HOW HE SEES IT Who would get Jesus' vote?

By KEVIN HORRIGAN
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
The earnest people at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life -- and by Pew we refer here to the Sun Oil-based charitable trusts, not the benches you sit on in church -- are out with a new survey that says Republicans are America's "religion-friendly" party.
The survey of 1,512 adults conducted early this month shows that 52 percent of them believe that Republicans are "generally friendly" toward religion. Only 40 percent think the same thing about Democrats. Forty-nine percent think conservatives are friendly toward religion; only 21 percent think liberals are. Most of the rest of those polled think the parties are "neutral" on the subject, although 23 percent think liberals are downright unfriendly toward religion.
Sixty-four percent of those polled say a candidate's "moral values" will be a very important factor when they go to the polls. This suggests that "moral values" also may be important to some Democrats, which will shock many listeners to talk radio.
Respondents were asked about their views on a half-dozen or so issues that the Pew people believe to have religious or moral significance. Sixty percent of those polled opposed gay marriage. Sixty-four percent don't think Catholic bishops should deny communion to politicians who support abortion rights. Seventy-two percent think it should be OK to display the Ten Commandments in public buildings. Seventy-two percent say the president should have strong religious beliefs.
The only so-called "moral issue" that tends to favor Democratic positions is support for stem-cell research. Fifty-two percent of those polled think more research is important, a nine-point gain since Pew asked the same question two years ago.
Tricky testing
Testing public attitudes on moral issues is tricky. (If the Pew people had been around in Germany in the 1930s, they might have found that a solid majority had been swayed to support exterminating the Jews.) But moral issues are clearly important to American politicians this year.
President Bush has gone out of his way to court favor with conservative Catholics, telling the Knights of Columbus convention earlier this month that they "have a friend in this administration." As governor of Texas in 2000, Bush actually proclaimed a "Jesus Day" in his state and has since portrayed himself as listening to a higher power.
Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry is less comfortable talking about own faith, as befits a divorced Catholic who supports abortion rights. But in his speech accepting the Democratic nomination, he staked a claim on values, albeit without going so far as to claim they were religious values:
"We believe that what matters most is not narrow appeals masquerading as values, but the shared values that show the true face of America. Not narrow appeals that divide us, but shared values that unite us."
This is precisely the problem in any discussion of religion and politics: If your faith reflects your beliefs and values, then your vote should reflect your faith. But what happens, say, when you're a Catholic who disagrees with some of the church's positions? Or how do you apply your faith to issues the Pew survey didn't include as "religious"?
Specifics
Take that Ten Commandments thing. Is it more important to you that they be displayed in public buildings or that public officials abide by them? And if so, what about the Eighth Commandment (or ninth, depending on your faith), the one about not bearing false witness? How do you square that with people making up stories about what people did or did not do on Swift boats in Vietnam in 1969?
Or the gay marriage deal. If you like what Leviticus 20 says about homosexuality being a sin, then shouldn't you like what Leviticus 11 says about not eating shellfish? Why aren't people picketing Red Lobster? Leviticus 25 says slavery is OK. Was Lincoln wrong? Deuteronomy 25 says stubborn and rebellious sons should be taken to the city gates and be stoned. If I had paid attention to that one, I know two guys who'd have a whole lot of bruises.
And then there's the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). If Jesus was serious (and he apparently wasn't much of a kidder), how many of us qualify as blessed? And if the author of the Epistle of James 1:27 got it right, then most all of our important religious issues are secondary, anyway:
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."
X Horrigan is a columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.