What Bernie Sanders Revealed about Christian Literacy in the Public Square

Published: June 15, 2017, 1:28 p.m.

b'Christians were left scratching their heads about Bernie Sanders\\u2019s grasp of their theology at a political hearing last week. Last year, Wheaton alumnus Russell Vought, President Donald Trump\\u2019s pick for deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, had written about his own faith last year after a professor at his alma mater was suspended for beliefs about Islam. Drawing on Vought\\u2019s statement, Sanders accused Vought of being Islamophobic and making statements that were \\u201cindefensible\\u201d and \\u201chateful\\u201d and challenged his conviction that salvation was secured through Christ alone. \\u201cI don\\u2019t know how many Muslims there are in America. I really don\\u2019t know, probably a couple million. Are you suggesting that all of those people stand condemned? What about Jews? Do they stand condemned too?\\u201d said Sanders, a secular Jew. While some suggested that Sanders\\u2019s statements were essentially a religious test, John Inazu, the author of Confident Pluralism: Surviving and Thriving Through Deep Difference, wasn\\u2019t so sure. \\u201cOn the charitable reading of this, it\\u2019s important to ask nominees questions about whether they are going to treat people of different religions fairly or not,\\u201d said Inazu, a professor at Washington University School of Law. Sanders\\u2019s comments raise questions about what Christians expect non-Christians to know about the fundamentals of their faith and how they should express the nuances of their theology to an increasingly pluralistic and non-religious country. \\u201cIt was a reminder that baseline level of knowledge is not that deep when it comes to more elite members of the Democratic Party and also other members of society,\\u201d Inazu said. Inazu joined assistant editor Morgan Lee and editor in chief Mark Galli to discuss if Sanders\\u2019s questions pose a future significant religious liberty issue, how Christians should communicate their beliefs to the public, and the extent to which we should assume that the public is eavesdropping on our conversations.\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices'