NYT, pg1: Faith Intertwines With Political Life for Hillary Clinton

[DeepModem Mom]

Faith Intertwines With Political Life for Clinton
By MICHAEL LUO
Published: July 7, 2007


(Jodi Hilton for The New York Times)
The Rev. H. Paul Santmire got to know Mrs. Clinton as part of a group of religiously inclined students at Wellesley who discussed the social issues of the day.

WASHINGTON — Long before her beliefs would be tested in the most wrenching of ways as first lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton taught an adult Sunday school class on the importance of forgiveness. It is a lesson, she says, that she has harked back to often....

The themes of wrongs, forgiveness and reconciliation have played out repeatedly in Mrs. Clinton’s life, as she has endured the ordeal of her husband’s infidelity, engaged in countless political battles and shared a deep, mutual distrust with adversaries.

Her Methodist faith, Mrs. Clinton says, has guided her as she sought to repair her marriage, forgiven some critics who once vilified her and struggled in the bare-knuckles world of politics to fulfill the biblical commandment to love thy neighbor.

Mrs. Clinton, the New York senator who is seeking the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, has been alluding to her spiritual life with increasing regularity in recent years, language that has dovetailed with efforts by her party to reach out to churchgoers who have been voting overwhelmingly Republican.

Mrs. Clinton’s references to faith, though, have come under attack, both from conservatives who doubt her sincerity (one writer recently lumped her with the type of Christians who “believe in everything but God”) and liberals who object to any injection of religion into politics. And her motivations have been cast as political calculation by detractors, who suggest she is only trying to moderate her liberal image....

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/07/us/politics/07clinton.html?ref=todayspaper

[papau]

1. Hillary Clinton seems to actually try to practice what is preached - prays in private without

the Bush "faith fanfare" of Jesus is my favorite thinker

[Left Brigade]

2. Not another one!

Ugh.

She just lost my vote.

[frebrd]

3. Just one of the reasons....

probably the main one, why I hope I don't have to vote for her. If she's nominated I will, but I sure don't want to!

[IowaGirl]

4. Very interesting article. Thanks!!!!