The American Spectator

Washington Prowler

p> FOCUS ON RELIGION br> Former Vermont governor and Democratic party presidential candidate Howie Dean apparently isn't sure about his religion, but he is showing new found faith in a higher being and focus groups. /p>

On the eve of the Christmas holidays, Dean went public with thoughts about God -- he believes in Him. While the Lord is probably relieved that the Episcopalian turned Congregationalist-almost-a-Unitarian believes in Him, Dean's pandering had more to do with strengthening his position in the South after focus groups pulled together by his campaign revealed discomfort with a man of little faith.

"[Dean's] stump speeches weren't working with the groups," says a Washington-based Democratic Party consultant familiar with the focus group study that took place in early December. "When asked, they wanted to have a sense that the candidate shared their values, and in the South that means a candidate who believes in God, the Bible and the family."

Dean told the Boston Globe that he believed in God, and respected the role of religion in America, this despite his regular attacks on Republican Christians and applause lines built around a call for a more explicit separation of church and state in this country. Dean claimed that he didn't talk about his personal religious beliefs because his father -- a practicing Episcopalian -- didn't think a person's faith needed to be discussed.

Dean was christened in the Episcopal Church, then fell away. He was married in a civil service, and has said he and his wife, who is Jewish, mulled becoming Unitarians when neither would agree to convert to the other's religion. Dean, who admits to rarely attending religious services of any kind unless it is for electoral purposes, now claims to be a Congregationalist after a falling out with Episcopalians over the planned construction of a bike path near a church.

"Does he know how ridiculous that sounds when he talks about it?" says a staffer for Sen. Joseph Lieberman. "You leave a church over doubts about your faith, or doctrine. You leave a church over gay ministers, not a recreational roadway."

Whatever his faith, Dean clearly is uncomfortable talking about religion, and when he does he reveals a superficial understanding that probably won't take him far in the Bible Belt. For example, this quote from his Globe interview: "Christ was someone who sought out people who were disenfranchised, people who were left behind. He fought against self-righteousness of people who had everything.… He was a person who set an extraordinary example that has lasted 2000 years, which is pretty inspiring when you think about it."

Pretty inspiring indeed.

It is no coincidence that Dean's religious epiphany came as polls in South Carolina showed him pulling away from the pack of Democrats competing in that state. A Dean victory here might seal the fate of Sen. John Edwards and possibly Rep. Dick Gephardt both of whom have in recent weeks focused their attention on the first Southern primary to save their listing political futures.

"For Dean to make serious inroads down South, we have to make him a man of faith," says a Dean adviser in Washington. "The fact that he hasn't seemed to care about religion actually is working in our favor. There isn't much anyone can call him on. And let's face it, anyone who does call him on a lack of faith looks petty and judgmental and that's not good."

topics:
Bill Clinton, Religion, Books