God and the Ballot Box

Each candidate makes his case on church and state

"What I am doing here today is something that, in 25 years of public life, I never thought I would do: I have never before had to defend my faith in a political campaign."

−Walter Mondale

"The ideals of our country leave no room whatsoever for intolerance, anti-Semitism or bigotry of any kind−none."

−Ronald Reagan

Just three hours apart last Thursday morning at the cavernous Sheraton Washington Hotel, site of the international convention of the Jewish service organization B'nai B'rith, first Walter Mondale and then Ronald Reagan trooped to the podium to speak on the hottest issue to develop so far in the political campaign−not war or taxes or the deficit, but rather the proper relationship between politics and religion.

It was a debate of an emotional intensity that neither side had anticipated, and it worried both candidates, since neither could predict its ultimate political impact. Having boiled up during and immediately after the Republican Convention, particularly in remarks in which Reagan asserted that religion and politics are "necessarily related" and characterized opponents of his school-prayer amendment as "intolerant of religion," the issue did not subside last week. Indeed, it intensified and widened, involving politicians and pundits across the nation, including a full range of religious spokesmen. But most of all, it provided a theme that for once found Reagan backpedaling to preserve his credibility with mainstream Americans, while Mondale was able to take the offensive with a thoughtful and hard-hitting attack.

"No President," Mondale told the B'nai B'rith delegates, "should attempt to transform policy debates into theological disputes. He must not let it be thought that political dissent from him is unChristian. And he must not cast opposition to his programs as opposition to America." He took issue with a letter addressed to Christian leaders by Nevada Senator Paul Laxalt, a close friend of the President's and chairman of his re-election campaign. The letter, Mondale said, "had defined Mr. Reagan's supporters as 'leaders under God's authority.'" There was laughter and applause as Mondale wryly noted: "Most Americans would be surprised to learn that God is a Republican."

Mondale portrayed the Laxalt letter as part of a pattern of "moral McCarthyism," instigated by "an extreme fringe poised to capture the Republican Party and tear it from its roots in Lincoln"−with Reagan's encouragement. "Listen to Jerry Falwell," he urged his audience, "whose benediction at the Republican Convention called Mr. Reagan and Mr. Bush 'God's instruments for rebuilding America.' Or read the so-called Christian Voice report card, which flunks Geraldine Ferraro on 'moral/family issues' because she supports the nuclear freeze. Or scan something called the Presidential Biblical Scoreboard, which as much as brands me antifamily and un-Christian." And he cited one other example: "It is troubling that the Rev. Jimmy Swaggart, who insists that Catholicism is a 'false religion,' and that Jews are damned to go to hell, is a welcome policy adviser at the White House."