John McCain May Not Believe in God
Over at Religion Dispatches, scholar Kathryn Lofton has, after lengthy research, vigorous examination and a month of analysis, concluded that in all likelihood, John McCain does not believe in God.
As many have noted in emails to RD, as well as in comments elsewhere, who cares?
Well, on the one hand, many many Republicans do. Without a significant portion of the conservative religious vote a Republican cannot win. That's a given. Hypocrisy is nothing new for a politician, but claiming to be an evangelical when the public record, and your rhetoric, barely reveals you as a Christian, well.
On the other hand, if you take him at his word, John McCain cares:
What, then, ought it matter whether he is or is not, technically speaking, Christian?
It apparently matters to him, and to his opponent, and maybe it matters to you. McCain has noted several times that the "number one issue... that people should [use to] make a selection of the president of the United States [is] will this person carry on in the Judeo-Christian principle that has made this nation the greatest experiment in the history of mankind?" A person's faith is, according to McCain, an "important part of our qualifications to lead."
Far from partisan hair-splitting, this is a careful assessment of the available evidence against a voluminous body of scholarship and testimony.
McCain doesn't talk the talk:
in his years of public service prior to 2008, John McCain's speeches are models of secular aridity. He doesn't just occasionally speak of God or faith or America's Christian promise; he never does
... And he doesn't walk the walk:
When asked how often he attends church McCain says, "not as often as I should." When asked whether he has participated in adult baptism, a ritual requisite for converts to the Convention, McCain says no, calling it "a personal thing," adding on another occasion that "I didn't find it necessary to do so for my spiritual needs."
His only religious story, about a shared moment with a guard at the Hanoi Hilton on Christmas, wasn't included in his 1973 captivity narrative--a curious oversight, to say the least. In any case, as historian John Fea has noted, "[it] tells us more about the guard's faith than McCain's."
Lofton never uses the "a" word, but she doesn't really make the argument that McCain is an atheist. There is, indeed, a God that McCain worships...
Read Kathryn's entire essay here and discuss in RD's new comments section.
Loading comments…
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
Karl Rove's atheism was an open secret. Did "true believers" on the right protest any? Or at all?
I don't recall any calls for Bush to rebuke Rove.
McCain promises to cut taxes. He's walking the Republican walk.
As a life-long atheist*, it certainly doesn't matter to me if McCain is also an unbeliever of any kind. I'm also a big-time Obama supporter, and I firmly believe that a candidate's religious beliefs do not enter into the picture. I remind you that most of the founding fathers would not be electable under today's apparent (unofficial) rules. It's sad to consider that a Unitarian-Universalist would probably also be unelectable, even though the most recent Unitarian** candidate was Adlai Stevenson. His religion played no part in his two defeats by Eisenhower, and JFK became the first Catholic president in the very next decade. How attitudes have changed in 50 years.
* I was reared in a main-line Christian church, but the theology never made sense to me.
** The Unitarians and the Universalists merged in 1961, after Stevenson's two campaigns.
it's pretty obvious that McCain neither believes in God or in human decency. as for Palin, the "god" she believes in is apparently one of ambition only.
OK, so as much as it pains me to say, McCain leads Obama in one category...
You gotta wonder, is Obama Christian, thus making him dumb, or is he faking it, thus making him a faker? I would hope he's smart enough to use the religious, and not be one himself.
I really think that Obama doesn't believe in a god...if you're raised by a mother who is an atheist and you are as intelligent as he is, why would you, all of a sudden believe in a god?
I think it's mainly for political purposes as nobody who is know to be an atheist (or agnostic) would ever be allowed into public office.
There is only one senator that has said that he doesn't believe, and he's on his last term so he doesn't care.
Obama clearly believes in principles greater than self-aggrandizement because of the manner in which he has lived his life. He served as a community organizer for several years. That is a very difficult, thankless job. Its purpose is to help those less fortunate learn how to help themselves by teaching them lessons in civics and helping them to join together in a common cause.
In this sense, at least, Obama has more of a sense of civic religion than does McCain. Also consider that Obama taught constitutional law for many years. I sincerely doubt that he took a cynical, manipulative view toward the Constitution, but rather a reverent and thoughtful view.
Not all believers in religion are dumb. I propose that, if the unexamined life is one not worth living, that the unexamined faith is one that is not worth living. Religious belief should help one live with a personal philosophy of ethics and compassion towards others, regardless of the deities involved. There are also atheists who attempt to live in such a fashion, whether they draw upon a religious upbringing for inspirational practical principles or they rely on other sources.
All agents of intolerance are dumb, whether they believe in a higher power or not.
Indeed.
Amen!
Almost all of the most intelligent people in history have been strong in one faith or another, whether religion or philosophy or surety in something greater or more true.
Equating intellect with religion or lack thereof is a flawed assessment and a linking of a particular personal choice to an irrelevant innate characteristic.
Intelligence plays no part in whether a person believes--everyone believes in something, even if nothing religious--but it does have a role in WHAT a person believes and how easily manipulatable they are through those beliefs or other appeals to gut feelings and biases.
You might as well suggest that all atheists are smart as that all Christians are stupid--both are easily disproven statements, due to the extreme stance you take in using such a value as "all".
Only one person comes across as stupid by your assumptions that 1) stupidity and ambitious deceit are the only drives for a religious faith; and 2) deceit is a better quality in a leader than a belief in a force for good outside of themselves.
The sort of belief you decry--honest faith that there is a greater good or at least more that can be accomplished by a bunch of people working together for others or a gestalt rather than for selfish reasons--drives many efforts to clean up a community, to improve students' chances, to foster political involvement, to help strangers survive, and in numerous other ways better the world.
Sorry, but some recent widely publicized studies show that the higher your IQ the less likely you are to be a believer in an invisible friend.
No, he's a Christian. Therefore, by your logic, he's dumb. I suggest you start a campaign to get Harvard to take back his J.D. degree.
Anything else we can help you with?
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
