Evangelicals for Mitt threw a hissy fit yesterday, furious that the Republican presidential candidates scheduled a debate for Sunday morning. How dare the Republican candidates discuss political issues, a writer on the pro-Romney site demanded, when church services were being held, and “most of the target audience was singing hymns”?
Here’s a little reminder for the people over at Evangelicals for Mitt: The candidates are running for President of the United States of America, not for Reverend of the United States of America. The candidates should not have to arrange their lives around the schedule of the minority of Americans who go to church.
It may surprise Evangelicals for Mitt, but yes, most Americans do not attend church regularly. Even the majority of Republicans do not go to church every week.
Back in 2002, ABC News reported that just 38 percent of Americans claimed to go to church every week. Even among Republicans, only 47 percent went to church on a weekly basis. Church attendance has been trending downwards, so it’s reasonable to believe that even fewer Republicans go to church every Sunday now.
That makes Sunday morning a very good time for the Republicans to hold a debate. Most Republicans will not be at church during that time, and the remainder will be more likely than at any other time during the week to have an open schedule, enabling them to watch.
There’s always something going on that makes it difficult for some people to watch a televised event live. On weeknights, for example, people like myself who have children have to spend a good amount of time getting them fed and off to bed. If the Republicans televised their debate on a weeknight instead of Sunday morning, it would be much more difficult for families like mine to see the debate.
Should those of us with genuine family values sacrifice our political participation for the sake of a minority of particularly fervent religious Republicans? The people at Evangelicals for Mitt seem to think so, and that disturbs me.
I think that there ought to be a separation of church and debate. Let the church goers arrange their schedules, and the debate handlers arrange their own. A political movement that believes that it’s okay to allow one religion to force everyone else to bend their schedules around their schedule of worship doesn’t show respect for the cultural diversity of the United States of America.
We need to elect a President in 2008 who recognizes that America is a heterogeneous community, and won’t allow one group’s cultural preferences to get special treatment to the detriment of everyone else.
(Sources: EvangelicalsForMitt.com, August 5, 2007; ABC News, March 1, 2002)
