What? Nikki Haley’s faith evolving?

June 11, 2010 By

OK, sports fans, I am still watching the coverage of Nikki Haley deep down there in South Carolina and, of course, her unique religious background.

Here’s a short update. It seems to me that we are inching closer to that magic moment when mainstream reporters start slapping themselves on their foreheads and chant as one, “WAIT! We’re in Bible Belt territory! This woman’s religious background is complex and even nuanced! What is happening? Will the Religious Right march behind You Know Who and support her, while the rumors swirl? Quick! Get some modestly dressed reporter to Bob Jones University! ASAP!”

Right now, the big news (other than the rumors) about Haley is that — wait for it — she is a Republican and a woman it does not seem to be a very big deal. Here’s the top of the obligatory report in The New York Times:

COLUMBIA, S.C. – As she entered the top-floor suite of a luxurious office building here … Nikki Haley passed an oil painting of nine former South Carolina governors. All were men, all were white, seated behind a long table like a political version of “The Last Supper.”

If she can maintain her momentum, Ms. Haley will make a most unlikely member of the club.

On Tuesday, Ms. Haley, a 38-year-old Indian-American state representative with strong ties to the Tea Party movement, emerged as the front-runner to become the next governor of South Carolina. Winning 49 percent of the votes in the Republican primary, she trounced three white male rivals with longer careers, higher titles and larger bank accounts, although she fell just short of avoiding a runoff with the second-place finisher. …

Note that the fact that she is, in political terms, one-half of a minority candidate (Hey, is Barack Obama one-half of a minority candidate?) running in South Carolina, where all Republicans are assumed to be white, is now in play.

Later in the same story, we get one paragraph of background material that briefly mentions her family and her religious background. It appears that someone may have gone online and done at least one Google search.

Ms. Haley, who has been married for 13 years and has two young children, was born in the small town of Bamberg, in central South Carolina, to Sikh parents who emigrated from India. Beginning at age 13, she said, she worked after school at her parents’ clothing store. She earned an accounting degree from Clemson University, then helped turn her family’s business into a multimillion-dollar operation, according to her campaign.

OK, maybe it wasn’t a very good online search. It does appear that the words “Christian” and even “convert” needed to be added to the mix. They can also add the word “Methodist,” although I don’t know if she is a United Methodist or part of another church. In South Carolina, the United Methodist flock contains more than its share of believers who would call themselves evangelical or even conservative Protestants.

Reporter seeking information may want to click here and head on over to the previously mentioned report by CBN’s David Brody in which he notes that — as Obama learned early on — it is a good idea to clarify one’s religious stance when you are seeking votes in a state like South Carolina. Note, in particular, the evolving language in her website’s answer to the big question:

April 2010:

Question: Is Nikki a Christian?

Truth: Nikki is a Christian. In her words: “I believe in the power and grace of Almighty God. I know, and have truly experienced, that with Him all things are possible. I have looked to Him for leadership throughout my career and will continue to do so as governor.” …

June 2010:

Question: Is Nikki a Christian?

Truth: In Nikki’s words: “My faith in Christ has a profound impact on my daily life and I look to Him for guidance with every decision I make. God has blessed my family in so many ways and my faith in the Lord gives me great strength on a daily basis. Being a Christian is not about words, but about living for Christ every day.”

Interesting. Oh, by the way, where does Haley stand on major social issues? I have heard that, Tea Party or no Tea Party, the hot-button issues that mix politics, religion and culture are fairly important in the Bible Belt.

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Filed Under: Journalism, Politics, Religion, Social Issues, World Religions
About TMatt

Terry Mattingly directs the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. He writes a weekly column for the Scripps Howard News Service.

  • yarrrrr

    She changed her faith statement after an anti-Palin blogger went after it… it changed sometimes in the middle of May…

  • Martha

    “Get some modestly dressed reporter to Bob Jones University!”

    tmatt, I was laughing so hard at that, it was a good job I wasn’t drinking any beverages at the time.

    Hey, if she’s both a woman and ethnic, doesn’t that add up to two minorities and give you a complete minority candidate? :-)

  • A Sikh

    The religious text being applied to Haley is against our constitution. I don’t know why she left a very proud and universal religion and converted to Christianity. But that is her choice. However Sikhs- unlike many others respect all religions and believe that all truthful ways lead to one Lord which is for all humanity. While it is politically correct now to talk about multiculturalism, women’s rights, religious freedom, and human rights, The Sikh scripture Guru Granth Sahib embraced all these values 400 years ago. Here is English translation of a hymn from GGS page 1299. which proclaims the universality of human race .
    I see no stranger, I see no enemy;

    Wherever I look, God is all I see.

