In this volume Holmes looks at the role of faith in the lives of the twelve presidents who have served since the end of World War II. Like Holmes, I share the view that the faith of presidents shapes their character and their character shapes their politics.
With that in mind it is therefore important for us to become aware of the faiths of the debaters, each seeking to become the president of the United States. From information gathered, most of last Thursday’s Republican debaters claim to be Christians.
Former President Dwight Eisenhower was correct in saying that “we are a religious people.” Every potential president knows this and declares his religious leanings very early in campaigning. President Obama understood this and severed ties with the church with which he was a member for more than twenty years. He agreed with his advisors that the anti-American rhetoric at the church would hurt his run for president.
Among some conservatives, it was felt that Mitt Romney’s association with the Mormon Church, often viewed as a cult, damaged his presidential chances in 2012. Decades earlier, the question of John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s Roman Catholicism animated the 1960 election. Many felt his allegiance to the Pope could undermine his allegiance to the Constitution of the United States.
One could now understand the reasoning behind Chase Norton’s Facebook question to the debaters: “What is God saying to you about running for President?” Each candidate, when asked the question, expressed his opinion and exposed his personal religious commitment.
For Texas Senator Ted Cruz, he felt “blessed to receive a word from God every day” as he read the Bible. Cruz also used the occasion to share how he came to faith in Jesus Christ in 1975. The story of his father, now a pastor, was equally interesting.
Donald Trump was not asked to respond to the Facebook question. However, as the Republican front runner, I thought it would be interesting to explore his journey of faith. In 2012, he told the Christian Broadcasting Network that he attended the First Presbyterian Church in Queens, New York. He was also a member of Marble Collegiate Church, a Reformed Church in America congregation and once the pulpit of the late Norman Vincent Peale.
When asked about a personal faith in Christ, during a Question & Answer session at the Family Leadership Summit in Iowa, Trump admitted that he had never sought forgiveness for his sins. However, he further admits that he goes to church when he can – but always at Christmas, Easter and “when there’s a major occasion – I’m a Sunday church person.”
In his contribution to the Facebook question, Wisconsin’s Governor Scott Walker declared, “It is only by the blood of Jesus Christ that I’ve been redeemed from my sins.” Like Cruz, Walker is the son of a pastor and has been exposed to evangelical Christianity from his childhood.
Before the debate even kicked off, retired neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson, tweeted this to his followers: “May the Lord guide my words tonight, let His wisdom be my thoughts.” In his book Gifted Hands, Carson describes being baptized as a boy by the pastor of Detroit’s Burns Seventh-Day Adventist Church. At the age of 12 he told the pastor of another Adventist church that he had not completely grasped his first baptism and was baptized again.
Carson, a former Director of Neurosurgery at Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins Hospital once said, “Quite frankly, as a neurosurgeon, there’s a lot of emphasis on technical ability, but I believe that that’s something that can be taught, but wisdom comes from God and I think that it’s something that you have to seek.”
The fact that almost every presidential candidate talks about a personal faith in Christ is a healthy sign. Such a faith suggests a commitment to the ethical demands of the Scriptures and the faith community to which they are committed. Although not elected as religious leaders, presidents are expected to console and lift citizens to heights greater than themselves. Christians are well disposed to these demands.
In addition to David Holmes’ book, to which I alluded earlier, I would strongly encourage readers to contact Religion News Service for additional information on the faith of the debaters.
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