Dean Discovers Jesus

Based on his comments in an interview with the Boston Globe, Howard Dean has discovered Jesus, and that He lives in the South.

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Presidential contender Howard B. Dean, who has said little about religion while campaigning except to emphasize the separation of church and state, described himself in an interview with the Globe as a committed believer in Jesus Christ and said he expects to increasingly include references to Jesus and God in his speeches as he stumps in the South. (Emphasis added)

Dean, 55, who practices Congregationalism but does not often attend church and whose wife and children are Jewish, explained the move as a desire to share his beliefs with audiences willing to listen….

He acknowledged that he was raised in the ”Northeast” tradition of not discussing religious beliefs in public, and said he held back in New Hampshire, where that is the practice. But in other areas, such as the South, he said, he would discuss his beliefs more openly.

Let us ignore for now the fact that Dean was actually raised in the Episcopalian precincts of Park Avenue, St. George’s Boarding School, and upper class Long Island (“I really grew up in East Hampton“) as well as the question of whether someone who does not often attend church “practices Congregationalism” or merely preaches it.

What I find interesting, even fascinating, is Dean’s new willingness to share his views of Jesus only with Southern audiences. Recall that Dean is on record, as I discussed here, admonishing Southerners to stop basing their votes on “race, guns, God, and gays.” Why the 180 degree turn to Jesus?

Cynics will no doubt say that Dean’s intent is to distance himself from gays and gay marriage in the post-New Hampshire Southern primaries. And, of course, they may be right. But still, the question lingers: if Jesus is so important him, why limit that good news to voters in the South? Raw political expediency would seem to be an insufficient explanation of such behavior in a politician who boasts of the fact, as he just reminded the Concord (N.H.) Monitor, “that he was the only major candidate who opposed the Iraq war, despite polls showing the vast majority of the American public supporting the invasion at the time.”

My theory? Dean doesn’t really know any Southerners, and he actually believes the region to be a wasteland of Bible-thumping Jesus freaks. None of his friends will hold him responsible for what he says there. On the other hand, no one he knows, from whom he extrapolates the nature of the America he believes the country to be, goes to church or believes in any serious way in a serious God. They would laugh him right back into second or third place if tried talking to them about Jesus.

It would be like using the word “evil” (except in reference to President Bush) before audiences in Hollywood, Marin, or Manhattan.