Campaign 2008: Nailing the faith vote

Barack Obama's march to the nomination seems to be back on track following last night's victory in North Carolina (though Hilary's just lent herself $6.4m so she can carry on fighting), so this seemed like an appropriate time to shamelessly plug our May/June cover story, in which James Crabtree discusses how, in the current campaign, both parties are courting the evangelical vote.

Read it, it's very good.

Presidential candidates could win by clamping down on porn

Forget all the talk about Iraq or the economy: if the US presidential candidates really want to ensure victory in November's presidential elections, all they need to do is promise to make it harder for citizens to get their filthy hands on pornography.

Well, at least according to Morality in Media, a Christian group so determined to deny Americans the right to produce and peruse porn that it made it its sole aim. According to the good folks there, if the next US president were to "do all in his or constitutional power" to crack down on "hardcore pornographic materials ... proliferated in the form of videotapes and DVDs sold in sexually oriented and mainstream video stores, films distributed on cable, satellite and hotel TV systems, and still pictures and video disseminated on the Internet", they would have the "total support" of 75 per cent of American adults.

No doubt we can expect a shift in the focus of the campaign in the coming days...

Campaigning for a truly Christian America

Found this little gem on PZ Myers' Pharyngula blog. Let's call it a campaign video for US evangelical presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, though I'm not sure he'd agree...

Obama and Huckabee win Iowa caucuses

Barrack Obama and Mike Huckabee emerged victorious from their respective caucuses in Iowa yesterday and, as Jeff Sharlet points out in the Revealer, participants in the public meetings came down in favour of the two most religious candidates.

In the Republican contest Baptist minister Hucakbee gained 34 per cent of the vote, trouncing his nearest rival Mitt Romney, who polled 25 per cent (and it's worth pointing out that Romney is a Mormon who's been courting the evangelical wing of the party).

Meanwhile, Barrack Obama got 37.5 per cent of the Democratic vote, with John Edwards taking second place on nearly 29.75 per cent, just pushing Hilary Clinton into third with 29.47 per cent.

According to Sharlet, Huckabee's victory is "the most obvious sign that the Holy Ghost power still matters in power politics", while "Obama's victory should be read as almost as big an indicator that [Americans] are living in a deeply religious moment."

This contrasts with the view of the political commentator Bill Press, who as I reported yesterday sees in the lack of unity among the Religious Right evidence that Christian conservatives are no longer the dominant force in US politics.

It's worth remembering that the Iowa results are hardly reflective of wider opinion in the US. After all, it's a state with a large population of devout Christians, with 40 per cent of Republican voters coming from the religious right. Indeed, according to yesterday's news media entrance polls, 45 per cent of those voting for Huckabee described themselves as "born again", while 55 per cent of those saying religion mattered to them a "great deal" also voted for the Baptist minister. The big name Republicans less driven by religion, such as Rudy Giuliani and John McCain will be looking to make up ground in contests in the more "liberal" states, as will Democrats like Clinton and Edwards.

So, it's clearly too early to tell whether matters of faith will come to dominate the November election, but these early developments suggest the religious views of candidates are unlikely to disappear from campaign rhetoric. All eyes now turn to New Hampshire, which goes to the polls in its primaries next Tuesday.

Is the US Religious Right in decline?

As Americans finally begin the long process of selected who will run in November's presidential election, you'd be forgiven for thinking the Religious Right was alive and well, especially given the emphasis placed on religion by candidates from both parties in speeches and debates.

Not so, says political commentator and author Bill Press in a column for today's Detroit News, who declares that "No matter who becomes the next president ... the American people have already won a great victory – with the total disintegration of the once all-powerful religious right."

Citing the fact that the myriad leaders of the Religious Right have failed to fall into line behind one particular Republican candidate, Press boldly declares that "religious right is dead", "tolerance is back" and that "we don't have to worry so much about efforts to turn the United States into a Christian nation".

If Press is correct, then clearly this is great news for secularists everywhere. But perhaps he's being a little premature in making this declaration of victory. Just a quick look at William Hill's odds for the November election shows the Mormon Mitt Romney ("In recent years the notion of the separation of church and state has been taken by some well beyond its original meaning") at 10/1 to win, and Baptist minister Mike Huckabee (creationist who markets himself as "a Christian leader") at 14/1. Meanwhile in Iowa, where 40 per cent of Republicans are of the Religious Right, Huckabee is odds-on to win today's Republican caucus. While this does not reflect wider US opinion, neither does it suggest the death of the Religious Right.

Even the Democratic frontrunners have been keen to stress their religious credentials, with Hilary Clinton pointing out the importance of her Methodist faith and Barrack Obama emphasising his "personal relationship" with Jesus.

While the Religious Right may have lost a great deal of its past unity, it's perhaps a little early to be pronouncing the triumph of American secularism. Battles are still being waged across the states over abortion and evolution, and it's worth remembering that in Pete Stark the country still only has one "openly non-theist" congressman. As Laurie Taylor has pointed out before in this magazine, American atheists are less likely to be accepted, publicly or privately, than any other minority group. Meanwhile, as David Belden writes in the January/February issue of New Humanist (watch this space, it'll be online very soon), evangelicals are becoming more and more influential at all levels of the US military – a development which should worry all but the most ardent born-again Christians.

So, as the countdown begins to the end of the Bush era – putting aside the nightmare scenario of a Huckabee victory in November, of course – we can at least look forward to a US President less driven by evangelical forces. However, it seems there may be some way to go before we can safely dance on the grave of the Religious Right.

Mitt Romney: give religion a greater role in US public life

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney yesterday suggested he would give evangelical Christians a greater role in US public life if elected president, the Guardian reports.

In a speech aimed at winning over Christians suspicious of his Mormon beliefs, Romney attacked secular Americans who fight to defend the constitutional separation of church and state: "In recent years the notion of the separation of church and state has been taken by some well beyond its original meaning. . . [secularists] seek to remove from the public domain any acknowledgement of God. Religion is seen as merely a private affair with no place in public life. It is as if they are intent on establishing a new religion in America – the religion of secularism. They are wrong."

Romney went on to advocate placing greater emphasis on religion in history lessons, and expressed support for the display of nativity scenes in public places. He also took time criticise low church attendance in Europe, lamenting the fact that "so many of the cathedrals now stand as the postcard backdrop to societies just too busy or too 'enlightened' to venture inside and kneel in prayer".

Romney has been leading the Republican polls for the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary – which both take place in early January – but has recently been losing ground to Mike Huckabee, who has marketed himself as a "Christian leader" to contrast with the Mormon Romney. As a result Romney has emphasised the fact that he believes in Jesus.

Just to dispel concerns that either of these men might end up becoming US president, it's worth remembering that national polls show Rudy Giuliani and John McCain to be the frontrunners for the Republican nomination.