So, Howard "Dr. No" Dean has told the Boston Globe that he describes himself as a "committed believer in Jesus Christ" and will include references to his Christian faith in his campaign for president just as he heads south for the Feb. 3 primaries in the Bible Belt.
Hmmm, this from a man who says he left the Episcopal Church over a contentious route for a bicycle path.
Tough-minded Wesley Pruden, editor of the Washington Times, is more than a little dubious about (a) Dean's sincerity and (b) the upside potential for this as a campaign technique.
The former governor of Vermont, who grew up in New York as an Episcopalian, found a Jewish wife and became a Congregationalist, auditioned his Jesus talk in, of all places, Boston.Mr. Dean described himself to the Boston Globe as "a committed believer in Jesus Christ" who expects to "increasingly include references to Jesus and God" in his speeches as he stumps the South.
Jesus Christ, he says, "was someone who sought out people who were disenfranchised, people who were left behind. He fought against self-righteousness of people who had everything. ... He was a person who set an extraordinary example that has lasted 2,000 years, which is pretty inspiring when you think about it."
Mr. Dean described himself as a Christian in the "Northeast tradition," uncomfortable discussing religious beliefs in public, and if the Jesus talk he displayed in his Boston interview is the best he can do he will be wise to take his own advice, and not talk about it in public. His beliefs smack of "the social Gospel" universally disdained in the Bible Belt, warmed-over Unitarian theology that Mr. Dean says he and his wife rejected when they considered trying to find a faith they could embrace together.
Mr. Dean and his handlers are looking past the primaries, of course, and to the general election, and the good ol' boys, some of whom fly the Confederate flag on their pickups but nearly all of whom are deeply, deeply suspicious of any candidate without a genuine faith. Southerners instinctively mistrust a man who thinks he can do it all by himself.
But worse than a man of no faith is a man who merely pretends to be something he is not. Worst of all, the man who condescends to invoke the name of Christ. Such a foolish man will reap only scorn, and no pity.
Meanwhile, the perspicacious Moxie has her own lowdown on "the painful truth" of the issue. Be warned that one reader of her post says it made him blow eggnog out his nose.
Posted by Alan at December 28, 2003 02:46 PM