Thursday, April 16, 2015

Hillary Clinton and Religion

As somebody who is not normally particularly involved in following politics, I found it fascinating being able to now notice the religion that is tied with politics when looking at the candidates for the 2016 election. After searching "Hillary Clinton's position on religion" on google, a ridiculous variety of sources came up, from opinions of Christian religious groups, news articles about Clinton's personal experiences with religion, and atheist organization's take on Clinton's religious stance. Every religious group or political news group has an opinion on Clinton's own beliefs and her advocacy of them.

For those that are curious or who did not know before, Hillary Clinton is a Methodist, which she openly points to as inspiring her to lead a life of "public service and private devotion." She had said that her religions was "the background music of her life... It's there all the time. It's not something you have to think about, you believe it." The Methodists are the second-largest Protestant group at 6% of the total US adult population. Hillary Clinton has also openly and regularly attended the Foundry United Methodist Church, a church that is particularly active in social matters. The Foundry United Methodist Church is well known for its advocacy for gay and lesbian rights. By just looking at Hillary Clinton and small bits of her personal beliefs like these, it is easy to see how religion and politics get involved. Clinton is clearly garnering the support of many Protestants, as shown by things like the twitter group @Faith4Hillary that was started by religious supporters of Clinton's campaign or the articles on Clinton by a Christian voter guide. (http://www.godvoter.org/Hillary-Clinton-religion.html)

Tying back to what we have learned in our own history class, Clinton also developed close relations with Billy Graham as shown through Graham's book , The Preacher and the Presidents which showed her own ties to the web of religion and politics. She deliberately showed the Christians then that she was one rooted in spirituality, and she maintains that same image today. She also, as we discussed in class yesterday, targets a very large group of voters that want to support her that also want to push a certain agenda. She continues to promise that she will make certain social changes for the public service of the people.

http://time.com/2927925/hillary-clintons-religion/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/04/26/has-hillary-clinton-again-started-to-talk-about-her-faith/
https://www.google.com/search?q=hillary+clinton%27s+stance+on+religion&oq=hillary+cli&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j69i57j0l4.2131j0j7&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=91&ie=UTF-8

1 comment:

  1. Heyyy! After reading what you said about the Foundry United Methodist Church and its position on gay/lesbian rights, I looked up Hillary Clinton's relationship with other churches and came upon something from a few years back (2007). Hillary Clinton spoke at the Saddleback Church in LA which, if anybody remembers from the documentary (the only reason I remember is because I recognized the name), is one of the "televangelist" churches. Saddleback is led by Rick Warren who writes books and such. Anyway, she spoke about AIDS and one church member said that she "showed a softer side of her[self] that I had never seen before." One of the articles I read said that "Clinton has much to gain from a favorable reception at the Saddleback conference." This idea connects with what Mr. Stewart was saying about the growing influence and importance of evangelicals, and how, by getting their vote, Clinton would be closer to the Democratic nomination (back in 2008).

    http://www.christianpost.com/news/clinton-s-gutsy-church-appearance-softens-evangelicals-30293/

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