Black Baptist Leaders Call for Religious Tolerance for Presidential Hopefuls
The personal faiths of presidential candidates, the churches they attend, and the pastors they associate with shouldn't matter to voters in the upcoming election in November, according to a statement released Friday by leaders representing the three largest African American Baptist denominations.
"During the 2008 race for the nomination for president of the United States, we have seen efforts to malign candidates that cross the line of fair campaigning," expressed the statement prepared by the Rev. Dr. T. DeWitt Smith, Jr., the Rev. Dr. William J. Thurston, and the Rev. Dr. C. C. Robertson, of the Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc., the National Baptist Convention of America, Inc., and the National Missionary Baptist Convention, Inc., respectively.
"Attacks on candidates based on their church membership threaten one of our treasured constitutional commitments – religious freedom, which includes the freedom to worship and the prohibition on any religious test for qualification for public office," they added.
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The personal faiths of the presidential candidates have become subjects of intense media controversy and scrutiny recently after a series of controversial statements made in the pulpit by presidential candidate Barack Obama's pastor and spiritual mentor, Dr. Jeremiah Wright, reached the internet last month, drawing a firestorm of criticism.
In one controversial segment on YouTube, Wright can be seen blaming America for causing 9/11.
The segment drew almost universal condemnation, hurting Obama's campaign as the personal faiths of presidential candidates and the churches they attend became the heightened focus of the media.
In their major statement Friday, black Baptist leaders condemned the role of the media in bringing scrutiny to the personal faith of presidential candidates and pled for tolerance and religious freedom.
"Nothing has been stated, suggested, or hinted at in the Constitution regarding race, religion, choice of a pastor, or local house of worship where one hears instructions from God's Word. Indeed, Article VI of the Constitution bans any religious test for public office," they pointed out."
"Where Sens. Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Barak Obama or any other candidate worships, how they interpret sacred Scripture, who they listen to preach the Good News of the Gospel, and their choice of denominational affiliation should not be at issue. They have the right to be members of any congregation of faith, worship where they choose, and listen to whomever they desire preach, without these things being used against them to take them out of the running for political office."
"Freedom of religion, freedom of worship, freedom to hear whomever a person chooses is a fundamental right of all Americans. Attempts to make a candidate's religious affiliation relevant to the candidate's fitness for office should be viewed with skepticism," the statement concludes.
The statement was released through the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty on April 4, the 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination.
