Dean Now Willing to Discuss His Faith
Campaign Changed Him, Candidate Says
By Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 4, 2004; Page A01
STORM LAKE, Iowa, Jan. 3 -- Howard Dean, after practicing a
quiet Christianity throughout his political career, said he is
talking more about his faith because the presidential race has
awakened him to the importance of religious expression,
especially to southerners.
"I am not used to wearing
religion on my sleeve and
being open about it," the
former Vermont governor
told reporters aboard his
campaign plane late
Friday night. "I am
gradually getting more
comfortable to talk about
religion in ways I did not
talk about it before."
Dean said frequent trips
to South Carolina, where
evangelical Christianity flourishes often in public ways, are
prompting him to more candidly discuss his faith. "It does not
make me more religious or less religious than before. It just
means I am more comfortable talking about it in different ways,"
he said.
He cited the Gospels -- Matthew, Mark, Luke and John -- as a
strong influence. The Gospels tell the story of the life and
teachings of Jesus Christ. "As I have gotten older I have thought
about what it means to be a Christian and what the role of
religion is in my life," Dean said
Dean's comments about Christianity provide a rare, if obscured,
look at the Democrat who is leading in the polls. He has seldom
talked about his family, feelings or religion when campaigning,
unlike other candidates who discuss such issues to connect with
voters on a personal level.
"The campaign has changed the way I am willing to talk about
religion. It has not changed my religious beliefs," Dean reiterated
Saturday.
In some ways, Dean is coming to acknowledge a reality of
American politics: Voters, particularly in the South, want to hear
more about faith and morality from national leaders. This
phenomenon has hurt Democrats and helped President Bush,
according to strategists from both parties. A recent poll showed
63 percent of voters who regularly attend church back Bush,
while a similar percentage of those who rarely or never attend
lean toward Democrats. A small shift in support of religious
voters could provide a big boost to the Democratic nominee.
Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (Conn.), an orthodox Jew, and Al
Sharpton, a minister, are the two Democratic presidential
candidates who have given their faith and God a role in their
campaign rhetoric. Retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark recently said
faith will become a centerpiece of his campaign message, too.
Dean is still wrestling with how prominent a place faith should
take in his campaign. The more he talks about it, though, the
more comfortable he feels, an aide said.
"I am still learning a lot about faith and the South and how
important it is," said Dean, a Congregationalist. The
Congregationalist Church is a Christian denomination that
preaches a personal relationship with God without a strong
hierarchal structure guiding it. Dean was reared an
Episcopalian, but left the church 25 years ago in a dispute with a
local Vermont church over efforts to build a bike path. Dean's
wife is Jewish, as are their two children.
"Faith is important in a lot of places, but it is really important in
the South -- I think I did not understand fully how comfortably
religion fits in with daily life -- for both black and white
populations in the South," he said. Dean has visited South
Carolina, which holds its presidential primary Feb. 3, nine times
since the beginning of the campaign. "The people there are
pretty openly religious, and it plays an ingrained role in people's
daily lives," he said.
Dean's decision reflects the evolution of a candidate who earlier
in the campaign said it was the New England tradition to practice
religion quietly. Still, Dean's remarks about his faith have been
mostly confined to discussions with reporters and campaign
stops at African American churches in South Carolina. At the
same time, he tells Democratic audiences to move elections away
from "guns, God and gays."
"What I have not done is figured out is how to talk about [my
faith] publicly," he said.
The Democratic front-runner probably will not have much time
to elaborate until the presidential race heads South on Feb. 3,
an aide said Saturday. But if he wins the nomination, polls show
voters want to hear more about faith from political leaders. The
general election campaign is when Dean might open up more,
the aide said.
The last two Democrats to win the White House -- Bill Clinton
and Jimmy Carter -- evoked God and their faith. Both are
Christians. Some Democrats have said that Dean may be
perceived as too secular because of his affiliation with civil
unions for gays, which many Christians oppose.
President Bush, a born-again Christian, is one of the most
openly religious presidents in generations and enjoys very
strong backing in the South, according to recent polls. In 2000,
he won every state in the Bible Belt. It would be tough, though
not impossible, for a Democrat to defeat Bush without making
inroads in the South, strategists from both parties say.
Dean said he prays daily and has read the Bible from cover to
cover. "If there was one experience that deepened my religious
faith," Dean said Saturday, "it was the capture of my brother [in
Laos] almost 30 years ago."
He rarely attends church services, unless it is for a political
event. When he talks about Jesus, he usually focuses on
Christianity's teachings about helping the poor and less
fortunate.
When asked Friday night about his favorite book of the New
Testament, he cited Job, about a righteous man whose faith was
tested mightily by God through great suffering. After thinking
about the scripture, Dean pointed out an hour later that Job is
from the Old Testament. Dean said Job reinforces the
uncomfortable fact of life that "terrible things can happen to very
good people for no good reason."
"I think all human beings have to have an explanation for why
bad things happen to good people," which resonates with him, in
part, because the suffering he witnessed as a medical doctor,
Dean said.
At a breakfast here Saturday, Dean had an opportunity to
discuss his faith when an Iowan asked what sustains the
front-runner when his rivals are relentlessly criticizing him.
Instead, Dean shared a secular belief in the power of people to
change government.
A few minutes later, when discussing corporate greed, Dean
promised if elected president to call business leaders from
around the country into the White House to stress ethics and
responsibility. "Moral tone is a huge deal in the presidency," he
told the audience.
© 2004 The Washington Post Company
washingtonpost.com |
