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The Santorum Question: Should Theology Affect the Way We Vote?

By Timothy McMahan King
American flag and open Bible. Image by Susan Law Cain /Shutterstock.
American flag and open Bible. Image by Susan Law Cain /Shutterstock.
Feb 21, 2012
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Does theology matter when it comes to evaluating political leaders? How does this whole faith and politics thing work?

Both Barack Obama and Rick Santorum have strong records on supporting legislation and funding  policies that fight global poverty and pandemic diseases. Both men have talked about how their concern for the poor is motivated by their faith.

I feel comfortable with that and I think most people do. It is an example of political figures expressing their personal motivation behind widely held values that aren’t exclusive to a particular religious tradition.

There are some religious beliefs, such as a particular stance on infant baptism, understanding of the Trinity, or belief in what occurs when Christians observe the Lord’s Supper that are significant theological claims. But they aren’t good or appropriate benchmarks by which to evaluate political candidates.

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American flag and open Bible. Image by Susan Law Cain /Shutterstock.
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