How much should we consider a presidential candidate's religious beliefs? Writing in The New York Times, Bill Keller thinks it's a very big deal and would like candidates to answer a whole series of questions. Sample:
4. If you encounter a conflict between your faith and the Constitution and laws of the United States, how would you resolve it? Has that happened, in your experience?
He also has candidate-specific questions, such as this one for Mormon Mitt Romney:
3. Was your religion a factor in your decision to oppose gay marriage and civil unions?
Critics of Mr. Keller and the Times are not impressed. The VERUM SERUM blog:
Keller takes pains to assure readers he is not calling for a new litmus test, he just has questions. Funny this is only coming to him now that the race is on and it's GOP candidates that are front and center. I don't recall him demanding this much insight into Obama's relationship with Wright or Pfleger. In fact, I seem to remember the NY Times apologizing for blowing those stories.
Keller's self-regard and his obvious double standard highlight the religious bigotry he hoped to launch in so clear a fashion that the attempt to get the MSM mob moving towards Rick Perry's prayer book is genuinely humorous even as it is repulsive.
And so on. You can find links to the ongoing debate at memorandum.com.
I don't so much care what candidates' religious beliefs are except as a general guide to how they might think about other things. I can't see myself voting for or against a candidate just because of matters of faith, unless it's something really off the wall: On Thursdays, you must all wear yellow, face the east and give praise to the Great Spaghetti Monster, or your house will be burned down! There are mechanisms and institutions to limit what a president does, and we need to make use of those no matter what inspires a president to do whatever it is he is doing.
Generally speaking, though, I prefer the approach of a Rick Perry, who is absolutley candid about every aspect of his religion, to that of Barack Obama, whose beliefs are murky at best. This point is made well by Roger L. Simon, in a blog post titled "Agnostics for Perry":
That may be one of the few things I share with the incumbent president since it's hard to believe that he is even remotely devout. Recent liberal Democrats, Clinton and Obama, have a kind of wink-wink relationship with religion, largely attending church for political purposes. This is particularly true of Obama who, as we all know, rarely attends now, but spent two decades in the fold of the execrable race-hustler Jeremiah Wright, a man who would make Elmer Gantry blush. If his allegiance to the reverend wasn't for political purposes, what was it? Let's hope it was anyway. If he looked to Wright for spiritual guidance, Obama is suffering from some kind of delusional psychosis.
[. . .]
Frankly, I prefer honesty. So I respect Perry for his faith. And, again as we all know, this country was founded on bedrock principles of religious tolerance, which some modern liberals tend to forget includes people who actually believe in God. Personally, I admire Perry's belief, even envy it to some extent, because I am reaching the point in life at which I would be delighted if someone could convince me of an afterlife.
