GEO Principle Blog

Religion and politics

The Pew Research Center released these survey results yesterday, showing that a growing group of people would prefer politicians hold their religious beliefs to themselves. Personally, I like to hear what politicians have to say about their faith. If it's important to you, I don't know how you keep quiet about it. Most of the really big decisions a high-level elected official needs to make are, fundamentally, moral questions. I like to know a little about how an elected official will approach such questions.

The survey reveals several interesting facts, the most fascinating of which is that Catholics, who make up 18 percent of the electorate, are evenly divided on their preference for president: 45 percent support McCain and 44 percent favor Obama. It is amazing to me that a religion as defined as Catholicism could be made up of people who are as likely to favor one candidate as another, even when the two candidates hold completely opposite views on virtually every issue you could imagine. 

Prayer and a big decision in Ecuador

I was alerted to a news item that described a gathering of business leaders in Ecuador last Friday who prayed for the country as it prepares to vote on a new constitution.

Rafael Correa, president of Ecuador, is pushing for the new constitution, which will be ratified if 50 percent or more of the population approves it in a September 28 vote. Religious leaders have spoken out against the new constitution because it contains language which would open the country up to legal abortion and same-sex marriage.

We are often told that religion and politics should be considered separately. We are told that religion does not have a place in the commercial world.

But that is impossible. There is no life without God, and life is political. They are inseparable. The same is true for business. If people are made in the image and likeness of God, you will never keep God out of business as long as business is run by people.

It appears that Ecuador has come to a fork in the road. Its people must make a choice about what their country stands for. The business folks who gathered to pray last Friday sense that this is a watershed moment. They are not sure which way the vote will go. So they pray. They turn to something they are sure about -- the primacy of God.

It is always a good idea to pray before making a big decision. My hope would be that the example of these business people spurs prayer across the entire nation of 12.5 million people.