The intersection of religion and politics has never been a more widely debated and controversial issue than it is right now. The 2004 election made this glaringly apparent, and this week Syracuse University played host to a symposium addressing this very issue.

Several prominent figures in the religious, political and communications spheres came to SU to debate the issues swirling in these fields. The symposium was scheduled to open with a talk by Richard Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention, but was cancelled due to a flight delay. The symposium also included two panels on Tuesday afternoon.

The Rev. Barry Lynn, the executive director for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, closed the symposium on Tuesday night with a talk that he gave in between appearances on ABC and ‘Larry King Live.’ The event took place in Studio A of Newhouse II, but the studio was only about one-third full.

‘I thought he did an outstanding job,’ said Doug Schiffer, president of the Syracuse chapter of Free Thinkers. Free Thinkers is an organization that represents atheists, agnostics and secular humanists, and has meetings where speakers come to discuss free thought issues; topics include the separation of church and state and evolution versus creationism.

The topics discussed at the symposium, entitled ‘Religion and politics in America: Looking Back at 2004 and Looking Ahead,’ ranged from how religion is covered by the media and how to effectively cover it to President George H. W. Bush’s personal religious views and the Terri Schiavo case.

Lynn’s organization, Americans United, was founded six decades ago to protect the separation of church and state, and this was the primary subject of his talk. He said that citizens have never seen this level of government involvement in personal matters in the country before, and that this is because of a right-wing controlled government and a president that ‘wears his faith on both sleeves.’

‘I think it will be a very grim day for democracy if we think we are going to resolve issues by having scripture wars on the floor of the Senate,’ Lynn said. He added that if representatives and senators cannot find another reason for opposing a bill other than scripture, they should find another job.

Lynn is an advocate for complete separation for church and state, but he is religious himself. He holds a theology degree from Boston University and a law degree from Georgetown University, and represents what he calls ‘liberal Christians’ or ‘progressives.’

He abhors the thought of a religious leader endorsing a candidate from the pulpit, but would rather see religious leaders discuss moral ideas. He, as well as others who share his views, are afraid that a bill may pass that will change tax laws so that religious leaders of non-profit organizations will be able to endorse candidates.

Lynn says that Martin Luther King Jr., who never endorsed a candidate in his time, set a good example of how religious leaders should behave, endorsing moral ideas instead of candidates.

‘I think it is kind of ironic that we are discussing moral issues in a time of war,’ said Latrice Crow, a freshman broadcast journalism and Spanish major. She added that while

Bush touts his religious views, he is sending our troops off to kill people, leaving people homeless and parentless.

Lynn also addressed the Schiavo case, saying that when Republican leaders decided to make this a Congressional issue, they misread the public in a way that will not be easy to recover from.

‘They totally misread the public,’ Lynn said. ‘The last person you want making a long-distance diagnosis for you, from 950 miles away, is Tom DeLay or even Bill Frist.’ He added that DeLay is ‘ethically challenged,’ having had several ethical complaints lobbed against him.

When questioned about a moral decline in America, Lynn responded, ‘In the last eight days, if you can’t think about children going to bed hungry every night in America, then yes, there is a moral decline.’

Lynn encouraged people to get involved in the fight for separation of church and state, saying that ‘progressive organization is like herding cats.’ He said that progressives are at least 15 to 20 years behind Republicans because the progressives do not have think tanks and training centers for young people, and this hinders their cause.

‘We have to shape the issues not just respond to them,’ Lynn said.

The journalists’ panel ‘Covering Religion and Politics,’ that took place earlier in the day in a packed Bartlett Room in Newhouse II, also touched on many of these issues, but focused primarily on the media’s coverage of religion, stereotypes and the Schiavo case.

‘Only two views are presented, all you see are people you think have gone insane outside the Hospice, and then you see the dueling press conferences and Michael Schiavo, and things about his past,’ said Barbara Bradley Hagerty, of National Public Radio.

The other two panelists, Adelle Banks of Religion News Service and Deborah Caldwell of Beliefnet.com, agreed that this case has been dragged through the mud and the coverage has been of poor quality. They added that this is in part because of the immediacy with which our culture wants news.

‘You have to feed the beast so often, that you have no time for deeper issues,’ Hagerty said. ‘We get into this habit where we want the news every minute.’

The panelists went in to explain that they try to break stereotypes in their reporting. They also said that when politics and religion are mixed, a different view of the world can be presented; they echoed Lynn’s sentiment that religion and politics are going to be hot topics for a long time.

‘You get a more nuanced view of politics when you look at it through the prism of religion,’ Hagerty said. ‘Religion, as much as religion, is going to be the main challenge over the next few years.’

Published on March 29, 2005 at 12:00 pm