re all comfortable talking about religion now, and you can ask anything you want — but how about sticking to the questions that are somewhat relevant to being president? Why spend time asking unanswerable theological questions when there are so many pressing real-world religion questions to answer — Clinton didn’t have to answer anything about creationism or Ten-Commandments-on-display or even the federal response to polygamy.
God-o-Meter found itself thinking similar thoughts while watching last night’s event. Discussing personal faith, whether or not it relates to public policy or how a candidate would govern, seems to have become an end in itself for many Democrats, who still feel the burden of having to convince voters that they’re not secular or hostile to religion. On the other hand, after nearly eight years of the Bush presidency and seeing the unexpected ways in which religion influenced some of his big decisions, can’t a case be made for the usefulness of having candidates speak about their faith generally, even if there’s no readily apparent implications for public policy? After all, in an interview last year, George W. Bush explained his confidence in his Iraq policy partly by saying:
“It’s more of a theological perspective. I do believe there is an Almighty, and I believe a gift of that Almighty to all is freedom. And I will tell you that is a principle that no one can convince me that doesn’t exist.”
Bush also told Bob Woodward that rather than consulting with his dad before going to Iraq, “there is a higher father that I appeal to.”
Perhaps these are not the kind of comments that Bush would have offered in debates or mainstream media interviews before he was elected president. But in a Compassion Forum-like setting, where questions might not have had an obvious public policy tie-in, voters could have listened for hints of how Bush’s religion shaped him and his decisions.
Still, God-o-Meter does agree with ReligionWriter that last night’s forum was pretty yawn-inducing.
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posted April 14, 2008 at 2:13 pm
After eight years of Georgr Bush,many viewers choose to be atheists. Bush a man of war has no resemble of a christian. I think if king kong said he was a christian,and ran as a republican.he would get the majority of christian vote. Most church goers are bonified republicans no matter who or what is the candidate. God-o-meter is pro GOP,and nothing else.
posted April 14, 2008 at 7:04 pm
But since the Christian voters seem to want someone who has the same values that they do (as the exit polls seem to indicate), isn’t this type of forum important? Maybe if they got someone like you in there to ask the questions that would illicit the information the voters are looking for.
posted April 14, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Sometimes I thank the Higher Power and Almighty that GWB listens to is really Dick Cheany on the intercom. Conversion by the sword never really works in theology or Politics.
posted April 15, 2008 at 10:41 am
How about the religious leaders’ questions, though? They did a great job of connecting faith to policy in a pointed way on some of the most important issues the next president will face.
posted April 15, 2008 at 11:40 am
Stranger and stranger…
Dan headlines this “Barack Obama”, and then has a tag/link to “More on Barack Obama” and, although it doesn’t affect Barack Obama’s God-o-mania rating (stays a “7″), the ONLY examples given in the article are about “unanswerable theological questions” posed to Hillary Clinton (and he even throws in some interview Q’s & A’s posed to George W. Bush who, I might remind you, is NOT running in this election), and the fact that “Clinton didn’t have to answer anything about creationism or Ten-Commandments-on-display or even the federal response to polygamy.” (Nor should she have to – they shouldn’t even be being posed!)
WHAT has this to do with Obama’s God-a-rama rating apart from the fact that he also participated in the forum – a totally unnecessary and probably UN-Constitutional event.
What right does anyone have to ask in a public forum “Does God want you to be president?” in a country that “promises” that “there shall be NO religious test to hold public office”???
Most distasteful and most alarming.
As usual, unfortunately.
And this forum ain’t the only thing “yawn-inducing”. This whole All God all the time thread is equaly yawn inducing, if the amount of comboxers is any indication. Why not save Time some money and stop this unnecessary, UN-Constitutional exercise altogether?
posted April 15, 2008 at 12:20 pm
As there would be very few people watching, it would seem to make sense for the candidates to avoid them. Fewer chances to make mistakes and more time for the real business of fund raising.
posted June 25, 2008 at 10:51 am
A lady sitting in first class saw the cockpit door open, she was incredulous to see that the pilot was reading,
very concerned she asked a flight attendant, “Miss, why is the pilot reading? Isn’t he supposed to be flying?
“The woman fainted when the flight attendant said, “oh well, he’s just studying for his pilot license.”