Dear Senator Obama:
I stayed up Tuesday to watch you celebrate your victory as the Democratic Party's presumptive presidential nominee. By then, I'd heard your rivals, Senators McCain and Clinton, speak. Three speeches and many hundreds of words-but a single sentence sticks in my mind, a big promise you made. "What you won't hear you hear from this campaign," you said, "is the kind of politics that uses religion as a wedge and patriotism as a bludgeon." Close to 20,000 people gathered with you in St. Paul, Minn., roared approval. I thought that if you could possibly hold to that, you might have a shot at your stated desire to bring us together.
Weeks ago, you made a silly, tin-ear comment about small town people "clinging" to religion. Still, I suspect having traveled this country for 18 months straight, you well know many Americans truly value religion -- regardless of party, or whether they even vote. Polls show it. Your fellow citizens also tend toward a spacious view of faith. Only a narrow band fit the description of "fundamentalist." Check out the research done by Alan Wolfe, the political scientist whose One Nation After All contains a chapter on religion drawn from 200 interviews nationwide. The vast majority with whom he talked affirmed personal religious beliefs, and a deep reluctance to judge Americans on different faith paths. Call them moderates -- or people who simply find value in faith itself.
You've probably read Washington's "Farewell Address." So you remember our first president declared, "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness..." Our republican experiment would fail unless individuals could govern themselves, Washington believed, and they couldn't do it without a virtue secured by religious belief. Lots of Americans still think that way. But note that Washington left the term "religion" undefined.
Senator, when you speak of religion misused as a "wedge," you may recall how your rivals using the wretched rhetoric of your former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, against you. You've said enough about him. If anyone tries to re-ignite that fight, you might try a new tack. Tell them about your denomination, the United Church of Christ -- how it's a historic amalgamation of congregations that trace their roots to the Puritans, to Midwestern immigrant evangelicals, to freed slaves, and others. Truly made in America. But if you do, add that the UCC is just one of many in a great nation of Baptists, Methodists, Roman Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, atheists and many more. No single group-none-has anything close to a majority. Which is what the Founders wanted. Take Madison: "A religious sect may degenerate into a political faction in a part of the [nation]; but the variety of sects dispersed over the entire face of it must secure the national councils from any danger from that source."
You need not pretend you believe as any of those "sects" do. But if I heard you right Tuesday, you will make it abundantly clear that you respect, understand and believe in your heart that your fellow citizens have a natural right to believe as they will. Respect is vital: You've promised not to demagogue religion, even as you speak about faith and faiths. That's a very attractive pledge. You could draw a lot of people to you, hoping you can keep it.
