Carol Forsloff — This year people are headed to the polls in two weeks to decide who will be the next President of the United States, Mitt Romney or current President Barack Obama. At this time, many ministers and their intimate followers are offering election advice, while some actually run for, or hold, political office themselves. But is this the direction the founding fathers envisioned for the country and within the guidelines of religious faith most predominant in this country?The questions raised in this first paragraph are critical to the direction of a democracy. For those who denigrate some Islamic countries for having intimately combined religious and secular authority, many of these same people offer, or follow, direction based specifically on the advice of religious authority that designates not just the utilization of conscience in making a decision but that points to one candidate over another as being more spiritual or having more qualities that reflect the grace of God.
These questions have been asked and debated since the beginning of the United States when Baptists at the time sought to include their own set of beliefs, and governance, into the United States Constitution. Thomas Jefferson examined these issues and declared that a democracy would be best served by setting forth a division between church and state so that religion itself would be protected from government and government from the interference of religion.
On the other hand, church services were allowed in the House of Representatives during both the administrations of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. These details are used to combat the notion that church and state be entirely separate. There remained a respect for religion, yet Jefferson was circumspect about religious leaders being secular ones.
Recently, a former classmate at a high school reunion inquired, "Are you voting for the anti-Christ this year?" The journalist demurred, as the question posed a judgment and an inquiry about personal choice. So the answer became, "And who is that and why are you asking?"
The former classmate looked puzzled and said, "Surely you know. My preacher says that we have been living under the anti-Christ and his domination. He tells us we should not vote for this man or in any way accept his direction."
These are the questions and issues put forth by religious leaders, out of their interpretation of belief and their particular religious tenets in a free country where there are many religions and cultures.
A former religious leader, and one still referred to as a "pastor" by some members of his Mormon congregation, is presently running for President of the United States, in this case Mitt Romney, who was at one time Governor of Massachussetts and had been a Mormon bishop for 10 years. The Mormon Church has a set of beliefs that are somewhat different than mainstream Christian groups. Many of these beliefs focus on building good qualities in people's lives. Some, however, clearly define a different status between men and women in terms of obligations and service. Women are to be helpmates, serving the husband as head of the family. They have an obligation to care for the family. Men have the obligation to lead the family. The church emphasizes the value of both roles, however it is the wife and family role emphasized in the church, as well as the directive to bring souls into the world to become Mormons. This emphasis on women's roles opens up questions on how a former Bishop might respond to women's demands for equal pay for equal work.
Furthermore, it was not until the late 1960's, the Church removed the sanction against African Americans being part of the religious administration, a group that had been relegated to a lesser position in the Church based upon the belief they were inheritors of Cain, with the mark of Cain the dark skin. Although the Church has changed its position on racial matters, the history of the Church has been as controversial as Reverend Wright, whom folks see as a black extremist who influenced the current President Obama. On the other hand, more than a hundred years of exclusion of African Americans as unequal to other races in the church raises questions about the residual issues related to these exclusions.
International ties exist between the United States and Israel, with Christians espousing the need for Israel independence and peace because of its relationship to the history of a faith that began, according to Christians, with the revelation of God to the Jewish people. However, for Mormons, Jews are the lost tribe of Israel and therefore have a special significance for their protection. How might that impact a Mormon leader's response to a presumed attack on Israel, with the present saber-rattling evidenced by Iran?
John F. Kennedy was viewed with suspicion before he became President, some believing he might take direction from the Catholic Church. However, the difference between Romney and Kennedy is that Kennedy was not a religious leader himself and clearly stated he would not take direction from the Church in his role as a secular leader. Indeed some mainstream publications, such as Vanity Fair, have discussed the dark side of Romney's style, which is claimed to be secretive and controlling, characteristics ignored for the most part in the political debates and coverage.
So the next time your minister gives you advice on how to vote, consider the consequences. And consider how free men are best served in a democracy where each man is to be treated with dignity and respect and how that might involve a continuing judgment and domination of an individual whose first allegiance is to his faith, being an administrator within it.
Jefferson's stance on that wall of separation between church and state has been debated throughout the history of the United States. The complex question was debated during the time Jefferson ran for and was eventually elected President. One of his letters, however, reminds us of the risks involved when religious leaders insert themselves into secular decisions, as occurs in some Islamic countries.
In a letter to Alexander von Humboldt, December 6, 1813, Jefferson wrote. "History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes."
