By Kathleen Gilbert
September 15, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Despite a great deal of criticism from his hostesses, Sen. McCain unapologetically professed and stood by his Christian beliefs when he appeared on the September 12th edition of “The View.”
Whoopi Goldberg opened the discussion of faith when she cited McCain’s VP choice of Sarah Palin, an ardent Evangelical Christian, as a possible threat to “the separation of church and state.”
Sen. McCain, however, disagreed that Palin’s beliefs pose any such threat. He explained that, despite the fact that Palin has been much criticized for her Christian faith in the media, in particular for an out-of-context quotation in which she appeared to say that the war in Iraq is a “task from God”, the Alaskan governor was simply echoing the words of Abraham Lincoln.
In an appearance before her church in Alaska Palin had – rather than declaring that the war in Iraq was indeed a task from God, as has been widely reported – asked members of the congregation to pray that the military should do God’s will.
McCain responded to Goldberg’s question by quoting Abraham Lincoln’s statement that we should “pray not that God be on our side, but that we be on God’s side.” Gov. Palin, when pressed during her recent interviews with ABC’s Charles Gibson to say whether she believed America was fighting a “holy war”, had also invoked Lincoln’s words to explain her views.
McCain went on to observe, “Judeo-Christian values were the foundation of our nation. ‘In God we trust’ – clearly – the belief that God has a plan for the world, and that we should do what we can to live as good a lives as we can and trust that – ‘in God we trust’ – will guide the nation and this world to a better existence.”
At this point McCain was met with a flurry of objections from his hostesses, who asked, “What about those who don’t believe in God?”
McCain answered that atheists are entitled not to believe in God, but this tolerance should extend to Christians as well: “We should respect the views of those who believe in God and believe that we are a special nation, and that it’s a special world, and we believe that God does play a role – not in whether or not we win or lose elections – but in whether we have a better world, and a better future, and better lives.”
McCain related that, even as he was being tortured as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, he prayed “not that we get out of prison, but whether it would be God’s will for us to get out of prison.”
Whoopi Goldberg interjected, explaining that in her view having a president who followed the Christian God’s will would make Christianity “take over” and disadvantage people of other faiths. She asked: “Are you to govern the way that God would have you do it, or do you govern this nation for the greater good of the people in it?”
McCain responded: “I think everybody obviously is entitled to their individual faith, including not believing in anything. But I pray every day for guidance, and to do the right thing… and to do what is in the best interest of the country.
“I am an imperfect person,” he concluded, “but the point is, I respect those people who don’t think they need spiritual guidance and help. I just happen to be one of those who does.”