Pastors and politics: National confusion

I love reading. I love reading conservative thought. The usual well from which I drink, apart from the ultimate source of radical thought, the Bible, is Townhall.com. Townhall is a repository for conservative columns from around America. Some of the columns read like a symphony. Some cut like a surgeons laser. Some sour the gut.

Wednesday, a tidal wave of nausea hit me.

Kathleen Parker wrote a piece (linked here in its entirety) railing upon Rick Warren for querying the presidential hopefuls about their worldview, about their religion, about their faith in Christ.

"But does it not seem just a little bit odd to have McCain and Obama chatting individually with a preacher in a public forum about their positions on evil and their relationship with Jesus Christ?"

A reader offered these comments in exultant agreement:

"Ms. Parker is absolutely correct in her statements. A person's religious preferences should be immaterial to the office of the President of the United States (or any other political or public office) and the performance of the duties of that office. Go back and reread the First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion.""

Folks, both Ms. Parker and this commentator are daft. And her commentator seems to think that Pastor Warren is now a member of Congress and trying to establish some law about religion (a typical problem for folks with First Amendment issues). Here's what the Constitution does say about a religious determinant for public office:

"...no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States." (Article VI)

That's it. The intent of our Founders was to insure that the government itself would impose no restriction. In other words, you didn't have to be a Presbyterian or a Puritan to be president. You didn't have to swear allegiance to the Church of England or the Church of Christ.

Where Ms. Parker and her advocate have skidded into the ditch is in their assertion that the individual voters should not care about a candidate's religious foundation. Ludicrous! The Constitution restricts the government, not its citizens!

I can think of no clearer indicator for a person's position on a particular issue than their conviction about God and His Word. Individual voters have every right to understand from what material the candidate will be deciding the weighty matters of national policy. And who better to get those questions answered than a pastor, especially a pastor who has the respect and friendship of both candidates?

I wonder if Ms. Parker and her pal have any idea the number of pastors and Bible society members and officers who signed the Declaration of Independence? I'm glad that they, like Warren, got involved in our civil discourse.