Religious Tests in 2008: Only for Blacks & Mormons?

So now, in 2008, in this country that claims to sanctify freedom of religion, political candidates must not only justify their religious faith tradition, but also must justify and fully vet the religious leader who preaches that faith?

I wonder... does this new religious litmus test apply to all political candidates in 2008, or merely to Mormons and African-Americans? Is this religious litmus test reserved for people who are different than us? Who worship differently than us?

And I wonder what's next:

• Will political rivals be videotaping religious services to keep as ammunition against other candidates?
• Will they demand church attendance records to determine who sat through which sermons?
• Will they sift through the resumes of religious leaders to use it against their parishioners?

I listened in shock this morning to CNN commentators unknowingly reveal their secular take on a deeply religious and personal relationship, when they blithely said that while Obama can't pick his relatives who happen to make ill-advised remarks, he can easily change churches and pastors at any time.

And I realize that these particular talking heads have never been part of a church family, or found a place of worship they call home, or experienced the long-term spiritual and emotional support provided privately by a pastor, priest, rabbi or other religious leader. They know not of what they speak.

I thank God that I'll never be judged by 30-second videos of my beloved senior pastor when he's at his most emotional or colorful in the pulpit.

I thank God that I'll never be asked to agree with every one of his stances and views, or those of our Lutheran denomination, because I don't. And he doesn't expect me to. (I wonder how many U.S. Catholics agree with every stance of their church. I wonder how many religous right evangelicals agree with 100% of the stances and statements of their leaders? )

And I thank God that, in Sen. Obama's insightful and deeply intimate speech, he repudiated again the angriest and most radical remarks of Pastor Jeremiah Wright of Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ... but that Sen. Obama courageously refused to disassociate himself from the pastor who compassionately ministered to the Obamas and to the larger Chicago community for almost forty years, when the senator loyally orated:

" I confess that if all that I knew of Reverend Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and You Tube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way.

"But the truth is, that isn’t all that I know of the man. The man I met more than twenty years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine; who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God’s work here on Earth – by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS...

"As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children...

"I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother – a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe."

In his landmark speech today, Sen. Obama displayed a steely courage of his possibly unpopular convictions, unvarnished honesty, and an apolitical transparency unseen in the White House for decades. His remarks today are strongly reminiscent, in tone, of his equally courageous 2002 speech against the Iraq War.

I would have felt differently had he repudiated his personal friendship with his pastor of two decades, which would have been the most politically advantageous path. Which would be the path most hardened politicos would take.

But Sen. Obama didn't choose the path of political opportunism. Instead, in his wise judgment, he did the right thing. Again.

Today, I'm more convinced than ever before that Barack Obama is the right candidate at the exactly the right divisive time to be President of the United States.

But I'm left wondering when these bigoted religious litmus tests will end.

(Photo taken at the Brown Chapel AME Church in Selma, Alabama on March 4, 2007: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Related Reading
Religion and The Presidency (U.S. Political Current Events)
Barack Obama's Courageous Speech on Race & Faith
Barack Obama's Stirring 2002 Speech Against the Iraq War