It’s an inclusive brand, as this clip demonstrates:
Thompson’s faith reminds me of Reagan’s. Both are able to evoke things spiritual without sending the message that individuals who disagree with their specific sect are second-class citizens. The manner in which Thompson discusses faith is not only one that would appeal to conservative Protestants, but also to mainline Protestants, Roman Catholics, Jews, Muslims, and even unaffiliated individuals open to the idea of a higher power. As a consequence, Thompson is able to utilize faith to unite and not divide. You know, like Reagan did.
As for the specifics of Thompson’s own religious affiliation, it turns out that he was raised in the Church of Christ, an offshoot of the same brand of Protestantism as the Disciples of Christ, Reagan’s denomination. His current marriage took place in the United Church of Christ, which is a more mainline Protestant denomination affiliated with the Disciples of Christ.
And in a bit of camp, Mark Elrod has come up with a humorous contest:
But I’m not ready to give into Dr. James Dobson’s assertion that Fred Thompson is not a real Christian just because he doesn’t talk about Christian issues enough.
So here’s the deal: the first person to provide ME with a somewhat believable Fred Thompson sighting at an assembly of a Church of Christ (Stone-Campbell) in the last twenty years will get to live in immortality by having his\her name written on the Lame-o Weblog forever.
You can either post your sighting here or e-mail it to ME.
Anecdotal stories that involve any of the following would be appreciated:
Fred Thompson teaching a Bible class
Fred Thompson presiding at the Lord’s Table
Fred Thompson leading singing (if it was 728b and you can prove it, I’ll give you $100)
Fred Thompson driving the JOY bus
Mr. & Mrs. Fred Thompson (above) serving as greeters
Mr. & Mrs. Fred Thompson preparing a nice chicken casserole for a Sunday pot-luck
Mark’s just having a little fun with all of this, but I just can’t help but note the irony in the fact that some religious conservatives, after finally being presented with a candidate who is solid on all of their issues AND excites economic and national security conservatives, seem determined to torpedo their only chance at avoiding (from their point of view) a heterodox Republican nominee. The whole thing is approaching self-parody. And it will afford Thompson plenty of opportunities for Sister Souljah moments, which will only help him with swing voters in the midwest, where faith is culturally a more private matter.
March 31st, 2007 at 4:27 pm
Good guy, boring speech.
March 31st, 2007 at 4:49 pm
That’s exactly what I’ve been trying to say about Reagan, the type of so-con who is electable. Where it’s not evangelical and is subordinate to pro-growth economics and strong defense.
March 31st, 2007 at 6:40 pm
Well, the good news for Thompson is that reconciling with Dobson is as easy as it is unimportant. This is really just a move by Dobson to try to push GOP candidates into make it par for the course to discuss their faith lives on the campaign trail. Even those voters who think only evangelicals are real Christians, like Dobson apparently, are not going to prefer Hilary or Obama to a conservative guy from the Church of Christ.
March 31st, 2007 at 10:41 pm
When Reagan was alive and president, he was accused of the same things Dobson gets accused of. Reagan regularly quoted and referred to Jesus Christ and was vilified as divisive. Reagna brought in the Dobsons of the world to the GOP.
And thank God and Christ he did.
April 1st, 2007 at 12:01 am
Just for clarity, the United Church of Christ is not “affiliated with the Disciples of Christ” except to the extent that they are both Protestant Christian denominations. The UCC is a denomination of its own. See http://www.ucc.org for the United Church of Christ.
April 1st, 2007 at 12:05 am
I should have done some more research before my last post. It turns out that the UCC and the Disciples of Christ do have what they call an “ecumenical partnership.” See http://www.ucc.org/ecumenical/partnership.htm for more information.
April 1st, 2007 at 12:08 pm
Although Fred Thompson is not known to be particularly religious, the UCC is a fairly conservative church body and his membership in it should play well with Evangelicals. If Speaker Gingrich gets in, I think that FDT and Newt will be vying to be the family values candidate and it will be interesting to see how this effects the race.
April 1st, 2007 at 11:29 pm
Based on my observations of Thompson over the years, I have always found him
to be boring. That is one reason, among others, why he could never win a general
election.