Washington National Cathedral

The Sunday Forum: Critical Issues in the Light of Faith

The Very Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd III, host

Cathedral Dean Samuel T. Lloyd III and American religion scholar Randall Balmer talk about how faith may shape the next presidency.

Balmer gives brief summaries of the role of religion in presidential politics for the past five decades. He discusses the presidential election of 1960, in which the Roman Catholic identity of John F. Kennedy played a significant role. According to Balmer, the Rev. Dr. Billy Graham assured Kennedy in writing, on August 10, 1960, that he would not raise the issue of Kennedy’s religion as an election issue. A mere eight days later, Graham met with Protestant leaders in Switzerland to discuss “how they could deny Kennedy’s election in November,” Balmer adds.

Shortly after that, 150 Protestant leaders met in Washington to work out strategies to “warn” their congregations about the consequences of electing a Catholic. “And that’s what set the stage for Kennedy’s remarkable speech at the Rice Hotel in Houston on September 12, 1960, in which he told the voters, essentially, to bracket out a candidate’s faith when they went into the voting booth,” Balmer says.

Kennedy created a “concrete wall” between faith and politics, notes Dean Lloyd.

Lyndon Johnson followed Kennedy’s example of keeping his faith out of the spotlight, although he held a straightforward belief that the strong have an obligation to help the weak. Richard Nixon returned religion to a prominent place in the presidency. Balmer dismisses the regular worship services in the Nixon White House as political theater, however.

Jimmy Carter made Christianity a centerpiece of his presidency. “I see him in some ways as a . . . redeemer president” after the Nixon debacle, Balmer comments. Carter also lured Evangelicals out of their “torpor,” according to Balmer.

In this same era, the Roe v. Wade decision brought Evangelical Christians into the political arena. But Balmer expresses the view that legal action against segregation began to galvanize the group even before abortion was legalized. He describes legal attempts to take away the tax-free status of Bob Jones University as a rallying point for many people of faith.

Although Ronald Reagan had signed a “liberal” abortion bill into law as governor of California, and although he was divorced and remarried, Evangelical Christians embraced him as one of their own. Consequently, the social views of Evangelical Christians about divorce began to change; they accepted divorce somewhat more than previously.

Balmer, an Episcopal priest, considers himself an Evangelical Christian. He stipulates a preference for nineteenth-century Evangelical traditions, “which invariably took the part of those on the margins of the society.” Balmer believes that current Evangelical political activism represents an aberration, a loss of moorings, and he expresses confidence that this tradition will return to its roots.

The Rev. Dr. Randall Balmer is rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Washington, Connecticut; professor of American Religious History at Barnard College, Columbia University; and visiting professor at Yale Divinity School. He is the author of a dozen books, including Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: A Journey into the Evangelical Subculture in America, which was made into an award-winning documentary for PBS. His most recent books are Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America and God in the White House: How Faith Shaped the Presidency from John F. Kennedy to George W. Bush.

• Learn more about Randall Balmer »
• Watch Randall Balmer talking about the presidents and religion at a forum sponsored by The New School in New York City in April 2008 »
• Listen to an NPR interview with Randall Balmer about his book God in the White House »
• Listen to Randall Balmer interviewed by Tavis Smiley on The Tavis Smiley Show on PBS »
• Watch a PBS Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly program on “America’s Evangelicals” featuring Randall Balmer »
• Read the complete transcript of the Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly interview with Randall Balmer »
• Read an ABC News report on “The New Evangelicals” featuring Randall Balmer »
• Listen to Randall Balmer interviewed about the Religious Right on NPR »
• Order Randall Balmer’s books from Amazon »