By Bob Allen
A Baptist minister and interfaith leader accused Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum of using religion to polarize voters.
Interfaith Alliance head Welton Gaddy called Santorum’s introduction by a Louisiana preacher who encouraged those who don’t share his views to “get out” of America, coupled with the candidate’s own comments in a radio interview that “the bottom line is we do well among people who take their faith seriously,” a “new low” in political debate.
“A candidate who dares to not only hijack faith in the service to his own political ambitions but who shares a stage with a preacher who calls for those who disagree with him on religious matters to leave the country– meaning your very right to be an American hinges on sharing a particular set of religious beliefs — a candidate who dares to equate support for his campaign with authenticity of religious convictions, how arrogant can you get?” Gaddy said March 24 on his State of Belief radio program.
“That’s gravely misleading his supporters,” said Gaddy, pastor for preaching and worship at Northminster (Baptist) Church in Monroe, La. “At best this kind of rhetoric diverts them from fully participating in our political process where their perspectives and voices are just as valid as anyone else’s. Instead, he reduces our society to provincial fiefdoms of self righteous and isolated factions based on an inaccurate interpretation of beliefs and values. At worst it sets up an endless series of power shifts with the group that sees itself as virtuous dismissing entirely all other groups.”
“This dismissal of the fundamental pluralistic, tolerant and democratic soul of our nation has got to stop,” Gaddy said. “I would no more want to live under an unyieldingly monolithic liberal model of America in which those who disagree are reviled, dehumanized and dismissed than I would a conservative one. If we can’t agree as we have since our founding on some basic ground rules for civil discourse, the damage done to both government and religion will be profound.”
“One of the great blessings of living in this nation is precisely the opportunity to interact every day with people who are very different from ourselves,” he said. “This is also one of the great necessities for us to continue as a great nation.”
A Pew Forum analysis March 26 of Saturday’s Louisiana GOP primary found support for Santorum strongest among white evangelical Christians, those who attend worship services weekly and those who say it is at least somewhat important to have a candidate who shares their religious beliefs.