People of faith, and Christians in particular, need to get out of the political king-making business. We have more important things we need to be worrying about than who wins elections. We condemn elitists. We say that politicians are out of touch with our values. And you know what? We are absolutely right to be doing that. But we cannot, and we should not, be telling people to vote for or against a candidate because of the level of their belief or non-belief in God. With all the flaws in the Democratic strategy over the years, I don’t recall them ever fighting about which candidate is more religious, and basing their support on who appears to love God the most. It’s a stupid argument that we are having here, and we need to recognize that the more important characteristic than a person’s religion is how competently that person can run the US government and how aggressive she/he is in protecting this country from foreign enemies, both terrorists and rogue regimes seeking nukes. If we can find someone as a Republican nominee who will appoint strict constructionist judges to the Supreme Court in addition to that, that would be a bonus.

We have to ask ourselves how aggressive we want the federal government to be as advocates for a social conservative agenda. Do we really want government programs to push an agenda that would be better carried out in the private sector with non-profits and charities rather than adding another appendage to the government monolith? I would like a candidate who is a social conservative and who shares my values, but I would have to think about whether I want the government to be funding religious activity. The reason for that is that what government funds, it will eventually control. I don’t want the government to have any control over religious organizations at all. So keep funding of faith-based organizations in the private sector where it belongs.

Many of the social conservatives running for president seem to want to have an activist government on social policy. Is that really what we want? Here’s something else to consider. Is it the government’s job to provide free health care to all Americans? Is it the government’s job to ensure that people can afford a house? Is it the government’s job to make sure that you have a job?

No. It is not.

If we say that we are for limited government, and we actually mean it, then this should mean that the candidate we nominate should be more interested in protecting our country than protecting our faith. That’s what churches are for. That’s what our pastors are for. That’s the role of our families. That’s not the role of our government.

Tags: ’08 election, Ames, Iowa Straw Poll, Republicans