What War on Religion?

Last updated on: August 12, 2012 at 2:15 pm by Andre E. Johnson

What War on Religion? 2012-08-12T14:15:00-05:00 Andre E. Johnson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

In July of 1844, word reached New York that Joseph Smith Jr., founder of the LDS Church, had been murdered by a mob in Illinois. Reporting for the New York Herald, James Gordon Bennett wrote, “There can be no doubt that political feeling entered largely into the popular excitement in that region against the Mormons.” He noted that the Whig party worried LDS Church members would support their rival, Democratic candidate James K. Polk, in that year’s presidential election. In turn the party’s newspapers in Illinois had created much of the anti-Mormon sentiment that led to the assassination. “This affords another and most melancholy illustration of the pernicious, demoralizing, brutalizing influence of the party presses,” Bennett wrote, “which are daily influencing the passions of the people by the vilest and most incendiary tirades against their respective opponents.”

One hundred and sixty-eight years later, the “incendiary tirades” of political parties are alive and well. Americans instinctively know this, and as the election nears, their televisions are inundated with political commercials. On Thursday (August 9), Mitt Romney’s campaign released a new advertisement, dubbed “Be Not Afraid,” a line that Pope John Paul II made famous during the Cold War. Splicing footage of Romney in Poland with a newspaper headline, the 30-second ad lambastes Obama for his “war on religion.” Though the ad never mentions the statute by name, it references the HHS mandate, the Obama administration’s order for insurance to provide contraception coverage, which can apply to religious groups who oppose it. The voiceover intones: “President Obama used his healthcare plan to declare war on religion, forcing religious institutions to go against their faith.”

Watching the commercial, I was reminded of a column from John L. Allen Jr. in National Catholic Reporter last month, which Amy Sullivan also cited in a blog post. Allen critiqued the Catholic bishops for using the phrase “war on religion” when referring to the president’s healthcare mandate. “There are undeniably important church/state issues in play in America,” Allen wrote, “but if they constitute a ‘war,’ it’s a metaphorical one, waged in legislatures and courthouses.” He countered by listing examples where a “literal war of religion” is taking place around the world. Examples of such wars continue to multiply. In Wisconsin, just four days before Romney released his ad, a white supremacist killed six Sikhs on the grounds of their own temple. On Monday, a mosque in Joplin, MO was destroyed by fire, which officials suspect was the work of arsonists. That same day, 19 Nigerians were shot and killed in a church, presumably by an Islamist group as part of the country’s ongoing religious conflict. These lives were undoubtedly under siege for their faith.
Read the rest here

Uncategorized

Previous Post

August 11, 2012

Romney should stop hiding his Mormon faith

Next Post

August 13, 2012 Faith, Race, and Terror

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Amy Steele Andre E. Johnson Book Reviews/Series Brian Foulks Call for Chapters Carol Howard Merritt Classes Conferences Contributors Crystal St.Marie Lewis Daniel White Hodge Earle Fisher Eulogy Fredrick Robinson Guest Contributions Henry McNeal Turner Institutes Interviews Joseph Boston Katherine Whitfield Kimberly Peeler-Ringer Lectures/Roundtables Natalie Bullock Brown R3 Book Series R3 Contributor Rashad Grove Readers Reflections Symposiums Teaching Traci Ellis Travis Harris Uncategorized Video

Select a Month June 2020 February 2020 December 2019 November 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 October 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz