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November 1st, 2012
01:43 PM ET
My Take: Billy Graham and Ralph Reed are putting politics before God
By Stephen Prothero, Special to CNN (CNN)–Why are evangelicals like Billy Graham and Ralph Reed stumping for Mitt Romney? And why are roughly three-quarters of white evangelicals inclined to vote for him? Because politics matters more to them than religion. Last year, in a talk at a conference on Mormonism and Islam at Utah Valley University, I asked my Mormon listeners why they had not rushed to the defense of Muslims in controversies such as the one that raged over the Park51 project near ground zero. After all, they have been the victims of religious prejudice. Their founder, Joseph Smith, was killed by a mob of vigilantes. Given this history, I expected that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, known as Mormons, would feel the sting of anti-Muslim prejudice and speak out against it. But neither Mitt Romney of the GOP nor Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of the Democratic Party did anything of the sort. In fact, Romney issued a statement opposing the construction of the Islamic center. Why? Because they were thinking and acting as Republicans or Democrats first and Mormons second. Follow the CNN Belief Blog on Twitter I see a parallel story playing out this election season with the religious right. Until quite recently, many evangelicals saw Mormonism as a dangerous cult spreading false theology and dooming its followers to hell. In fact, only after Romney showed up for a meet and greet with Billy Graham in North Carolina earlier this month did the website of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association erase a reference to Mormonism as a “cult." Did Mormons all of a sudden change their theology? Did Graham change his definition of a “cult”? Of course not. It just became politically expedient for Graham to declassify Mormonism, given the fact that Romney, a Mormon, was the presidential nominee of his beloved GOP. Ralph Reed, too, is forsaking his theology for his politics, mobilizing his Atlanta-based Faith and Freedom Coalition to place voter guides in Ohio churches in the run-up to election day. I am old enough to remember when the main purpose of Reed’s Christian Coalition and other groups on the religious right was to put born-again Christians in the Congress, the White House, and the Supreme Court. And for decades those who were running those groups saw Mormons as non-Christians. And don't get me started on Mike Huckabee, who in a recent ad says that a vote for Obama is a vote for your own damnation. Have LDS Church members repudiated the Book of Mormon as “another testament of Jesus Christ” or their view that the Bible is the word of God only “as far as it is correctly translated”? Have they accepted the Trinity? Rejected their teaching that there are many gods? As Ben Witherington, Albert Mohler, and many other evangelical thinkers continue to insist: no, no, and no. CNN’s Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest stories I used to believe that the purpose of the religious right was to infuse American politics with Christian politicians and Christian politics. I no longer believe that. The purpose of the religious right is to use the Christian God for political purposes. Why any Christian, conservative or liberal, can say "Amen" to that is beyond me. I am perfectly happy to see Reed stump for Romney in Ohio and Graham plump for Romney in an ad in The Wall Street Journal. Just don’t tell me they are doing so as Christians. They are doing so as shills for the GOP. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Stephen Prothero. |
  About this blog
The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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Editor's Note: Stephen Prothero, a Boston University religion scholar and author of 
Maybe if I saw an actual autographed bible 🙂
I'll autograph your Bible.
Reading all the anti-Christian/Anti-Reiigion comments to this article is proof postive that Ralph Read and Billy Graham have not been serving the Lord with their very partisan support of Mitt Romney. It's not that a preacher cannot support a candidate, its that they are on very thin ice when they claim, directly or indirectly, that their candidate is the Lord's candidate.
Look further.
And GOD said: Treat your women like animals, rationalize every bad decision, stick your dick wherever you want, blame it on brown people
Thou shalt not kill...unless it's cool with Charlton Heston
Thou shalt not steal unless it's OK with the majority
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods ...unless you can get 20% off at Target
Thou shalt not vote for a socialist...unless CNN gives your state a blue color
Thou shalt not put any above my latest poll of polls
Thou shalt not
Thou shalt not
Thou shalt not
If it had been God's will that his people change the government, He would have sent his son to do that. But he didn't. There was not a single Christian in the Roman government at the time of Christ but 2000 years later, Christianity is a world religion and the Roman Empire is long gone. You'd think today's Republican Christians would get the message. It's not about the government. It's about Jesus.
Amen. Then Pilate said to Him, “Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?” Jesus answered, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.” John 19:10-11
Oh come on. Religion is all about power over the masses. End of story.
Even small tribes typically develop a religion. It serves many purposes in society, both scial and psychological. It may no longer be necessary, but to demonize something that naturally evolved in all cultures is to do a disservice to human history.
I can think of at least 5 things that happen in all cultures that are rightfully demonized. If you give it a second, I bet you can as well.
Uh, let's see . . .
1. Putting ketchup on filet mignon
2. Leisure suits
3. The musical albums William Shatner put out
4. "Battlefield Earth," starring John Travolta
5. That stupid lesser god squirrel shithead
What do you expect them to do, support Obama, whose policies are anything BUT Christian? Abortion, the morning-after pill required to be provided in health care plans by employers no matter their religious beliefs? Anti-Israel? I don't LIKE Mitt Romney, but what choice do I have?
What are you talking about? There are dozens, if not hundreds, of examples of God murdering unborn children. Usually it was with almost no provocation whatsoever.
Similarly, laws of the time (as explained in the bible) give little to no value to unborn children. In fact, most parts of the bible count a person as "one month or older".
Read your bible. You clearly haven't yet.
Pro-Isreal, anti Abortion are biblical. Helping the poor and recognizing ALL individuals as imperfect beings prone to sin is. JESUS was clear that judgement by individuals or goverments was not what he was promoting in his teachings.
A few pages of leviticus have allowed the republicans to capture power at the expense of most of the main teaching in the gospel. Of course this itself is biblical that many will be fooled in the end times...
TYPO! Pro-Isreal, anti Abortion are NOT biblical
How can you feel confident that Romney would oppose or support Roe v Wade? He's taken positions for both multiple times. As Kennedy coined, "Romney isn't pro-choice, he's multiple choice." You are only seeing what you want to believe if you think a vote for him will re-enforce Christian values in this country. What about love thy neighbor being a Christian principle to support in an administration? I'm pretty sure that was in Jesus' top two greatest commands. "and so my job is not to worry about those people (the 47% who don't pay Federal income tax)" How very Christian of Romney!
"I should tell you honestly that this administration under President Obama is doing, in regard to our security, more than anything that I can remember in the past." ~Ehud Barak, Israel Defense Minister July 30, 2012
The Rev. Al Sharpton and the Rev. Jesse Jackson would NEVER put politics before God.
Prayer changes things .
And we will see next Tuesday!
It's safe to say that there is FAR more prayer for the Republican candidates, so let's see if it works!
If Obama wins and/or the Democrats keep the Senate, then prayer FAILS!
See you Tuesday night, buddy!
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Christianity was a dangerous cult which brought down the Roman Empire. The god of the ancient Hebrews ordered them on several occasions to commit genocide. I put politics before gods.
No, the Roman empire did not fall because of Christians, nor did it fall because of homosexuality or decadence. It feel because it overexpanded and could not maintain it's borders, nor fight so many wars at once for so many years. The height of the overexpansion came under Trajan, and as early as his successor Hadrian major attempts to stabilize the borders were underway (like Hadrian's Wall, a pull back position). After Marcus Aurelius, the situation accelerated as the following empirors were not as competent as they needed to be at the complex military situation. This was all 100 years before Constantine.
The fact that Constantine felt he needed to cut a deal with Christians to keep his military strength up tell you how far Rome had fallen already.
However, once given political power, Christians were a very intolerant and tyrannical force in the last years of Rome.
Highly accurate. Nice post.
The author has it totally wrong. You shouldn't have either one in front of the other because they should be two totally separate things.
I used to be a Mormon, but I not only left Mormonism, I left all religion behind. You begin to realize that there is no difference in Moses receiving stone tablets from a burning bush than Joseph Smith receiving golden plates from an angel. It is better to be an Agnostic and live your life according to what you feel is right. I base my moral compas on listening to people and finding the good on this Earth.
Cheers, mate!
Congratulations on discovering that your true humanity is actually the best guide through life.
If you talk to invisible people, you are crazy. Hopefully one day, and I know it will be in the distant future, believing any of the things Christians, Mormons or Muslims believe will be a barrier to holding public office on the basis of suspected insanity. Have any of you picked up a science book lately? Have any of you addressed the fact that you take pieces that you like from the bible and damn the rest which makes the entire basis of your religious views a joke? Grow up and be ok with facing the world without "God" looking after you. You'll be fine.
@ Moon:
Jack & Jane walk into a room.
Jane sees 50 people. Jack only sees 25.
Jack thinks Jane is crazy.
Jane thinks Jack is blind.
But the question remains: who is right?
Well you yourself said that "Jack sees 25". So he's not blind.
My guess is the delusional one who thinks a person who clearly has sight is blind is the wrong one.
Moon stated, "Have any of you picked up a science book lately?"
Have you Moon so done what you have asked others to do?
What do you know about genetic algorithms? What say you regarding Fractal Cosmology?
Let's talk about these two shall we?
@God's Oldest Dreamer,
That's gotta be one of the smuggest comments I've heard here. You didn't persuade or argue...you just came off as a pompous jerk.
@ anonymous: interesting. so you're trying to end run the question...
Would you hold the same position if it was a scientist who was insisted the Moon didn't exist?
Sure.
Scientist Jack says, "I see a moon."
Scientist Jill says, "I see two moons."
Scientist Jill thinks that Jack is blind, even though Jack can clearly see (regardless of whether it is the same thing she sees). Scientist Jill is therefore most likely not the sharpest tool in the shed.
