While supporters say Senator Joe Biden provides a crucial Democratic Party link with Catholic voters, others say Barack Obama’s choice for his running mate will stir a debate on Biden’s position on abortion and Catholic teaching.
Biden regularly attends a Catholic church in Greenville, Delaware. While disagreeing with his church’s stance on abortion, Biden is known for supporting other key tenets of Catholic teaching.
When introducing the presidential forum at Saddleback Church last month, Rick Warren noted that the separation of church and state does not mean the separation of faith and politics. He was right about that. Warren or any other pastor is entitled—as the government is not—to ask Barack Obama and John McCain about their faith in Jesus and to judge them accordingly. If Warren has the clout to get the presidential candidates to answer his questions, he has the right to pose whatever questions he wants.
A veteran of Democratic Party politics and a former aide to representatives Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) and James Clyburn (D., S.C.), Burns Strider was senior adviser and director of faith-based outreach for Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign. After the Clinton campaign ended, he founded the Eleison Group, a communications firm that specializes in strategic planning for politicians and faith communities.
Campaign prescriptions to reform the U.S. health-care system, as outlined by presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama, reflect their contrasting views on the proper role of government.
Individual Christians’ views on which plan more closely reflects biblical principles of justice and charity—and whether either will work at all—may depend on how they view the proper role of government.
One thing is certain: like the industry they seek to reform, the proposals of both of the White House hopefuls are massive and complex.
A New Testament scholar at Vanderbilt University Divinity School has been nominated to become senior minister of New York’s Riverside Church, one of the nation’s most prestigious pulpits. Brad R. Braxton would succeed James A. Forbes, who served at Riverside 18 years until his retirement last year. The multiracial, interdenominational congregation near Columbia University will vote on the nomination September 14.