2008 Election And Religion

Shortly before 2 p.m. Eastern today, Andrea Mitchell interviewed Joshua Green of The Atlantic regarding Hillary Clinton's participation in The Fellowship (a/k/a The Family). You can read my opinion of Hillary's participation in this organization (including links to background articles in Harpers in early 2003 and Mother Jones in late...

Imagine a presidential candidate who believed that God wanted him to run for president because American needed him. Picture a secretive group of Washington insiders who meet quietly to mix religion, class and politics and who believe in an elite group of people divinely ordained to run the country and...

Barack Obama delivered a truly brilliant and inspiring speech this week. There were a few things, however, that he did not and could not (and, indeed, should not) say:

He did not say that the mess he is in has as much to do with religion as with...

Rudy Giuliani's priest has been accused in grand jury proceedings of molesting several children and covering up the molestation of others. Giuliani would not disavow him on the campaign trail and still works with him.

Mitt Romney was part of a church that did not view black Americans as...

Remember the excitement about the February 21, 2008, New York Times article that implied that John McCain may have been romantically involved with Vicki Iseman, a lobbyist 30 years his junior? There was a lot of righteous indignation about this invasion of McCain's privacy...and then the story faded away, soon...

Many years ago my father told me a poignant story about when he first came to America from Istanbul, Turkey.

Having grown up a Christian, Greek man in Istanbul he had experienced his share of prejudice. But it was all about religion.

In the...

Although John McCain seems assured at this point of garnering the Republican nomination, barring divine intervention on behalf of Mike Huckabee, he still needs to shore up support among conservatives. If Hillary Clinton gets the Democratic nomination, she will be a formidable foe; if Barack Obama receives the nod, he'll...

Much attention was given to Mitt Romney's speech on religion delivered on the eve of the Iowa caucuses. Comparisons were made between Romney and John F. Kennedy as both were presidential hopefuls representing a religious minority. As such, each in his own way made a plea for religious toleration and...

My secret love affair with Mike Huckabee is over. Let's be clear. As an out and proud secular progressive, I would have to meet Jesus Christ his own bad self, (at Starbucks, preferably, where we could have a proper chat), to ever consider voting for the charismatic former Southern Baptist...

One of Giuliani's people complains about "the difficult problem" that is "the rise of the Muslims" and wants "to chase them back to their caves."

He further refuses to distinguish between good and bad Muslims. After all, "they are all Muslims." Here is the video of him...

Many say that because the United States itself has an imperfect theocracy, we are in no position to be exporting and imposing our model on other nations. Others say that for a country to develop into a flourishing theocracy it must get there on its own, and any efforts to...

Mitt Romney's evangelical Christian friends and foes alike can only rejoice. His speech on his faith and religion has resounded in the public square and blown a heavy whiff of religion into our political life. He offered an impassioned account of his devotion to Jesus Christ, his Lord and Savior...

Religion promises to be a major issue in the long campaign of 2008. At the moment, it simmers just beneath the surface, but make no mistake, it is there.

Mitt Romney's Mormon affiliation now commands the most attention. Romney has repeatedly affirmed his commitment to his faith and his...

Is this a great idea or what? How about John McCain as a third party candidate?

I mean, here he is, obviously doing everything he can to cater to Christian conservatives so they can resurrect his campaign, and yes, the pun was intentional.

His declaration that the United States is...