Eliot Spitzer and the use of religion in American politics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Anyone writing a satire on American politics would be hard pressed to improve on the plot already oozing out of the New York City comptroller's race. If\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2013\/07\/the-uses-of-religion-in-american-politics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Eliot Spitzer and the use of religion in American politics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Anyone writing a satire on American politics would be hard pressed to improve on the plot already oozing out of the New York City comptroller's race. If\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2013\/07\/the-uses-of-religion-in-american-politics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Joel J. Miller\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-07-17T02:52:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-07-17T11:26:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joel J. Miller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joel J. Miller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2013\/07\/the-uses-of-religion-in-american-politics\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2013\/07\/the-uses-of-religion-in-american-politics\/\",\"name\":\"Eliot Spitzer and the use of religion in American politics\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-07-17T02:52:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-07-17T11:26:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/#\/schema\/person\/b481a8abcb28f825f4a759aa0ea9e11c\"},\"description\":\"Anyone writing a satire on American politics would be hard pressed to improve on the plot already oozing out of the New York City comptroller's race. If\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2013\/07\/the-uses-of-religion-in-american-politics\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2013\/07\/the-uses-of-religion-in-american-politics\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2013\/07\/the-uses-of-religion-in-american-politics\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Eliot Spitzer and the use of religion in American politics\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/\",\"name\":\"Joel J. Miller\",\"description\":\"Where Christian Theology Meets Daily Life\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/#\/schema\/person\/b481a8abcb28f825f4a759aa0ea9e11c\",\"name\":\"Joel J. Miller\",\"description\":\"I'm the author of Lifted by Angels, a look at angels through the eyes of the early church. Click here for more about me or subscribe to my RSS here.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/author\/jmiller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Eliot Spitzer and the use of religion in American politics","description":"Anyone writing a satire on American politics would be hard pressed to improve on the plot already oozing out of the New York City comptroller's race. If","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2013\/07\/the-uses-of-religion-in-american-politics\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Eliot Spitzer and the use of religion in American politics","og_description":"Anyone writing a satire on American politics would be hard pressed to improve on the plot already oozing out of the New York City comptroller's race. If","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2013\/07\/the-uses-of-religion-in-american-politics\/","og_site_name":"Joel J. Miller","article_published_time":"2013-07-17T02:52:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-07-17T11:26:02+00:00","author":"Joel J. Miller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Joel J. Miller","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2013\/07\/the-uses-of-religion-in-american-politics\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2013\/07\/the-uses-of-religion-in-american-politics\/","name":"Eliot Spitzer and the use of religion in American politics","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-07-17T02:52:52+00:00","dateModified":"2013-07-17T11:26:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/#\/schema\/person\/b481a8abcb28f825f4a759aa0ea9e11c"},"description":"Anyone writing a satire on American politics would be hard pressed to improve on the plot already oozing out of the New York City comptroller's race. If","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2013\/07\/the-uses-of-religion-in-american-politics\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2013\/07\/the-uses-of-religion-in-american-politics\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2013\/07\/the-uses-of-religion-in-american-politics\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Eliot Spitzer and the use of religion in American politics"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/","name":"Joel J. Miller","description":"Where Christian Theology Meets Daily Life","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/#\/schema\/person\/b481a8abcb28f825f4a759aa0ea9e11c","name":"Joel J. Miller","description":"I'm the author of Lifted by Angels, a look at angels through the eyes of the early church. Click here for more about me or subscribe to my RSS here.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/author\/jmiller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1270"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6145\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":6145,"date":"2013-07-16T21:52:52","date_gmt":"2013-07-17T02:52:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/?p=6145"},"modified":"2013-07-17T06:26:02","modified_gmt":"2013-07-17T11:26:02","slug":"the-uses-of-religion-in-american-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/joeljmiller\/2013\/07\/the-uses-of-religion-in-american-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"Eliot Spitzer and the use of religion in American politics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Anyone writing a satire on American politics would be hard pressed to improve on the plot already oozing out of the New York City comptroller\u2019s race. <\/p>\n

If you haven\u2019t been following the story, Eliot Spitzer now finds himself running against a woman who claims she formerly secured prostitutes for the former attorney general\u2019s use. Inconvenience, thy name is Kristen Davis! Naturally, Spitzer denies<\/a> Davis\u2019 claims, but his call-girl history reasonably prompts doubts.<\/p>\n

Shall we hold it against him? It\u2019s very gauche to hold anything against anyone these days. <\/p>\n

Writing on the case, Sally Quinn says<\/a> redemption is easier and easier to come by for politicians like Spitzer. A public servant caught in any number of indiscretions need only give it a rest for the news cycle and then come back yammering about sin and grace, forgiveness and redemption.<\/p>\n

This is what Spitzer has done. \u201cI sinned,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m hopeful there will be forgiveness.\u201d<\/p>\n

These are, of course, religious terms clumsily draped over otherwise naked ambition. It\u2019s easy to see this in cases like Spitzer\u2019s, but the real question is how much religion in American politics is similarly disingenuous. How much of it is a collection of sentimental tropes and buzzwords arranged to garner votes and energize constituencies? My guess: More than we would like to think. <\/p>\n

What passes for Christianity in Americans public life often seems like so many vaguely religious references uttered by people who are very sincere and well-meaning \u2014 and by some that most definitely are not. There are obviously exceptions here, but there is little that\u2019s distinctly Christian or demanding of those who make the profession. We just want our politicians to be somewhat devout \u2014 particulars are immaterial \u2014 and they are happy to oblige. <\/p>\n

As we all know, there\u2019s no faith test for public office in this country. And it commonly shows whenever politicians speak about faith.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"