Kerry and his faith

Less than two weeks from the election, Senator Kerry has decided to begin emphasizing the role that faith plays in his life. As a general principle, I support the notion of candidates having a belief system that acknowledges that the individual is not the ultimate authority. It is a part of our nation's heritage, and our leaders have expressed their belief in God from our nation's founding. So in a town hall meeting yesterday, in keeping with that tradition, Kerry said, "I will bring my faith with me to the White House and it will guide me."

This is fine, so far as it goes, but Kerry has made other comments about his faith and the role it would play in his public life. He made this interesting comment to the Boston Globe in an interview in April of this year: "There is separation of church and state in America. We have prided ourselves on that all of my lifetime.... I fully intend to continue to practice my religion as separately from what I do with respect to my public life, and that's the way it ought to be in America."

And you may recall that in the third debate, he stated that he "can't legislate or transfer to another American citizen my article of faith. What is an article of faith for me is not something that I can legislate on somebody who doesn't share that article of faith."

The senator realizes that this will be a close election, and has decided to reject Howard Dean's primary call to stop campaigning on "God, guns, and gays." I will not call Kerry a flip-flopper on this issue (after all, there's nothing wrong with the flip, it's the flop that gets you in trouble). Kerry's previous comments on his faith, including his speech at the Democratic National Convention, where he proudly claimed, "I don't wear my faith on my sleeve," are difficult to square with the faith coat of armor he now is wearing. The only word that comes to mind to describe such a turnaround is -- opportunistic. And it is a disturbing pattern of opportunism that Kerry has developed.