A version of this article was first published in the State of Faith newsletter. Sign up to receive the newsletter in your inbox each Monday night.
Over the past three months, I’ve spent hours thinking about religious freedom and the presidential election.
But if you asked me whether former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris would do a better job protecting faith groups, I’d respond with a question, not a set of carefully researched facts.
What do you mean by religious freedom?
That question always matters in religious freedom debates, but it feels especially significant this fall as Trump and Harris fight to spend the next four years in the White House.
Although both candidates identify as Christian and talk about protecting people of faith on the campaign trail, their records on faith-related policy issues are quite different, as are their religious backgrounds.
Trump grew up Presbyterian, which is a mainline Protestant denomination, but he’s best known for his tight relationship with evangelical Christians.
Harris is Baptist, but she’s closely tied to Hinduism, Judaism and non-Baptist Christian traditions through family and friends.
Trump often speaks inelegantly about faith, and he’s insulted entire religions on more than one occasion.
Harris has repeatedly angered more conservative Christians with comments about their beliefs on issues like abortion, while pleasing more liberal Christians by making it clear that it’s possible to be religious and a Democrat at the same time.
During his four years as president, Trump selected advisers and officials who worked to increase enforcement of religious freedom laws and expand faith-based exemptions in policies related to LGBTQ rights.
During her time in the Senate, Harris argued for some limits on religious freedom protections in cases where they reduced abortion access or disrupted nondiscrimination laws. In an interview Tuesday with NBC News, she described adding religious exemptions to a law protecting abortion access as “making concessions.”
To Americans who feel that religious freedom is threatened by people like Harris, Trump is a hero. To Americans who feel that religious freedom laws have become too broad, Harris is.
Few Americans think the label of defender of religious freedom applies to them both.
To learn more about the candidates’ complex faith-related reputations, check out my recent articles on Trump and Harris.
Fresh off the press
Jesus, take the bat: David Fry credits God with game-winning home run
3 powerful quotes from a coach who just shocked the sports world by retiring
What 2 days in June 2020 tell us about Trump and religious freedom
Deion Sanders is caught up in a religious freedom controversy — again
If someone dies after voting early, does his vote still count?
Term of the week: New Skete
New Skete is a Christian Orthodox monastery in New York. Its monks support themselves, in part, by breeding German shepherds and offering dog training services, according to The Associated Press.
“The small community — today comprising 10 monks and about the same number of adult German shepherds — was started by Franciscan friars who were seeking a more contemplative yet rooted spiritual structure than the Catholic orders were providing them,” the article said, noting that the founders later joined the Orthodox Church in America.
The monks told The Associated Press that raising dogs helps them connect with God.
“(Dogs) are forgiving, perfectly natural, they are what God created them to be. Those are lessons we could learn,” one said. “Over time, dogs teach us a lot about ourselves. They think we’re better than we are.”
What I’m reading ...
One of my favorite authors, Ann Patchett, was recently asked by The New York Times to reflect on something she regrets. She chose email, and the resulting column was both humorous and heartbreaking.
Bobby Ross Jr. does the religion beat proud with his feature stories about religious organizations across the country and around the world. In the latest edition of his Weekend Plug-In newsletter, he shared some of the wild travel stories that he’s collected as he’s hit the road to chase religion news.
Have you noticed that stores like Walmart are already selling Christmas decor? The Associated Press investigated why specialty Christmas items increasingly go on sale long before you’ve trick-or-treated for Halloween.
Odds and ends
It’s two weeks until Election Day, which means I’m running out of time to analyze faith-related aspects of the presidential race. Are there any topics you’d still like to see covered? Send them my way.