Election Becomes a Duel of Religious Leaders

It seems that the whole contraception mess, both Obama's mandated policies and the reactions of clergy and candidates to that decision, has created a duel between those clergy who value their religious liberties and those who get the vapors when they hear candidates speak about their faith.

Conservative religious leaders have issued a letter to Obama criticizing his decision and demanding changes:

More than 2,500 evangelical and ministry leaders from a range of denominations have signed a letter to President Obama voicing their opposition to the administration’s new mandate requiring that all health insurance plans contain contraceptive coverage.

The socially conservative Family Research Council unveiled the letter Monday afternoon.

FRC President Tony Perkins explained to The Daily Caller that the contraception mandate is not a Catholic issue or a contraception issue, but rather an issue of religious freedom.

“[The undersigned] see this, are very alarmed by this and are asking for the president to rescind this attack on religious freedom,” Perkins said in an interview with The Daily Caller.

The letter lays out the leaders’ opposition to the administration’s contraception mandate, writing that it violates the consciences of those whose religion prohibits certain methods of birth control.

“This mandate was not necessary, nor warranted under the provision of ‘preventive care services for women’ contained in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” the religious leaders wrote. “Worse still is the fact that the mandate essentially ignores the conscience rights of many Catholic and Protestant Americans. Our country was founded on certain freedoms, the first of which is the freedom of religion.”

This morning I got an email from another group which basically wants to greatly reduce or end religious discussion during the campaign. In part it said:

“Religion in Political Campaigns - An Interfaith Statement of Principles” has been endorsed by 14 national religious organizations, representing a diverse tapestry of America’s majority and minority faiths. In honor of the values of religious freedom and pluralism championed by the Founding Fathers, the statement was formally released just following the 2012 observance of Presidents’ Day.

“This statement of principles reaffirms our commitment to freedom of religion as enshrined in the Constitution, and our message to all candidates for public office is to set a proper tone where faith may be openly discussed, but avoid overt appeals for support on the basis of religion, or the denigration of another person’s views on the basis of religion,” said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. “Candidates should reject appeals to voters that reflect religious prejudice, bias or stereotyping, and to avoid statements intended to encourage divisions along religious lines.”

Here are the sponsors of that statement:

Endorsing organizations include the American Islamic Congress, American Jewish Committee, Anti-Defamation League, Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, Interfaith Alliance, Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), Hindu American Foundation, Muslim Advocates, National Council of Churches USA, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), Sikh Coalition, Union for Reform Judaism, The United Methodist Church - General Board of Church and Society, and United Church of Christ, Justice and Witness Ministries.

I think we can safely say this is going to be a much more liberal bunch.  They always present these things as though diversity automatically equals "good".

Unfortunately, the media is not going to pay attention to the liberals and will eagerly persecute any GOP candidate based on their faith.  If it's Santorum they'll go after contraception and will paint him as a religious zealot who wants to turn America into the Western Vatican.  If it's Romney the New York Times will do a 35 part series on "Weird Mormanism" until we're all either Mormon scholars or are so put off by the faith that we'd never even consider Romney for president.

I do agree that we need to stop talking about this stuff.  Contraception is not an issue that will make or break America.  Gas prices, Obamacare, freedom, defense...these are all issues the president is screwing up and his removal would be justified by any of them.  Let's concentrate on the important stuff and quit letting the media drive the debate.