John McCain has had mixed relations with the religious right. He’s forced to pander them for votes, but deep down he probably does not like them any more than he did in 2000 when he said “Neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and the agents of intolerance, whether they be Louis Farrakhan or Al Sharpton on the left, or Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell on the right.”
We saw another example of the conflict between the McCain campaign and the religious right when McCain adviser Lawrence Eagleburgerg said the following before the United Jewish Communities (video here):
“On the Christian hard right, I live in Charlottesville now and I can’t tell you I’m surrounded by it,” Eagleburger said. “I must tell you we fought it there, fought hard against it. There’s no question that in the Republican Party it is a serious problem…Among the hard-right conservatives in the Republican Party John McCain was, shall we say, less than enthusiastically received…What you see is what you get. You are not going to see him moving to assuage the concerns of these conservatives.
“The issues that have concerned the far right I don’t see and I don’t expect to see any changes. I know there will be some people in his entourage who will want to advocate for those changes, and again, I don’t believe he will shift on those fundamental issues. For example, on abortion, he’s clear, he’s opposed. On one of the issues that upsets the far right, stem cell research, he is prepared to accept some of that, and that’s something that upsets the far right. I could go on with these issues.”
Of course it is not difficult for a Republican to bash the religious right when speaking before the United Jewish Communities. I do wish that he had provided more issues where McCain disagrees considering that McCain does agree with them on abortion. The reception also might have been different if McCain, or a surrogate, had repeated McCain’s belief that the United States was founded as a Christian nation.
I am a 81-year-old vet with 27 years of active duty. I strongly feel that this country has a long way to go before we realize the freedoms we so loudly espouse. US history, for me, is a big case of “we talk the talk but don’t walk the walk.” There has been a lack of freedom since the beginning of our history. Our Constitution and Bill of Rights was written by well-meaning men who because of their religion and education didn’t truly realize that black people were human beings. Many, including at least one president, fathered children from their female slaves. Various religious sects have disavowed one another from the beginning. Catholics were feared and mistreated until Kennedy was elected. We screwed the Native Americans and many Mexicans out of their land. The only people who realized the American dream, until about 60 years ago, were white protestant males.
This is a great country and I love it, but it is not the one I really wish for. We need to get religion out of politics. Religious faith has, and still is, killing more people than most serious epidemics. We need to start, here and around the world, an educational system that teaches the “big bang” and evolution are real. When mankind accepts the fact that the supernatural start of this universe and mankind, is not the God of the Torah, the Koran, the Bible, or the Book of Mormon, we may be on the way
to peace. It is going to happen. Unfortunately it will take generations and millions more will die for their faith before it does. Truth and faith are not compatible.
Sincerely,
Larry J. Kluth
(Lt.Col. USAF Ret.)