The 2010 elections will no doubt be centered on the economy, but along the edges it is shaping up to have more religion-based contention than any I can remember.
The Senate race in Nevada may focus on one candidate's church-state views. Republican Sharon Angle has argued that the separation of church and state is unconstitutional, that clergy should be able to endorse candidates without risking tax-exempt status, and that Democrats should be defeated because their views on government violate the First Commandment.
Meanwhile, in races across the country, no doubt spurred by the "ground zero mosque" controversy, candidates and advocates are trying to outdo one another in condemning anything and everything Muslim. An upcoming Values Voter Summit is scheduled to feature Religious Right leader Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association, who has now called for a ban on the construction of any new mosques. In America.
And we haven't even started to hear much campaign chatter yet regarding recent decisions from federal judges that the National Day of Prayer statute is an unconstitutional violation of the Establishment Clause, and that bans on same-sex marriage are an improper legislation of morality .
It should be an interesting (hair-pulling? cringe-inducing?) few months. One new tool for following all these developments – and really the reason for this post is to point you to it – is a Pew Forum site dedicated to religion in the 2010 elections. Check it out.
