RELIGION and electoral politics tend to be mutually debasing. Take the apparent exception, Jimmy Carter. His politics were informed by his theological insights: a regard for the poor and despised (he was the first U.S. president to take the Third World seriously); a sense of human limit (he did not take it for granted that Americans have a right to consume a disproportionate share of the world's goods); and a recognition of the humanity of others, even of enemies (the Soviet Union was not the Evil Empire for him).
The result of this conjunction of theological and political views was a resounding rejection from the electorate, and especially from those who seemed closest to him on the theological spectrum, Southern Baptists. The lesson seems to be that it pays, in presidential politics, not to take your religion seriously.
Some of Carter's failure was undoubtedly the result of bad luck and plain error on his part. But the preference of evangelicals for the religious stance of Ronald Reagan proved that pseudo-religion works best in our political races.
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