Beliefnet contributor Rabbi Brad Hirschfield , author of You Don’t Have To Be Wrong For Me To Be Right, Finding Faith Without Fanaticism, offers this post on a “What Would Jesus Do?” question about the death penalty at last night’s Republican debate:

For any of us who believe that religious convictions can inform our political views, the recent Republican Party debate was a tragedy. The most troubling moment came when a young man asked specifically those candidates who describe themselves as Christian, “What would Jesus do in terms of carrying out the death penalty?” Sadly, he never got an answer to his honest, important, and sincerely preferred question. Governor Huckabee dodged it completely, stating that it must sometimes be done and that it was the hardest thing he had to do as Governor. All well and good perhaps, but where was his answer?
Is it so difficult for someone who has a personal relationship with Jesus, an ordained minister, to directly address the relationship between the beliefs he holds and the policies that he supports? And the answer that followed, offered by Mr. Tancredo, was no better. In fact, it was worse! He simply said that he would seek divine guidance on the matter and expected that he would discover the right thing to do in the case before him. Apparently he doesn’t know about the religious past, but is confident that God will tell him the future! Unbelievable!!
And the saddest moment of all came when Governor Huckabee was pushed for a direct answer by the debate moderator, Anderson Cooper, only to be told that “Jesus was far too smart to run for public office.” What does that say about the men on stage who hope to lead the most powerful nation in the world? If they are cynical about what they are doing, how are the rest of us supposed to feel?
How refreshing it would have been for them to do any of the following:
admit that Jesus would, like them, support the death penalty (apparently not something they really believe), admit that Jesus would oppose the death penalty and that therefore they too would now re-think their own position (apparently something they are not ready to do), or suggest that while Jesus might have opposed the death penalty, there is room to differ about this given that the world and its public policy challenges are not the same now as they were 2,000 years ago (apparently not something they are bold enough to say).
Religious conviction has an important role to play in American politics, but not if those who claim to be the most religious, are not prepared to tell us what they really believe, or revisit their beliefs in light of new things they learn or new circumstances that they encounter. Last time I checked, that is what real faith is meant to empower us to do.