Religion and politics: Should they mix? | Faith Matters

A successful professional told me when President Biden was still the presumptive Democratic nominee that she hoped Pope Francis would not weigh in on the election because she thought he would favor Biden. She supported Donald Trump because of his anti-abortion stance and that one issue was pre-eminent for her.

I am sure she's unhappy that Francis has since weighed in on the contest that's now between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, but not the way she feared.

"Both are against life, be it the one who kicks out migrants, or be it the one who kills babies," the pope said in answer to a reporter's question. "One should vote and choose the lesser evil. ... Everyone in their conscience should think and do it."

So, Francis gave that professional and any Catholic voter an out: Follow your conscience. And so do the U.S. Catholic bishops. In their election guide, they wrote: "There may be times when a Catholic who rejects a candidate's unacceptable position may decide to vote for that candidate for other morally grave reasons."

This is why conscience is so important.

The pope's words in the middle of an election season prompted me to reach out to a variety of religious representatives across the spectrum to ascertain the acceptable ways to mix religion with politics.

There's a saying, "Religion and politics do not mix." But they can — as long as it is not partisan.

As Bishop Tracie Bartholomew, head of the New Jersey Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, notes: "I find many of Jesus' teachings to be political but not partisan."

Caldwell Dominican Sister Elise Redmerski, who ministered for decades at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Jersey City, illustrates the question through the lens of helping those in need.

"Funding programs that care for the most vulnerable in our society means we will need to wrestle with putting together a national budget that provides for such services," she said. "My religion teaches the same belief summed up in the Epistle of James: If you see your brother or sister in need — the immigrant, the hungry, the homeless, the woman facing an abortion issue, or the abuse of Earth's goods — and do nothing to help, what good is it?"

That should guide voters "to participate in the electing of leaders who embrace that truth," she said.

And that's why many Evangelicals have been criticized for crossing the line and embracing Trump. This has caused a division in fundamental Christianity that almost mirrors the extreme division in the country.

"The good intersection of politics and religion is within the foundations of our country and the protection of plurality embodied in our Constitution and Bill of Rights," said April Harris, a Jersey Journal Everyday Hero and founder and director of In Jesus' Name Charities in Hoboken. In other words, we respect religion without enshrining one over others.

Blauvelt Dominican Sister Arlene Flaherty, a longtime social justice advocate, puts it this way: "The intersection is the vision of the common good ... the sum total of those conditions that allow people to reach their fullest potential."

In fact, the Rev. Gary LeCroy, pastor of St. Matthew Trinity Lutheran Church in Hoboken which runs the daily Lutheran Lunch Ministry, cautions about religious reticence, saying, "People of faith (need) to speak loudly on behalf of those whose voices are marginalized and overlooked." He believes that "failure to use our voices for our neighbors undermines democracy."

And the concern for justice drives many.

"The pursuit of justice is a core Islamic value," said Imam Mohammad Al-Hayek, formerly of the North Hudson Islamic Center, now in the Bergen County Islamic Center, Hackensack. "(This) is an open call to all people of faith to rise to the occasion, especially where we see systemic or structural oppression."

At least a dozen books have been written in recent years in response to the Evangelical Christian embrace of Trump. Here are the two best: one a really long fire and brimstone sermon; the other an erudite trip across the Evangelical landscape in the country.

In "Losing Our Religion" (Sentinel, 2023), Russell Moore, editor-in-chief of Christianity Today, the most respected Protestant magazine in the U.S., said the political fusion of Trumpism, Christian nationalism and white-identity backlash is "dividing almost every church, almost every family, almost every friendship."

Tim Alberta, an Atlantic Magazine staff writer, experienced this in his life as a son of a Presbyterian pastor and practicing Christian. His refusal to endorse Trump lost him friends but spurred his excellent book, "The Kingdom, The Power and The Glory" (Harper Collins, 2023).

In it, he chronicles how pastors brainwash their congregants to believe that the world is falling apart and barbarians are at the gate. He describes how religious hucksters reap cash from peddling such a bleak future. Despite all of Trump's liabilities, Evangelicals think he can lead them to victory spiritually, according to Alberta, because many Biblical heroes were hardly saints at first.

"God works with flawed human beings all the time to do a greater good," wrote Alberta.

Italian native the Rev. Carlo Fortunio, pastor of sprawling Holy Redeemer Parish in West New York, reminds us "that our citizenship is not of this world, so we looking to ordain everything according to God." Meaning we are called to bring about God's Kingdom — heaven — here on earth.

Or as Irwin Rosen, former president of Temple Beth-El, Jersey City, said: "The ancient and cherished Judaic concept of tikkun olam — the repairing of the world for all — best describes the ideal intersection between religion and politics."