Religion Is Just Peaches When You Don't Really Mean It

American Thinker:

It was Des Moines, Iowa, December 13, 1999. The occasion was a Republican presidential debate. The governor of Texas was asked to name his favorite philosopher or thinker. "Jesus Christ," was the quick answer of George W. Bush.

Bush's response was no surprise to those who knew him, or to anyone with a modicum of knowledge of his life. But that wasn't the way the media saw it. You would have thought the Republican presidential hopeful had cited Torquemada.

At America's forum for sophisticated religious thought, a fuming Maureen Dowd fired off a New York Times op-ed titled, "Playing the Jesus Card." Dowd chalked up Bush's reference to sheer political opportunism. He had "finally scored some debate points" by citing Jesus. "This is the era of niche marketing," explained Dowd, "and Jesus is a niche. Why not use the son of God to help the son of Bush appeal to voters? W. is checking Jesus' numbers, and Jesus is polling well in Iowa. Christ, the new wedge issue."

The press was apoplectic. On NBC, a concerned Tim Russert followed up by confronting the governor:

"Governor Bush, in the last debate when you talked about Jesus being the philosopher-thinker that you most respected, many people applauded you. Others said, ‘What role would religion have in the Oval Office with George W. Bush?' Fifteen million atheists in this country, five million Jews, five million Muslims, millions more Buddhists and Hindus. Should they feel excluded [by] George W. Bush because of his allegiance to Jesus?"

The oddest thing about these reactions is that Governor Bush had said nothing odd. He was a Christian, after all. Few to no presidents would disagree with his sentiments. "The philosophy of Jesus," wrote Thomas Jefferson, our most secular founder, "is the most sublime and benevolent ... ever offered."

And yet, the media onslaught was ferocious, especially compared to the silence four years later, in December 2003, when Democratic presidential candidate Dick Gephardt, likewise in Iowa, opined, "He [Jesus] was a Democrat, I think"-or when Bill Clinton in 2004 stood behind a New York City pulpit and accused the Republicans of bearing "false witness" and being "the people of the Nine Commandments."

The examples of the media's double standard in its treatment of Republicans and Democrats who talk faith is truly remarkable. And now, once again, we have another glaring example, courtesy of CNN:

Last Sunday evening, CNN hosted a forum in which the two Democratic candidates for president, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, waxed philosophical about their relationships with Jesus Christ and how their faith applied to their politics and their policies. In other words, while George W. Bush should not dare cite Jesus as his philosopher in response to a question during a debate in Campaign 2000, the two Democratic Party candidates in 2008 can be given an entire primetime forum to do just that. They can even hold forth at a Christian college -- by the name Messiah College, no less -- in a crucial swing state, on the Lord's day, and call it the "Compassion Forum."

The article goes on to examine what the two had to say about abortion at the forum. Guess what? Somehow faith just doesn't make any real difference on the question. Odd how that works.