Campaign 2012: religion still heats up the political debate - probably for the worse

In the fall of 1960, I was an eight year old elementary student at St. Peter's Catholic School in Kansas City, Mo. A senator from Massachusetts was running hard for president. His name was John F. Kennedy. You know the rest of the story.

One of the things which makes me remember that election so well, even though I was far too young to understand much about national politics, was that Kennedy was the first Roman Catholic presidential candidate in U.S. history. That factor alone made his candidacy significant -- and highly controversial. At St. Peter's everyone was thrilled, especially the many nuns who labored away trying to teach their young charges something of value (including Latin, thank God). But the rest of the world was not so enamored. Many feared, in the most literal sense, that John Kennedy would take his marching orders from the Pope in Rome. During the long and arduous campaign of 1960, through hot summer days in an often redneck South and chilly mornings in grimy industrial cities of the northeast, the Democratic nominee had to repeatedly assure people that he was an American first and a Catholic second. He squeaked by Richard Nixon, who would have to await another day.

Today much the same controversy is being played out on the political stage simply because Mitt Romney is a Mormon. So is another candidate, for that matter, although so far the U.S. public knows much less about him. John Huntsman, Jr. is a former governor of Utah and ex U.S. ambassador to China (appointed by Barack Obama). Should Huntsman's candidacy advance, questions about his Mormonism will surely follow. Comments ranging from humorous to nasty to insulting are already circulating about these men's beliefs.

Is any of this a good idea? Should we be focused upon a candidate's faith in 2012? In my opinion, no. Such highly personal inquiries carry a grave risk of leading us astray from substantive issues which ought to be the focus of any presidential campaign, especially this one, when so many urgent challenges confront us. But the analysis of religion won't taper off as we move into 2012. It will become more intense, as the media fully exploits it.

An example of media fascination with religion: http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/06/24/explain-it-to-me-mormonism/?hpt=hp_t2