{"id":863,"date":"2011-07-13T11:49:15","date_gmt":"2011-07-13T15:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beliefbeat\/?p=863"},"modified":"2011-07-28T12:44:20","modified_gmt":"2011-07-28T16:44:20","slug":"church-state-separation-not-for-presidential-candidates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beliefbeat\/2011\/07\/church-state-separation-not-for-presidential-candidates.html","title":{"rendered":"Church-State Separation? Not for Presidential Candidates"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve been preoccupied with the Cyprus disaster<\/a>\u00a0— that’s where my family is from, where I was traveling last month — and some stories I’m working on, so please excuse the blogging delays.<\/em><\/p>\n

There’s been plenty of headlines lately concerning the beliefs of our Republican presidential contenders. I always find this trend ironic, given the American concept of separation of church and state — sure, it’s not in the U.S. Constitution as such (although religious freedom could be interpreted that way), but it’s a principle that dates back to our founding fathers and has represented us around the world. Even the Dalai Lama has gotten on board!<\/a><\/p>\n

But, it seems that you can’t be a viable presidential candidate without the right Christian bonafides — who can forget all the coverage of Obama’s faith, first regarding his relationship with Pastor Jeremiah Wright<\/a>, then on whether he’s some kind of secret Muslim<\/a>, and eternally which church he drops by on Sundays and holidays<\/a>? Now his 2012 opponents, and their families, are under the microscope:<\/p>\n