"In candidates, seek integration of faith, policy"
Published in The Washington Times, October 13, 2011
By Jonathan Imbody
 |
| Mitt & Ann Romney |
"Romney rivals duck Mormon issue" (Politics, Monday)
provides a cogent theological summary of Mormonism as viewed by those who hold the
Judeo-Christian Scriptures as authoritative: "They claim it either denies
or unrecognizably redefines such Christian doctrines as the Trinity, original
sin, the atonement, the continuity of the church and the canon of Scripture."
The real key in the public arena, however, is to understand whether
the politician marries or divorces his or her theological beliefs from public
policy.
Some politicians--such as oxymoronic "pro-abortion Catholics"--manage
to concoct a questionable wall of separation between their theological beliefs
and their public policy decisions. Yet if a theological tenet is true and good--such
as the principle that we are all made in God's image--then to choose a public
policy contradicting that truth is to choose a lie and an evil that will harm
the country. Witness slavery and abortion.
Many voters are learning, having observed faith-pronouncing
presidents Carter, Reagan, Bush and Obama, to discern the critical difference
between a politician's preaching and practice--especially on vital social
issues such as abortion, embryo-destructive stem cell research and conscience
rights in health care.
American voters must learn to look beyond rhetoric to evidence,
beyond appeals to faith to the practice of faith principles. The personal faith
of our president matters, but the crucial question we should be posing to the
candidates is how he or she integrates or separates the principles of that faith
in public policy.
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