c. 2004 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ Members of a particular denomination used to be proud when they shared a religious affiliation with a president or presidential candidate. But the scoldings President Bush and Sen. John Kerry are receiving from fellow United Methodists and Roman Catholics illustrate that’s not necessarily true this election season.

“What’s happening is now it’s sort of flipped on its head,” said Corwin Smidt, director of the Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Recent criticisms of Bush and Kerry _ spurred by debates over the Iraqi war and abortion _ reflect the importance of faith to many American voters and the apparent closeness of the race for president, observers say. Pressure from within a candidate’s denomination and questions that border on whether a candidate has roamed into the realm of religious hypocrisy are now a part of the political scene. Whether these specific efforts will sway a significant number of voters remains unclear.

Kerry has been lambasted by conservative Catholics since it became clear he would be the Democratic nominee. On Wednesday (Oct. 20), in an effort funded by the Bush-Cheney campaign, Catholic politicians and professors released an “open letter” to Kerry in an advertisement running in newspapers in five battleground states with significant Catholic populations. The ad declared, “When it comes to the issue of the right to life, you follow neither your own faith nor your own reason.”

Even before the start of the Iraq war, United Methodist bishops vehemently urged Bush not to take military action. Since mid-October, a United Methodist associate pastor in Iowa has publicized plans to file a letter of complaint with church officials that claims Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney “led the United States into an illegal war against the sovereign nation of Iraq.”

Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., is one of the more prominent Catholics who endorsed the ad opposing Kerry’s position on abortion rights.

“I think he just needs to be honest with the American public,” Santorum said in a conference call with reporters.

“He can’t say that his faith influences his decision and reason informs his decision and then behave the way he behaves. It is that inherent inconsistency that is really what’s problematic here.”

The Rev. Courtney Ball, associate pastor of First United Methodist Church of Iowa City, Iowa, sees similar inconsistencies in Bush and Cheney. He said he chose a process that is usually confidential to publicly express his concerns since he doesn’t have easy access to the president.

“I think that everybody should have some freedom to interpret both the gospel and the teachings of the church on their own, but when you start contradicting just about every teaching, then I think you’ve gone out of bounds of what is considered faithful within your denomination,” Ball said in an interview.

The recent seminary graduate, who learned about the Methodist process of filing charges in a polity class last semester, joined a friend in creating TheyMustRepent.com, a Web site on which they hope to collect 1,000 United Methodist signatures before sending their complaint to the bishop and other officials who oversee Bush’s home church in Dallas.

“Our leaders and our members have tried to support the respondents with prayers and petitions, but we fear it has been to no avail,” reads the proposed complaint.

More than 500 people have signed the online petition, but some are not United Methodists. Online comments left by some who signed indicated they actually opposed the effort.

Ball said he hopes the petition will lead at least to dialogue between Bush and church leaders _ even after the election is over _ and at most a request that he and Cheney leave the church if an investigative committee and a church trial find them guilty of the offenses stated in the petition.

While polls generally do not probe the specific political leanings of Methodists, many have looked at Catholic voting expectations. It’s unclear how effective attacks on Kerry by fellow Catholics have been. What is clear is Kerry is gaining with Catholic voters in general.

In a mid-October survey, the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that 50 percent of white Catholic registered voters would vote for or lean toward Kerry while 43 percent would favor Bush. Bush had commanded a lead among that segment of voters in September and early October surveys.

Former U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican Ray Flynn said efforts like the ad from Santorum and a similar one Flynn himself placed in The New York Times on Oct. 10 reflect the importance of “culture of life” issues in this election.

Flynn said he has not endorsed either candidate but he wanted to make the public aware that Kerry has promised to nominate only federal judges who support abortion rights.

“This is an exceptional election in that regard, where so many of the issues are both political and moral … so I think everybody is seeing the need to express their point of view on these issues,” said Flynn, who also has served as the mayor of Boston.

In California, canon lawyer Marc Balestrieri has made attempts to get Kerry formally declared a heretic by the Catholic Church. But Catholic News Service reported Tuesday that no church official has come close to calling Kerry a heretic.

While some individual bishops have criticized Kerry, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has not taken an official stand on Kerry’s fidelity to church teaching.

“I think they’re making the right choice not making a decision on this issue at this time because it could be politically divisive,” said Flynn.

As Kerry’s abortion stance has been a catalyst for debate among Catholics, the Iraq war has prompted concern among United Methodists.

Jim Winkler, general secretary of the United Methodist Church’s General Board of Church and Society, said he was disappointed that Bush didn’t make himself available to his church’s bishops prior to going into an Iraqi war they opposed. But he thinks the filing of a complaint against the president could lead to unnecessary church litigation.

“I’ve said pray for the president and if you have concerns, write to him,” Winkler said in an interview about how he responds to those frustrated by Bush’s stances. “But let’s not try to get him … expelled from the church or anything like that.”

Smidt, the Calvin College professor, said efforts made by candidates’ fellow denominational members could affect a few votes. But he added most believers have probably already made up their minds.

And there are those in the candidates’ denominations who think they are, faithfully, just fine.

“I’m sure that other Methodists in Iowa … would say that Bush is being faithful to his faith tradition,” Smidt said.

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