In a recent interview with David Brody at Christian Broadcast Network, would-be Reid-defeater Sharron Angle talked about God’s influence in her political life and in the U.S. Senate race in particular. A snippet:
It’s interesting how when you have God in your life that He directs your path, and this is a time in our nation’s history when Nevada gets to be the state that really can make a difference in a nation…
When asked if she considers her candidacy a “calling” and something God “put on her heart,” she replied:
Well, I did, but it’s been a real preparatory thing. When God calls you, he also equips you and He doesn’t just say, “Well, today you’re going to run against Harry Reid.” There is a preparation… Moses has his preparatory time. Paul had his preparatory time. Even Jesus had his preparatory time and so my preparation began on a school board…
Angle’s statements of faith have opened her up to ridicule including this amusing column consisting of a mock conversation between Angle and God by Las Vegas Sun columnist Jon Ralston.
But Harry Reid has also in the past gone on record as a person whose faith informs his life, albeit via more generic statements that Angle’s, telling an interviewer at Brigham Young University in 2001,
I don’t think you can separate your religion from your politics; it’s part of your personality. It is part of who you are.
That quote was included in a recent Las Vegas Sun piece by political reporter Anjeannette Damon who reminded readers that Reid, a practicing Mormon who doesn’t drink coffee or alcohol, holds some political views contrary to those of his own party.
The main thrust of Damon’s piece was about how Angle’s faith influences her views on the proper definition of separation of church and state as well as her policy positions on many issues including abortion, family structure and the role of religion in education. Damon’s story contends that Angle’s view of religion’s role in government “parallels that of a religious political movement — Christian Reconstructionism — seeking to return American civil society to biblical law.”
Angle has not said she sees the Bible as a guidebook to legislation, but according to statements she made in March in a Las Vegas Review-Journal profile piece, Angle did find new purpose in her life after recovering from a serious health issue and hearing about a friend’s dream about her that included Deborah, a strong woman of the Bible, who Angle called “the first woman politician”:
“When you see God move in these kinds of ways, you see God is real,” Angle says. “Every breath I have taken since 1977 has been a gift. All of a sudden I was changed. My life had a purpose.”
But how are we to square Angle’s belief that God has guided her to a present day David vs. Goliath political battle with the views of this blogger at Deseret News, a publication out of Utah, who says he believes God wants Harry Reid to win the election?
I guess we’ll find out which candidate God prefers on November 2. As both candidates are persons of faith, one assumes they’ll accept the decision graciously.