Sunday, CNN featured this article on its website, "How Evangelicals Could Grow to Love Muslims." I agree with the guy's basic premise that evangelicals could get over their prejudices against Muslims, just as they got over their one against Catholics from 50 years ago. The subplot is that they would also make natural allies for Republican social conservatives since many Muslims are socially conservative. (This same would apply to Latino immigrants; if the Republicans would compromise on the immigration issue, they could gain a powerful constituency that would be a very natural alliance.)
Anyways, I considered posting the article on Sunday because I thought it said a useful thing. The 'need to hate [or simply, be against something]' which the article matter-of-factly mentioned is certainly not a Christian ideal. So, there ought to be some question as to what has hijacked our thinking so that the outside world doesn't even know us by our love!
But it was the headline article on Hank Williams Jr.'s tirade against President Obama, mentioning Islam, today which made me decide to blog. Now, the President has attempted to make it clear that he is a Christian in his own understanding. Obviously, he could be lying. But, that's not really the issue.
Would it be a bad thing if he were a Muslim?
No.
Not from a Christian perspective, other than in regard to his soul - followers of Jesus have usually lived under unbelieving rulers. From an American perspective (which should be secondary for followers of Christ), it would also be a positive outcome of our values to elect someone who was not from the majority faith. It would be the most basic expectation of our values to say that someday someone of another faith would lead this country which claims to hold freedom of religion as a core tenet. Otherwise, we undermine the core of the word freedom and relegate those of other beliefs to second-rate status ...if it would be 'un-American' to have a President who claimed something other than Protestant-ism. But, that's a sidetrack.
To return to the original article, it is noteworthy that all sitting justices on the US Supreme Court are Catholic or Jewish in faith. (Remember that this religion was formerly vilified in US politics.) Now, of the four Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates, only one (Barack Obama) claims to be Protestant - the others are confessedly Roman Catholic or Mormon. Politics is an odd world, but amid the many shades of gray which it creates, Christians should try to live out their Lord's commands, not become party to one earthly agenda or another.
As for Americans generally, it is vain to decry one who 'takes away your freedom' and at the same time say that that one has no right to power, when it is the freedoms you cry for which he champions by being in the position he is in. Neither race nor religion nor gender are sufficient to disqualify someone from office based on American values. I do not speak for Christian values here, though if the freedoms that are being championed truly were derived from Scripture as many claim, than that also must be considered.
