{"id":6508,"date":"2014-04-30T14:50:28","date_gmt":"2014-04-30T18:50:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=6508"},"modified":"2014-05-08T11:50:05","modified_gmt":"2014-05-08T15:50:05","slug":"politics-as-usual-faith-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/politics-as-usual-faith-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"POLITICS AS USUAL: Faith & Politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Alison Collins-Mrakas<\/strong><\/p>\n

I watched a lot of television while I had the flu.
\nNot much else to do seeing as I was virtually incapacitated.
\nReading made me nauseous. Knitting, sewing \u2013 same thing – so that left me with just TV. Hours and hours of TV. I cannot think of something more mind numbing than multi-day marathons of TV. It is truly a soul-sucking experience.
\nAnyway, watching that much TV afforded me the opportunity to binge watch a few good programs (thank you Netflix!) \u2013 House of Cards (both seasons again), Boss (both seasons) and as much West Wing as I could find. What can I say, I am a bit of a political junkie.
\nWhile watching the programs one after the other after the other, I noticed a curious and recurrent theme throughout all three programs \u2013 God, or more specifically, politics and God. I should not be surprised. Their money is emblazoned with the motto \u201cin God we trust\u201d. That God should figure so prominently in American society is not unexpected.
\nHowever, American politicians have an odd relationship with religion. On the one hand, they are fiercely proud of their version of democracy. It makes a very clear distinction between church and state and never the twain shall meet (unless you live in Texas, or Utah for example\u2026but that\u2019s another column)
\nAnd yet.
\nPersonal piety and obvious religiosity are vitally important should a candidate want to get elected. Professions of personal faith \u2013 faith in God \u2013 are de rigueur for the current, has-been and wannabe politician alike. I cannot even imagine a candidate stating that he or she is an atheist or even an agnostic. It would be a non-starter.
\nGoing to church \u2013 and being filmed going to church, bible in hand (family bible handed down for generations no less) is pretty much a standard election shot in America. And yes, I am sad to say that despite the melting pot society of which they are so very proud, it is still primarily a church, not a mosque, or temple, or Shul that is the assumed house of faith for America\u2019s leaders.
\nDon\u2019t believe me? Recall the unseemly debate during the 2008 election about Obama\u2019s religion \u2013 first about whether he was a Christian and then about whether he was the \u201cright\u201d kind of Christian attending the \u201cright\u201d kind of church. That should belie any protestations about whether or not religion matters in American politics.
\nFaith is a prop in politics. That\u2019s disappointing, but true. Regular church goers often remark that they know an election must be imminent because candidates all of a sudden start showing up to church, whole families in tow, to sit in the front row. They don\u2019t fool anyone, but my goodness they do put on a show.
\nThat being said, no politician \u2013 current, has-been or wannabe \u2013 would actually campaign in a church (or temple or mosque or Shul) though. That\u2019s too low even for a politician. Not even the crassest of the crass would dare hand out election materials (like pamphlets or cards) in a house of faith.
\nThe fallout amongst the faithful would be immediate and tremendous. Campaigning in a house of God is an affront to the religious sensibilities of even the most lapsed of church-goers.
\nWe have seen them electioneering outside a church though many times. Taking the opportunity of a large gathering of the faithful for self promotion. For example, Ford supporters were rumoured to have handed out fridge magnets outside the funeral for Peter Worthington. Obama and more recently, Trudeau, took a selfie with a \u201cfan\u201d on the steps of the church while attending a funeral service.
\nIn Canadian politics, personal religious beliefs have less direct bearing on a candidate\u2019s \u201celectability\u201d. Religion is still important to Canadians, but it is seen as a very personal matter. We do not feel it is our business to discuss where a politician worships, much less think less or more of them for their faith or lack thereof.
\nMy faith is important to me, just as yours is to you. I respect your faith and your right to practice it just as you respect mine. That\u2019s the Canadian approach to religion and politics. It is far less hypocritical. Woe betides the politico \u2013 current, has-been or wannabe \u2013 that loses sight of that fact.
\nUntil next week, stay informed, stay involved because this is, after all, Our Town.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alison Collins-Mrakas I watched a lot of television while I had the flu. Not much else to do seeing as I was virtually incapacitated. Reading made me nauseous. Knitting, sewing \u2013 same thing – so that left me with just TV. Hours and hours of TV. I cannot think of something more mind numbing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-1GY","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-01 08:37:53","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6508\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}