Increasingly this week, Democratic vice presidential
candidate Joseph Lieberman is making G-d and religion a
central feature of his campaign message. Even though he has
important and well thought out positions on issues such as
health insurance, Medicare and prescription drug coverage --
which are important to the American electorate -- Lieberman
constantly brings up G-d.
Speaking on Sunday during morning services at an African
American church in Detroit, in a speech replete with Talmudic
and Biblical references Lieberman said, "While so much of our
economic life is thriving, too much of our moral life is
still stagnating. As a people, we need to reaffirm our faith
and renew the dedication of our nation and ourselves to G-d
and G-d's purposes." He added that he hopes his candidacy as
an Orthodox Jew will reinstate "a place for faith in
America's public life."
Turning to those who do not believe, Lieberman said that
people of faith must "reassure them that we share with them
the core values of America, that our faith is not
inconsistent with their freedom and our mission is not one of
intolerance, but one of love."
Before Lieberman spoke, the Rev. Wendell Anthony, pastor of
the Detroit church and president of the NAACP's largest
chapter, recalled how Lieberman in the 1960s had marched on
Washington with Martin Luther King Jr. and also went into
Mississippi to register black voters.
He criticized Republican nominees George W. Bush and Dick
Cheney in the process. "It does mean something," said
Anthony, shouting in a lyrical cadence, "for I ain't read
nothing about no Bushes in Mississippi. . . . I ain't seen no
Cheneys on no freedom buses."
In his own speech, Lieberman also recalled how he had spoken
at a civil rights rally in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in the
1960s just before King and that the civil rights leader had
remarked, "Very good, young man."
All The candidates have been more overt about their religious
faith this year than in any other presidential campaign in
memory. Gov. George W. Bush has said that his favorite
political philosopher is J. Speaking to a group of Bnai Brith
members, Bush said, "Our nation is chosen by G-d and
commissioned by history to be a model to the world of justice
and inclusion and diversity without division. Jews and
Christians and Muslims speak as one in their commitment to a
kind, just tolerant society."
Vice President Al Gore, a professed born-again Christian, has
also been very open about his beliefs and commitment.
At an interfaith breakfast on Monday morning, Lieberman said,
"This is the most religious country in the world and
sometimes, we try to stifle that fact or hide it. But the
profound and ultimately, most important reality is that we
are not only citizens of this blessed country, we are
citizens of the same awesome G-d."
Because those who usually speak about religion in American
politics are customarily right-wing Christians, the usual
critics are silent when a moderate Democrat like Lieberman
makes religion prominent. Still the Anti-Defamation League
issued a statement Monday calling on Lieberman to refrain
from "overt expressions" of religious values and beliefs,
saying that "there is a point at which an emphasis on
religion in a political campaign becomes inappropriate and
even unsettling in a religiously diverse society such as
ours."
Some observers also said that people are more worried that
evangelical Protestants will try to impose their beliefs on
others while for Senator Lieberman this is not the case. As a
member of a minority faith in a strongly Christian milieu,
there is no chance that he will be able to use his power to
advance his views, and there is no sense that he wants to do
so. In public, he refers to a nondenominational commitment to
G-d and to moral values, rather than the specific tenets of
the Jewish religion in order to connect with his largely
Christian audiences.
Lieberman's religious and moral message seems to have been
received positively by the overwhelmingly non-Jewish
electorate. "I think it shows him to be an honest, open and
forthright person," said Joyce Skrobat of Delaware, quoted in
the Los Angeles Times. "It shows that he's willing to
share a very special part of himself with people in this
country."
Lieberman's beliefs seem to have connected with the campaign
crowds. The words "G-d bless you!" are heard often when he
reaches into a crowd to shake hands. Lieberman says he has
been surprised how he hears someone say, "I'm praying for
you."
Though there is certainly much that is positive about
Lieberman's activities, some Jewish religious observers said
they would be more comfortable if he consulted more with
religious leaders about the nuances of his message and about
some of his campaign activities that may not conform to
accepted Jewish practice. His selection to so prominent a
position has elicited some vicious antisemitic sentiments
expressed on the Internet and in an attack on a Democratic
party office in California.
A rabbinic observer remarked, "Though promoting moral values
is certainly a positive thing, our historic perspective leads
us to be wary of the long term effects of any action taken in
the name of Judaism and the Jewish people. It is too easy to
get caught up in the momentum of the present and to make
mistakes that can have bad long-term effects. That is why it
is important to take counsel from the elders who are less
swayed by the winds of the present. We all pray that the
ultimate outcome of Lieberman's candidacy will be good for
America, good for the Jews and of course good for Hashem's
purposes in the world."
