While reflecting on yesterday's Reading List discussion of James Dobson's comments about Fred Thompson's faith, I was struck by this "clarification" from Dobson's office: 

. . . Dr. Dobson was attempting to highlight that to the best of his knowledge, Sen. Thompson hadn’t clearly communicated his religious faith, and many evangelical Christians might find this a barrier to supporting him. Dr. Dobson told Mr. Gilgoff he had never met Sen. Thompson and wasn’t certain that his understanding of the former senator’s religious convictions was accurate. Unfortunately, these qualifiers weren’t reported by Mr. Gilgoff. We were, however, pleased to learn from his spokesperson that Sen. Thompson professes to be a believer.

Does anyone else find this a little creepy?  I do.  To my mind, the statement suggests that Dobson sees himself as a person to whom Republican candidates must "clearly communicate" their religious beliefs in order to qualify for the support of evangelical Christians.  That sounds like a religious test to me.  Yes, I know Article VI, clause 3 of the Constitution does not prohibit voters from taking a candidate's religion into account, but there's a feel around all of this that simply seems un-American to me.

Meanwhile, K-Lo (with tongue in cheek) points out the latest example of picking on a public official's religion. 

Technorati Tags: Fred Thompson, religion, presidential politics, candidates, James Dobson

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