Written by Don Byrd
In advance of tonight’s Republican Presidential debate, it feels like a good idea to broadcast this reminder: there is no religious test for office in the United States. Our constitution explicitly says as much. As a basic tenet of the American commitment to religious freedom, no citizen is denied the right to serve or represent the public in government because of his or her religious faith, or lack of faith.
Sadly, this is not the first time during this primary campaign season that it has needed to be said. Last month, Dr. Ben Carson expressed his view that Islam “is not consistent with the Constitution,” and suggested that Muslims would not make appropriate Presidents.
Now Carson’s own faith as a Seventh-Day Adventist has been called into question, if indirectly, by Donald Trump. He recently told a crowd, “I’m Presbyterian. That’s down the middle of the road in all fairness. I mean, Seventh Day Adventists, I don’t know about. I just don’t know about.”
Because Adventism is a lesser known faith to many, its adherents should be viewed more skeptically as candidates for office? C’mon, Donald.
Like Carson’s previous remarks, which I wrote about at the time, that kind of criticism is undignified. It undermines our national commitment to religious liberty and cynically exploits voters’ fears of the unknown and unfamiliar.
If the issue is raised in this evening’s debate, my hope is that candidates avoid tactics that seek to divide us along religious lines, and will affirm the rights of all to religious liberty in this country. Aren’t there enough religiously divisive forces at work today? We shouldn’t have to hear it from our candidates for national office as well.
