Faith factor in politics goes beyond red and blue

Religion has played a role in many campaigns.

McClatchy Newspapers

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Dr. Marc Swerdloff is a proud Jewish Republican.

Wendy Bourgault is a Catholic who has no problem with same-sex unions.

Marcus Davis, an evangelical Christian, calls himself pro-choice on abortion.

Amar Mehta says that if he heard an official at his Hindu temple endorse a candidate, he’d walk out.

For all the talk about red and blue, and who leans which way politically, many believers are coloring outside the lines.

This election represents a high-water mark for religious involvement, says Mark Silk, a religion professor at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn.

“There is more religion in more ways than in other cycles,” says Silk, who also edits a journal called Religion in the News. “Religion did play a part in other campaigns, but not as much as now.”

Pollsters, too, are paying more attention to the faith factor.

The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found in September that white evangelical Protestant voters solidly favored John McCain, while black Protestants favored Barack Obama. For white non-Hispanic Catholics, it was McCain by 52 percent to 39 percent. And for white mainline Protestants, it was a dead heat.

Faith has made a slow crescendo in politics since 1976, when Jimmy Carter made “born-again” a household word. Jews and evangelical Christians were seen as big swing votes for Ronald Reagan in 1980. And since 2004, Democratic Party leaders have begun stressing spirituality more.

Conversely, the Republican Party tried to downplay religion this year, Silk says. So it was a surprise when McCain’s vice-presidential choice was Sarah Palin — “the first movement evangelical on a national ticket,” he says. “In the end, the party decided they couldn’t do without that wing.”

Both sides, left and right, say they draw on spiritual principles.

“I start with issues of life — not just abortion, but birth to death,” says Mitch Dasher, who joined a dozen other pro-Obama friends in Wellington to watch the second presidential debate. “Christ came to save people. He spread the message to feed and clothe them.

“The Republican Party just talks about not having to pay taxes,” continues Dasher, a lector at St. Ann Catholic Church in West Palm Beach. “Then they borrow to pay for war.”

Across the aisle is Scott Spages, who co-chairs Calvary Chapel’s monthly Faith Forum, a politics-themed gathering with an average attendance of 40. Spages believes the Republican Party best fits the biblical model of government.

“God requires me to follow his lead, not rely on the government to solve problems,” Spages says.

For that reason, he believes national health care is unhealthy. “It’ll be a false idol, one more reason to serve government instead of God.”

For Amar Mehta, a computer engineer in Coral Springs, one guidepost is the Hindu concept of Vasudev kutumbh, “The whole world is my family.” That makes him consider how a policy affects everyone, he says.

Still, Mehta wants to think for himself, not have beliefs spoon-fed at the Boynton Beach Hindu Temple, where he attends.

“We’ve got to look at [politics]objectively, without the cloud of organized religion over us,” he says. “If I heard someone in the temple say to work for someone because of their political position, I’d walk out.”

Mehta isn’t the only independent-minded worshipper. Swerdloff, a neurologist, prizes his membership in the Republican Jewish Coalition. He also enjoys his spirited discussions with his rabbi, Paul Plotkin, at Temple Beth Am in Margate.

Swerdloff says the temple parking lot has bumper stickers for both McCain and Obama. “We have the same values; we have different politics. Just because you’re Jewish doesn’t mean you have to be a Democrat.”

Wendy Bourgault attends St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church in Pompano Beach and works with Food for the Poor. But she sees same-sex unions as a “human rights issue,” despite Catholic teachings against them.

“I’ll probably make every Catholic angry at me,” she says. “But it’s like the sacrament of matrimony vs. a marriage license. One is a faith-based relationship. The other is a matter of civil rights. You shouldn’t make churches recognize it. But you shouldn’t deny civil rights to any human being.”

As a Muslim businesswoman, Mona Seredin voices some conservative moral views on the recent Wall Street bailout.

“The government is privatizing profits and socializing losses,” says Seredin, who runs a gift shop in Delray Beach. “People shouldn’t take advantage. Muhammad said religion is about how you treat others.”

Some believers say they want the next president to think in broad terms of what will benefit people, rather than one sector.

“A sense of service and duty” is the main thing for Susan Straker Virtue, a lay leader at First United Methodist Church in Fort Lauderdale.

“Society values aggressive, assertive people,” says Virtue, a consultant for an insurance company in Davie. “But a president should have a servant’s heart. It should be the most humbling experience to head a nation that says it’s under God.”

Meanwhile, some people of faith are taking a steadier view of the future. When Bill Clinton was elected president in 1992, Beverly Duke-Ranck ran into her bedroom, fell on her knees and prayed and wept.

“I thought the world would end,” says Duke-Ranck, a member of Trinity Church International in Lake Worth. “But Armageddon didn’t come. God is still in control.

“People say this is a pivotal election. Well, every day is pivotal.”