I found this account of Fred Thompson’s answer to questions about religion in government interesting. Interesting, but very predictable.
The encounter took place following Thompson’s appearance at a South Carolina gun show. He wasn’t thinking about religion and politics, but he certainly proved that he was able to stick to the required rhetoric — no one gets elected president in America if he denounces this country’s sort of watered down “civil religion” version of “Judeo-Christianity.”
I don’t think it’s a stretch to say this: American voters would NEVER elect a candidate who openly said something like: “I believe our Constitution calls for a strict separation of church and state and I, personally, am an [agnostic, atheist, Deist, Muslim, Buddhist, any other openly non-Christian, non-Jewish, non-theistic religion].”
I, personally, am a “mainline Christian,” with strong evangelical leanings, for what it’s worth. I believe that the phrase “separation of church and state,” though found no where in the Constitution, expresses the essence of what our Constitution requires.
But more importantly, the average American voter, I strongly suspect in very unscientific fashion, THINKS he is a Christian of one sort or another. And many of them consider themselves openly “fundamentalist” or “evangelical” — meaning that they espouse a completely literal understanding of the Bible and want to believe our presidents do, too.
Ah, well, what do I know? I’m just a guy who reads the papers.
Technorati Tags: religion, politics, separation of church and state, Constitution, Fred Thompson, just a guy who reads the papers