Democracies many faces

I got a sad New Years greeting from the man who pastors a small Kenyan immigrant church that worships in my former congregation in Wayne, New Jersey. Rev. Paul is quite alarmed by the violence that followed the Dec 27th Presidentail elections in his native Kenya. It was a very controversial and competitive race. The incumbant President, a member of the most affluent and numerous tribe, the Kikuyu (20% of 35 million Kenyans) , was declared the winner in a tight race over the popular challenger, a member of a smaller tribe. The exit polls showed the challenger with a comfortable victory but due to obvious election fraud the incumbant was declared the winner and hurriedly sworn into office.
Violence erupted and so far over 300 have been killed and 100,000 displaced. The violence is scary--Tv reports showed a mother being attached by machete wielding men who then grabbed her 3 year old child and threw her into the fire. Some Kikuyu sought refuge in churches which were then set a fire. Rev. Paul asked for prayers and for sanity to be restored.
What is alarming is that Kenya is probably Africa's strongest democracy. The country has high literacy rates and vibrant political parties. There is however a history of dissent has often been crushed when the ruling party started to lose popular support.

This sad news of corrupted political and rigged elections was also on display in Pakistan when a former Prime Minister was assasinated and the government quickly claimed the killing was done by an outside terrorist organization. In Pakistan, like many other demcoracies of long standing, leadership of parties and movment is aristocratic--father passes legacy to son or daughter and then it keeps going down through the generations. You don't throw the bums out because the replacement regime includes members of the same bum ruling families.

What a difference it is in the United States this year. Record turnouts in Iowa. The establishment party candidates didn't fare so well. Both Ms Clinton and Mr. Romney were defeated by outsiders without connections to the party apparatus. When I was in Kenya 4 years ago our hosts asked me if I knew anything about a Kenyan who was running for the Senate in Illinois. I didn't. I do now. His name is Barak Obama. I would hope the news of his stunning victory in a rural state that is 94% white will speak volumes to the rioting Kenyans about how democracies are supposed to elect a new President.
Jim Wallis in his magazine, Sojourners, commented on how dramatically the religious landscape of the 2008 political year differs from 2004. The issue of faith and politics (which really gots its start with Eisenhower and Billy Graham) has witnessed a fundamental shift.
First, in what TIME magazine called a "leveling of the praying field" the Democras now speak as much about faith and values as the Republicans do (except perhaps for Gov Hucklebee). Both parites now have "faith forums" in primary states and all their newsletters talk about faith and values. Edwards, Clinton and Obama speak of their history as lay leaders in their churches. Obama actually speaks like a seminary trained theologian. He even understand Neibuhr and Tillich. The democratic candidates have connected faith to a broad range of issues like poverty and health care, criminal justice, HIV/AIDS, and war and peace.

In striking contrast, Wallis notes, the Republicans who had the corner on religious voters in 2004, now have a "God and marriage" problem. Several of the Republican frontrunners are very awkward talking about religion. Guiliani, Thompson and McCain have learned to avoid it after previous stumblings. They have had their good moments. For example, in the midst of a GOP debate both Hucklebee and McCain defended the humanity of undocumented people in the midst of a blistering attack on "illegal aliens" by the other candidates. John McCain asked his colleagues to remember that the people they are condeming were also "the children of God." Huckelebee later defended his states scholarship program that included the children of undocumented by saying "the US was not the kind of nation that punished children for the mistakes of their parents." I believe that Hucklebee and McCain are rising because of the "character" they have shown in debates. Did you see McCain tell Iowa farmers he thinks corn based ethenol is bad policy? Guiliani is dropping partially because of his support for abortion and gay rights and his serious "marriage problems" but also because the public is tired of candidates trying to scare them all the time. With improvements in Iraq, the candidate Joe Biden called "a noun , a verb and 9/11" is let without a viable platform to run.
Moral values will indeed be a key criteria in this election season. Marylander might even get a chance this year to affect the primary outcomes. I applaud the genuine moral discourse we are getting. I celebrate our nations history of open debate and peaceful transitions of power.