{"id":990,"date":"2011-08-16T12:42:52","date_gmt":"2011-08-16T16:42:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beliefbeat\/?p=990"},"modified":"2011-08-16T12:43:42","modified_gmt":"2011-08-16T16:43:42","slug":"michelle-bachmann-rick-perry-fair-questions-for-the-christian-candidates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beliefbeat\/2011\/08\/michelle-bachmann-rick-perry-fair-questions-for-the-christian-candidates.html","title":{"rendered":"Michele Bachmann & Rick Perry: Fair Questions for the ‘Christian’ Candidates?"},"content":{"rendered":"

With Rep. Michele Bachmann winning the Iowa straw poll, and Gov. Rick Perry entering the race hot off his Texan prayer rally<\/a>, we’ve got ourselves a Christian horserace for the Republican presidential nominee. (My theory is they’ll split the white evangelical vote, giving Mitt Romney the edge after all — I’m a terrible gambler, however.)<\/p>\n

No surprise that there’s plenty of religion news to go around here, particularly regarding whether it’s fair to question Bachmann on what she means when she identifies herself as “submissive” to her husband, in the biblical sense. In contrast to my conservative Christian colleagues<\/a>\u00a0and readers, I consider this a relevant issue, given that her faith is a major part of her campaign and she’s talked about how her\u00a0husband’s command prompted her to become a tax attorney and ran for Congress.<\/p>\n

Seriously: how is that not<\/em> relevant information, especially in the context of how much we scrutinize our presidential candidates overall, and how much importance Americans place on having religious commanders-in-chief<\/a>? Check out these takes on the brouhaha, and share your thoughts in the Comments section below:<\/p>\n