Adam and Steve walk into an empty room. Adam sees five people there: Adam, Steve, God, the Virgin Mary and Jesus (baby version). Steve sees six people: Adam, Steve, Lucky the Leprechaun, Zeus, Quetzlcoatl, and Truman Capote.
Christy Brinkley then walks into the room carrying her Abdominizer. She says there are only four people in the room now. Adam and Steve beat her to death for being an atheist.
Jack Nicholson comes out and tells the moral of this story: Some people just can't handle the truth.
Maybe scientist Jill had been drinking heavily and had double vision.
The Jack Nicholson tells Unit what an idiot she is for losing track of how many people were in the room.
@ anonymous: you changed the analogy to suit your bias. not a very scientific move... re-consider it as it was posed.
instead of positioning Jane as the inherently wrong one (two moons), take it at face value.
what would you make of a scientist (Jack) who insisted that while he could see other objects in space, he did not see the moon?
I'm happy that I'm not a religious person can't believe in this day and age ppl still believe in a boogeyman in the sky
Can it be said and also inferred that all of Life here upon these celestial shorelines of life-forms resonate from a single celled life-form all the ways to massive cellularized life formations? Is it 'not' written within the Gospels that mankind is but buildings that are husbanded by the Godly? Do we not labour together with God in our tasks? Who among us can deny our being as God-Heads?
Nothing is a Foreverness and Matter, in its' infinitesimally established finiteness, is a materialized foreverness unobtainable by us, human-like megaliths called mankind. We are all giants too huge and too vast for us to ever re-enter in wholeness back into the Kingdoms of God which are inside or within our bodies. So many damningly dumb buildings of evolution's ascension into the spatial voids of outward motions sanctioned by the Godly! Too little are our intellectual abaters
1Corinthians 3:9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, [ye are] God's building.
Luke 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
Ergo. does that mean dumbness is genetical or is it societal hierarchies being the dumbness from which socialisms are currently adorned and auspisciously bequeathed?
you pray to a mass murderer, a killer of children, and you pray to it still. you should be ashamed
@Dreamer
What I find hilarious is that you have meny non-words in your post, not to mention the distinct attempt at pseudo intellectual thought that has failed spectacularly on your part.
hawaiiguest,
Show me and others my 'meny non-words' if one can! You are but a societal dummy hawaiiguest wanting to clamor away your ding-dong!
Here we go, another reposting so you don't have to wonder aimlessly about,,,,,,,,
Can it be said and also inferred that all of Life here upon these celestial shorelines of life-forms resonate from a single celled life-form all the ways to massive cellularized life formations? Is it 'not' written within the Gospels that mankind is but buildings that are husbanded by the Godly? Do we not labour together with God in our tasks? Who among us can deny our Being as being just and righteous God-Heads?
Nothing is a Foreverness and Matter, in its' infinitesimally established finiteness, is a materialized foreverness unobtainable by us, human-like megaliths called mankind. We are all giants too huge and too vast for us to ever re-enter in wholeness back into the Kingdoms of God which are inside or within our bodies. So many damningly dumb buildings of evolution's ascension into the spatial voids of outward motions sanctioned by the Godly! Too little are our intellectual abaters
1Corinthians 3:9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, [ye are] God's building.
Luke 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
Ergo. does that mean dumbness is genetical or is it societal hierarchies being the dumbness from which socialisms are currently adorned and auspisciously bequeathed?
Quoting gibberish to defend gibberish. It's so sweet to mock. XD
@Dreamer
Well I misspoke. The foreverness damningly, etc. are not non-words. Still doesn't change the fact that your post is a bunch of pseudo-intellectual sounding (not even pseudo-intellectual) bullshit designed to make you feel smarter than you actually are.
@HG,
don't waste your time. The word salad here is almost (but not quite) as bad as 'filthy hinduist mullah man'.
"Until quite recently, many evangelicals saw Mormonism as a dangerous cult spreading false theology and dooming its followers to hell."
This is nothing but an outrageous lie. Shame on you sir.
@ tc4012: nope, as an evangelical I can tell you that is pretty much STILL true.
Not even remotely a lie. Many people have long considered the LDS church to be a false church, not Christian, and a dangerous cult, and many still do. Sorry if you choose to believe otherwise, but it is simply the case.
I wish Jesus would come back already and take you fvckers away.
Shove your religion down my throat some more why don't you. DIAF would be welcomed at this point.
There are truly good religous people, But most are as self centered as the rest of us
It's another case of 99% giving the other 1% a bad name.
hmmm...did you have this same concern when 95% of blacks and black preschers voted for Obama, or is this concern just hitting you now?
*preachers
Agreed. I didn't see people complain about the economy when it was riding high, but want to blame when it goes wrong. That's the strongest form of hypocrisy known to man. Perhaps the author would be enlightend to know that Mormons don't see eye to eye with Muslims, hence they did not speak out. Until all Muslims continuously speak out against attrocities commited by Muslim extremists, the world as a majority will pay them no mind.