As I was reading descriptions of Hillary Clinton’s “For Such a Time as This” faith tour in South Carolina over the last few days I got to thinking about the 1990s, and the delight with which United Methodists embraced the First Lady, at the time arguably their most famous member. So I dug a few old documents out of the United Methodist Church archive.
First up was the speech Hillary Clinton gave April 24, 1996 to the United Methodist Church’s national convention. In the speech, she describes her upbringing in the church–Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, singing “Jesus Loves the Little Children of the World,” and participating in Methodist Youth Fellowship.

I also found a 2001 report of the Clintons’ last Sunday as First Couple in church. Her 2005 induction into the United Methodist Women’s Hall of Fame. And her meeting with United Methodist Bishops in January.
The net effect is to show the kind of detail and involvement that can’t be fudged–and I write that because I’m aware of the suspicion about Clinton’s Christian cred. But as someone who also grew up in a mainline denomination (though not the United Methodist Church) and went to at least as many church services, Christian camps, and Bible school weeks as Sen. Clinton, I’m here to tell you: the gal’s got cred.
Let me just say I am not necessarily a Hillary Clinton fan. “Deeply ambivalent” sums up my feelings about her candidacy.
But I do get tired of people’s dismissal of mainline Protestant Christianity. We know we’re not hip these days, and we know that we can’t boast many mega-churches. But I’m here to tell you, gang: we read the Bible, pray, serve coffee at Fellowship Hour, and feed the poor as much as the rest of y’all evangelical Christians.

We all get it that Clinton is using her Christian faith to political advantage. But why the underlying suspicion? So please–to you political wonks, other kinds of Christians, journalists, skeptics, Beltway Insiders–go ahead and be jaded. But could you please hold the cynicism?
And now, I’m going to go pick up my weekend haul of doughnuts to serve at Sunday morning coffee fellowship. Then I’ll drop my kids off at Sunday School, and hang around for the adult class. And after that, I’ll be singing hymns and praying at worship.