Kerry Speaking on His Religious Views
Cross posted from Liberal Values:
John Kerry spoke about his religious beliefs in California. The Washington Post reports “Kerry is the third high-profile Democrat to give a reflective, deeply personal speech on religion and politics in recent weeks, following Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) and Robert P. Casey Jr., the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania.” It is a shame Kerry had to pick this topic.
Let me be clear that it is not John Kerry I’m criticizing over this but the American public. I understand why Democrats feel they must give such speeches, and cannot blame politicians for doing what must be done (within reason) to be elected. The religious views of John Kerry, or any other public official, should not matter.
Kerry’s religious views are extremely different from mine, but that never mattered to me. All I care about is that Kerry has no intention of imposing his religious views upon others. I don’t care if he is for or against abortion personally as long as he continues to oppose restrictions on abortion rights. As far as I’m concerned, Kerry’s religious views are irrelevant as to how I vote.
We are in an era where the religious right is attempting to restrict teaching of science in the schools, attempting to repeal a woman’s right to control her own body, targeting homosexuals for discrimination to bring in a few more votes, and denying the very principle of separation of church and state which this country was founded on. I could be certain that John Kerry, as opposed to George Bush, would never say God told him to go to war or that God chose him to be President.
In a perfect world nobody would care about the politician’s religious beliefs because they could feel confident they would not use the power of government to impose their views upon others. Rather than having to give a speech like this, Kerry and others could talk about what they planned to do about issues which are the proper focus of government policy rather than religion. Unfortunately we live in a highly imperfect society, and most likely many more Democrats will feel they most give similar speeches on their religious beliefs.
posted by Ron Chusid at 10:19 PM
3 Comments:
Ron
If you had read my post about the speech you would have known that Kerry did not "choose" to speak on this subject he was invited to speak on this subject.
Pamela,
First of all, whether or not Kerry was invited is totally irrelevant to the topic of my post on the change in atmosphere in the country which is leading to many politicians (including some the Washington Post article missed) to make such speeches.
Secondly, he did choose to give this speech. Politicians receive more invitations than they could possibly consider accepting. Which invitations are accepted, and which speeches are given, is a conscious choice. Kerry would not have chosen to make such a speech before the 2004 election.
I thought it was an important speech, although the media probably didn't pay much attention.
I think it just goes to the character issue...which will always be relevant.
It's good to hear Kerry openly and comfortably address his faith, whether you agree or not with it.
In light of what some catholic and other religious leader did to Kerry in 2004, practically campaigning for Bush, it's nice to see him take back the issue and face it head on.
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