Abuses of Religion for Political Gain at an All-Time High

Many of the primary election contenders on both sides of the aisle have used religion in radically new ways within their political operations. Many candidates hired campaign staffers to conduct outreach to communities of faith. While this tactic may sound innocent enough at first glance, it inevitably encourages more religious leaders to endorse candidates within their houses of worship, which can split congregations and can result in the loss of their tax exemptions.

Senators McCain, Obama, and Clinton are talking more openly about their faith. While this trend has the potential to spark constructive dialogue on important moral issues, it also has lowered the bar for political dialogue as well. Candidates are forced to defend the practices and beliefs of their faith, describe how they pray and how regularly they attend services, and other questions that have no bearing on a candidate’s vision for leading this country.

The Interfaith Alliance has spoken out when candidates from either party have abused religion for partisan gain. We criticized Gov. Mike Huckabee when he called for the Constitution to be amended according to “God’s standards.” We set the record straight when Sen. John McCain rewrote history by claiming that the United States was founded as “a Christian nation.” We criticized Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign announcement that Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson had endorsed him; we criticized Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign announcement that the Rev. Calvin Butts III had endorsed her. And that is just the tip of the iceberg. I have witnessed more abuses of religion in this primary season than in any other election in recent memory.