    I don’t think of Us and Them,

    No one do I hate or condemn,

    I see God’s image – each one a friend.

    Of any religion, caste or race,

    All I see is God’s shining face –

    His smiling face, His gracious face.

    Accept as beautiful all His design,

    I learnt this truth in sangat divine.

    One Word resounds in me and you –

    Waheguru … Waheguru … ( O Wondrous Lord)

    In him, in her, in me and you –

    Waheguru … Waheguru …

    Beholding in every being His light,

    I bloom like a flower in joy and delight.

  • Martha

    Not wishing to be unfair to Americans, but seeing this dragging in of candidates’ religious beliefs (or lack of them) makes me long for someone to emulate Hilaire Belloc when he was on the campaign trail:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilaire_Belloc#Political_career

    “From 1906 to 1910 he was a Liberal Party Member of Parliament for Salford South, but swiftly became disillusioned with party politics. During one campaign speech he was asked by a heckler if he was a “papist.” Retrieving his rosary from his pocket he responded, “Sir, so far as possible I hear Mass each day and I go to my knees and tell these beads each night. If that offends you, then I pray God may spare me the indignity of representing you in Parliament.” The crowd cheered and Belloc won the election.”

    Would it realy be dreadfully, horribly shocking to the people of South Carolina if she weren’t a Christian? I don’t necessarily think so, but then again, I’m not from South Carolina. I think that if political rivals think it’s to their advantage to intimate that she’s not really a Christian, or the ‘wrong’ kind of Christian, that’s a heck of a lot worse.

    So is that what is going on, or is it the newspapers making a mountain out of a molehill?

  • http://platytera.blogspot.com/ Christian

    I’m a 52 year old Catholic conservative white man. I voted for Haley in the primary. I haven’t heard a peep from anyone about her religion; ‘everyone’ is satisfied with her personal witness. Most folks think it’s cool that her parents are from India. And her outsider status, reinforced by Palin, helped her. Conservative SCarolinians regard goodolboy Columbia as a threat to the commonweal, just behind (or maybe ahead of) DC; the hamfisted sex attacks just confirmed those suspicions.

    The Fort Sumter worldview is alive & well.

  • Jerry

    Note that the fact that she is, in political terms, one-half of a minority candidate (Hey, is Barack Obama one-half of a minority candidate?) running in South Carolina, where all Republicans are assumed to be white, is now in play.

    To me, she is a caucasian at by appearance and by her dravidian background. I do know that historically dravidians were not considered caucasian but I think they are considered such today in typical classification schemes. Non-European background is true, but the majority that have European background is shrinking rapidly especially here in California.

    As a side-note, I also appreciated “A Sikh”‘s comments, clarifications and wonderful poem.

  • Deacon John M. Bresnahan

    Haley and Jindal of Louisiana will be an interesting Deep South pair of Indian-Americans for the media to cover. What is it about Indians and the Republican Party??? Deserves a media look???
    So far, the media seems more interested in the Mormon religion of Romney–who I notice has already been campaigning for Haley. Boy, is the media going to get in a tangle.
    Maybe they should stick to political issues and angles (unless there is a strong connection with issues).

  • MarkAA

    Deacon John,
    Of course two doesn’t make a trend, but I agree media need to look into why smart, hard-working Indians are choosing the Republican Party when the the common wisdom is that minorities will automatically choose the Democratic party and its liberal policies. But I suspect a serious, deep media inquiry is going to be slow in coming because the liberal reporters and editors involved won’t like what they find, namely, that the hard-working, bright, energetic Indians find the Republican Party more accommodating to fresh faces who espouse traditional American-dream virtues than the Democratic Party is. When you view your reporting as telling the liberal-leaning “Truth” as you see it, it becomes difficult to honestly tell the story that doesn’t align with your views. The MSM has been telling us for decades that Republicans (and now Tea Partiers) are basically wealthy, white men bent on defending and promoting white, Western culture at the expense of minorities; I want to read the real story why Haley and Jindal are choosing to be aligned with the GOP.

  • Ben

    A lot of Dems on this list of US politicians of Indian descent:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:American_politicians_of_Indian_descent

  • Ben
  • Bern

    Just for the record, women represent 51% of the electorate–but a heck of a lot less than that in representative government. Only if elected will Haley become a “full” minority, rather than a one half minority. :-)