Republican Sen. John McCain and Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, both seeking to use religion to their advantage in the presidential campaign, have learned painful lessons about the risks of getting too close to religious leaders.
Both now realize that sermons given to a narrow audience on Sundays don’t always play as well on the national stage, where context can be a casualty. And McCain’s rejection of endorsements from two evangelical pastors puts into relief his problems with that core GOP constituency.
McCain, the Republican nominee-in-waiting, and Obama, who is closing in on the Democratic nod, have been slowed by their respective pastor problems. Whether the controversies will play a role in the months ahead remains unclear, but the two candidates face decisions about how clergy fit into their efforts to reach voters informed by faith.
And clergy who have seen colleagues go from obscurity to infamy in the course of a 24-hour news cycle face similar choices in weighing whether to talk about politics.
“This is the new terrain of religious politics,” said David Domke, a University of Washington communications professor and co-author of “The God Strategy: How Religion Became a Political Weapon in America.” “Politicians have been getting a pass on this for some time, using support from a minister or pastor for their political advantage and not having to answer for what that pastor has said.”
Both candidates have reason to pay attention to the faith factor in their White House bids.
Obama, facing false rumors that he is a Muslim, portrays himself as a committed Christian in campaign literature. But Obama has been hamstrung by the rhetoric of his former longtime pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, whose sermons blaming U.S. policies for the Sept. 11 attacks and calls of “God damn America” for its racism became fixtures on the Internet and cable news networks. Obama ultimately cut himself off from Wright.
McCain has sought to shore up skeptical evangelicals. But two evangelical pastors McCain did win over — John Hagee of Texas and Rod Parsley of Ohio — were tied to statements offending all three monotheistic faiths.
