And Religion counts? [View All]

[murphyj87]

EDITOR'S NOTE: We’re very pleased to introduce a new voice and a new column to the opinion pages of The Chronicle Herald and thechronicleherald.ca. Starting today, and every Thursday, Lee-Anne Goodman will bring insight and perspective on politics, social trends and issues in Canada-U.S. relations to readers from her base in Washington, D.C as reporter for the Canadian Press.

From a Canadian perspective, the idea that two of the Republican party’s most impressive would-be presidential hopefuls — Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman — probably don’t stand a chance of winning the nomination because of their faith is a head-scratcher.

As Canadians, we don’t wear our religion on our sleeves. As long as someone isn’t a Satanist or a Scientologist who’s partaken in some wild-eyed couch-jumping on The Oprah Winfrey Show, we’ll pretty much give their religion a pass. As far as our politicians are concerned, we seem to judge them on their politics far more than on their faith. Do mainstream Canadians know or care where Stephen Harper, Michael Ignatieff, Jack Layton, Gilles Duceppe or Elizabeth May worship? Or even if they regularly attend church at all?

But in the United States of America, people care. Religion, in fact, is so important to most Americans that Romney and Huntsman are considered long shots to win the nomination.

I was stunned when I moved to the suburbs of Washington, D.C., almost three years ago to what’s considered a liberal, Democratic area of the United States. The movers were still unloading my bedroom suite when my elderly neighbour — someone I later learned was a Christian evangelical — approached to ask my name, my profession, why I’d moved to the U.S. and, oh yeah, my religion.

Taken aback, I answered honestly: "I was never christened, but my family is Anglican." I saw the gleam of delight in her eye as she realized she’d snagged a live one. Her recruiting efforts began, and they continue to this day. She recently knocked on my door to slip an invitation to a Bible study class into my hand.