Religion And Politics: Some Guidelines For Campaign 2000.

Now that the political conventions are over and Campaign 2000 is starting in earnest, it's a good time to step back and take a look at the role religion can play in this election year.

It would be naive to expect that religion and politics will never mix. Most candidates, like most other people, have personal religious beliefs. They will occasionally talk about those beliefs, or they may be asked questions about their faith by reporters. No one would seriously suggest that this type of dialogue violates the separation of church and state.

But politicians do need to realize there is a line they should not cross. The United States is a religiously diverse, multi-faith society where perhaps as many as 2,000 different religions and faith groupings are represented. Under our system of government, adherents of all of these faiths are equal under the law. No politician should suggest otherwise, and they all need to recognize that they can't use the machinery of government to impose their personal theological beliefs on others.

That's the course politicians should take. What about houses of worship? What steps can they take to ensure that the role religion plays in politics this year is a healthy one?

Plenty. For starters, all religious leaders should swear off attacking any candidate on the basis of his or her religious views. Religious leaders should also avoid declaring any candidate to be anointed by God to serve. For most believers, the idea that God hands down political endorsements is perverse.

And of course religious leaders should refrain from distributing material in church that is partisan or that endorses or attacks any candidate. (Yes, this includes Christian Coalition voter guides.) Such activity is illegal under federal tax law, but, more importantly, it is also unethical. Religious leaders should not allow their churches to be used as launching pads for partisan smear campaigns. We expect more from them.

The fact is, partisan politics almost always corrupts the integrity of the church. Church leaders may believe they will gain power or prestige from an alliance with office seekers, but they usually end up besmirched by the negativity and aggressive tactics that are the hallmarks of modern campaigns. Members of the clergy should feel free to address the important moral and social issues of the day; but they should run in the other direction when any politician asks for an endorsement, requests to use church facilities for a rally or makes certain promises in exchange for support. Again, this is all illegal and highly unethical to boot.

Conservative columnist Cal Thomas, one of the early leaders of Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority, has come to believe that conservative Christians who put too much faith in politics are bound to be disappointed.

In a column published earlier this year, Thomas blasted some religious leaders in South Carolina who, during the Republican primary there, spread rumors and innuendoes about U.S. Sen. John McCain in an effort to aid the candidacy of Texas Gov. George W. Bush. Thomas wrote, "Christian conservative leaders are using the tools of the world in an attempt to impose a moral code and world view that many non-Christians and even some Christians do not share. To the extent that lay people wish to indulge in this, they are free to do so, misguided though they may be. But when those who are ordained or otherwise claim to speak for God do it, they are settling for the mess of pottage that is politics and demeaning themselves and their faith in the process."

Those are words that all religious leaders, regardless of their denomination or political affiliation, should consider in this election year.