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Religion & politics:

• Religion has big role in political year | Family values and moral issues take center stage for many voters (Huntington Herald Dispatch, WV)
• Political leaders talk about spirituality and values | Discussing why human beings are on this Earth and whether there is a God or not is a far cry from talking about national security and tax cuts. The question of faith and what drives a person is deeply personal. (ABC Online, Australia)
• Christians differ on what vote is | Robert Shearer knows a thing or two about Christianity. He is, after all, the pastor of the Anglican Christ Church in New Brunswick. In this election year, however, he often talks to friends whose values come from the same basic religious teachings but result in very different political views. Far from finding a Christian bloc vote that uniformly takes one side of each issue, Shearer said there are many political viewpoints within the religion. (New Brunswick Home News Tribune, NJ)
• What role does faith play in presidential politics? | For Brian Kerby, bringing faith into politics is natural. As interim pastor for Hamilton Street Baptist Church in Kirksville, he encourages his congregation to vote according to Christian values. (KTVO, MO)
• Checking out the snake-handler vote? | President Bush is an evangelical Protestant. Therefore, Bush is the candidate of snake handlers. Then again, Bush is a United Methodist. I doubt there are many evangelical United Methodist snake handlers in Ohio. (Terry Mattingly, Scripps Howard News Service)
• Think again: God-phobic Jews | American Jews live in terror of religious Christians - the kind who tell their elected representatives that America will be judged by its treatment of Israel. Every litany of the evils of George W. Bush includes his religiosity. (Jerusalem Post)
• America has never been as polarized as it is now | At its core are eschatological evangelicals, many of whom are waiting anxiously for the battle of Armageddon as a prelude to the Second Coming. In their eyes, their Creator-invoking president can do no wrong. For them it is almost blasphemy to delve deep into the years when Dubya sowed his wild oats or, heaven forbid, hold his early service record up to scrutiny. He's their "born-again" main man. (Arab News)
• So you think you know the religious agenda? | John Green is the leading student of mores when it comes to communities of faith. With the election upon us, the University of Akron professor has released a study of Protestants, evangelicals, Catholics and Jews. It's worth examining the highlights for what they say about electoral currents five weeks before the Big Day (William McKenzie, The Dallas Morning News)

Jews & politics:

• The Oklahoma Senate race and the Jewish question | Seven years ago, Coburn got himself into hot water, both with the Jewish community and nationally, when he condemned NBC for broadcasting the Holocaust movie Schindler's List, calling it an "all-time low" for network television "with full-frontal nudity, violence, and profanity." (Jerusalem Post)
• Bush, Kerry, and the Jewish vote | When they go to the polls in November, which of the two major parties will American Jews support? (Jeff Jacoby, Boston Globe)

Religion & Republicans:

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September (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48