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By Weekly Archive On Jul 2, 2008

A
couple of years ago, in a book called "How The Republicans Stole
Religion," I urged Democrats to steal religion back. Today,
Barack Obama is doing just that, by daring to stand up to the
religious right and prove them wrong.

Hallelujah!

James
Dobson, head of Focus on the Family, recently blasted Obama for his
now famous "Call to Renewal" speech of 2006, in which he
pointed out that there’s an inherent difficulty in attempts by
evangelicals to establish the Bible as the road map for public
policy. "Would we go with James Dobson’s interpretation (of the
Bible)," Obama asked his audience, "or Al Sharpton’s?"

For
Dobson, even raising that question is pure heresy. "I think he’s
deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to
fit his own world view, his own confused theology," Dobson told
his national radio audience. He even accused Obama of having a
"fruitcake interpretation of the Constitution."

But
unlike previous Democratic candidates, Obama didn’t back down. He
questioned what Dobson meant by the "traditional understanding"
of the Bible. "Which passages of Scripture should guide our
public policy?" Obama asked. "Should we go with Leviticus,
which suggests slavery is OK and that eating shellfish is an
abomination? Or we could go with Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning
your child if he strays from the faith? Or should we just stick to
the Sermon on the Mount?"

Again,
Obama tackled head-on what Dobson, Pat Robertson and the late Jerry
Falwell have been saying for years: that we are a Christian nation;
that public policy must be based on the Bible; and that every word of
the Bible must be taken literally. In our pluralistic society, it’s
not that simple. Because not all Americans are Christians, or even
believers, you can’t find common ground for legislation based on the
Bible. And even in the Bible, you can’t give equal weight to Old
Testament prohibitions against homosexuality and New Testament
admonition to "go sell your possessions, and give to the poor."

What’s
most surprising is that Barack Obama’s not alone. In his criticism of
Dobson and the old-fashioned religious right, he’s joined by some
prominent evangelists. No spiritual advisor, for example, is closer
to President Bush than Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, pastor of Houston’s
Windsor Village United Methodist Church. Caldwell introduced Bush to
the 2000 Republican convention, offered the official benediction at
both his 2001 and 2005 inaugurations, and recently presided over
first daughter Jenna’s wedding to Henry Hager.

But
today, Caldwell has not only endorsed Barack Obama for president, he
has launched a Web site — jamesdobsondoesntspeakforme.com — which
says that, when it comes to the role of faith and politics, Obama is
right and Dobson is wrong.

James
Dobson doesn’t speak for me "when he uses religion as a wedge to
divide," writes Rev. Caldwell on his site. "He doesn’t
speak for me when he speaks as the final arbiter on the meaning of
the Bible. He doesn’t speak for me when he denigrates his neighbor’s
views when they don’t line up with his."

Ouch!
Dobson’s pious balloon has just been popped by Bush’s own spiritual
adviser. It shows how off-base Dobson is with his attacks on Obama’s
faith. But it also shows how ineffective Christian conservatives will
be in this presidential campaign. In years past, they lined up
lock-step behind the Republican. This year, not only can they not
agree on a Republican candidate, they can’t even agree on attacking
the Democratic candidate.

And
that will have a significant impact in this election. It means John
McCain will not be able to count on a unified block of religious
right voters, 88 percent of whom voted for George Bush in 2004,
giving him 26 percent of his total vote. Barack Obama, a Christian
himself, very comfortable with his faith, will capture a healthy
chunk of that vote. The love affair between Christian conservatives
and Republicans may not be over, but it’s definitely on the rocks.

Beyond
the election, it also means that Americans are beginning, once again,
to put faith and politics in the proper perspective. Even though most
Americans are Christians, we are not a Christian nation: never have
been, never will be. Therefore, in making the laws that govern our
nation, we don’t turn to the Old Testament, the New Testament, or the
Koran. We turn to the only sacred text that all Americans worship:
the U.S. Constitution.

Bill
Press is host of a nationally syndicated radio show and author of a
new book, "Train
Wreck: The End of the Conservative Revolution (and Not a Moment Too
Soon)."
You can hear "The Bill Press Show" at his Web site:
billpressshow.com. His email address is: bill@billpress.com.