Panelists discuss role of religion in political climate

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. used his religion as a guiding light on issues, and in a Thursday night discussion about King and the role of religion in politics, panelists agreed religion is one of the values people can use to help them make decisions.\n"I'm fairly confident (King) would not say religion should be banished from politics," said Daniel Conkle, a professor at the IU School of Law and moderator of the discussion "What Would Dr. King Do? -- On the Role of Religion (Conservative and Progressive) in American Politics and Public Life."\nConkle distinguished between two types of religious issues. One type is inherently religious and advocates such actions like prayer in schools, which the U.S. Supreme Court has held unconstitutional. The other type of issue deals with how religion can influence a person's opinions.\nKing dealt with issues where religion informed his stance but those issues were not inherently religious, said Valerie Grim, a member of the panel discussion and associate professor and interim chair of the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies. King used his belief that God's law required equality for everyone as the motivation for his work with civil rights, Grim said.\n"I wonder how the Civil Rights Movement would have been different if he would not have used his faith," said Tom Ellsworth, senior minister at Sherwood Oaks Christian Church and a panelist.\nThe founding fathers saw faith as an ally to politics and not as an enemy, Ellsworth said. By concentrating on how different beliefs separate people, they lose opportunities to work together for a greater benefit.\nThe results of faith-based action have not always been good, though -- religion has been used to justify the most horrible acts in history, said Sheldon Gellar, a panelist and visiting scholar for the Workshop in Political Theory and Political Analysis at IU. One problem some have with religious people in politics is that sometimes they think someone not motivated by religion must be motivated by nothing or the devil, said Richard Bakewell, president of the IU chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.\nLack of respect for other views is not just an issue for religious people, as many secular people are just as close-minded as some religious people, Conkle said. \nEveryone should respect others' views, but this can be more difficult with a deeply held religious belief, he said.\nAn issue where religion and politics intersect, same-sex marriage, is one where Grim said she hopes King's view would have changed if he were alive. While he was a great civil rights leader, he was also "anti-gay and a sexist," who probably would not have been for same-sex marriage or women ministers, she said.\nMost of the audience's questions and comments concerned the large black population in prison and not the normal issues of religion and politics such as school vouchers and intelligent design, Bakewell said.\nHe said he was glad this type of discussion took place but would have liked to have gone deeper into the issues. He would like to see a series of discussions about each separate issue, he said.