Editorial: Religion in politics

Monday, Sept. 18, 2006 | 7:15 a.m.

Former Republican Sen. John Danforth's new book criticizing conservative Christians' control of the GOP hits the market Tuesday, potentially fueling the religious rhetoric in what already is a tense political season.

In his book "Faith and Politics: How the 'Moral Values' Debate Divides America and How to Move Forward Together," Danforth, an ordained Espicopalian priest, calls Christianity a divisive force in U.S. politics, the Associated Press reports.

Danforth represented Missouri in the Senate for 18 years and has since served as special envoy to Sudan (2001) and a U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (2004). According to AP, his book points to Christian opposition to gay marriage, abortion and the use of religious displays on government property as energy wasted on issues that are "of little intrinsic importance except as wedges" and have polarized American government to the point of stagnation.

He takes issue with Republican conservative members of Congress meddling in the case of Terri Schiavo, a brain-damaged Florida woman who died after her husband exercised his right to remove her feeding tube.

Danforth uses particularly pointed language to admonish those who oppose stem cell research on religious grounds, saying that no theologian, church council or other church authority "will ever persuade me that protecting a frozen embryo that will never see the light of day should take precedence over my brother Don." Danforth's brother died in 2001 of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also called Lou Gehrig's disease.

But one doesn't need Danforth's book to find examples of the stranglehold religious conservatives have exacted on U.S. government and policy.

Food and Drug Administration employees surveyed earlier this year noted that political pressure from conservatives hindered the release of the Plan B "morning after" contraceptive. Religious GOP conservatives also fought, and delayed, the release of a vaccine that would help protect young girls from contracting a virus that causes cervical cancer.

Christianity, as all religions, has its rightful place. But that place is not in government. As Danforth writes, "There is a difference between being a Christian in politics and having a Christian agenda for politics." But too many lawmakers, it seems, can't tell the difference.