Hillary Rodham Clinton: Seeing the World through a Methodist Lens
Introduction
Religious beliefs are the hottest accessory for the current presidential campaign. At any given candidate’s campaign event, you are as likely to hear about the “power of prayer” as you are about a policy issue.
The race is already in full swing with both parties offering a number of qualified candidates. Democrats are particularly anxious to win over the millions of Evangelical Christians who usually vote Republican. To help you cut through the candidates’ fine sounding language, Faith and Action is presenting a series of in depth looks at the beliefs and religious backgrounds of each presidential candidate.
The first article “Barack Obama: Sheep or Goat?” by Rev. Rob Schenck examined the faith of Illinois’ junior senator. This second article looks at Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. We have tried to research who she is, but only so far as her faith is concerned. As in the Obama article, we are not out to explore his economic, social or foreign policies, except where they explicitly intersect with personal religious faith. We did look at Senator Clinton’s legislative record, but only in the light of what it tells us about her religious beliefs.
Background
Senator Clinton is a lifelong Methodist. To all indications she has attended Sunday services regularly through all the phases of her life. While Senator Obama often talks of his coming to faith and walking down the aisle at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Clinton has never publicly spoken of a “conversion experience.” Her Methodist faith, particularly its emphasis on the Social Gospel, has been an intrinsic part of her being from her earliest youth.
Hillary Diane Rodham was born in 1947 to Hugh and Dorothy Rodham. She was raised in the affluent Chicago suburb of Park Ridge. Dorothy had grown up in a broken and neglectful home apparently without much religious instruction. She adopted her husband’s Methodism. She taught Sunday school at the local Methodist Church mostly to keep an eye on Clinton’s two younger brothers.[i] Hugh, however, came from a long line of Methodists. His great-great grandparents were converted to Methodism in Wales by John Wesley. They took their faith with them when they immigrated to America.[ii] Clinton and her two younger brothers were all baptized in the Methodist church. Clinton recalls that “my father prayed by his bed every night and prayer became a source of solace and guidance for me even as a child.”[iii]
Confirmed in the sixth grade, Clinton was very active in First United Methodist Church of Park Ridge. In 1961 Rev. Don Jones joined her church’s staff as youth minister. He quickly became young Hillary’s mentor and remains her friend to this day.[iv] Clinton calls his influence on her “liberalizing.”[v] She writes:
Rev. Jones stressed that a Christian life was “faith in action.” I had never met anyone like him. Don called his Sunday and Thursday night Methodist Youth Fellowship sessions “the University of Life.” He was eager to work with us because he hoped we would become more aware of life outside Park Ridge. He sure met his goals with me.[vi]
Rev. Jones took the youth group into Chicago’s inner cities to meet children their age. Clinton often speaks of the time he took them to hear Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.[vii]
In a recent interview, Jones said of Clinton, “I think she responded to my ministry in part for its intellectual content. Her heart responded to the social-responsibility aspects.”[viii]
Jones only stayed in Park Ridge for two years. Clinton says his departure was due to his conflicts with a “very conservative Republican” member of the church. Jones went on to teach at Methodist affiliated Drew University.[ix]
Clinton continued to regularly attend Methodist churches during her time at Wellesley College and Yale Law School. After several years of cohabitation, she married fellow Yale law graduate Bill Clinton. They made their home in Arkansas and Bill Clinton was elected governor. Together with their daughter Chelsea, the couple attended First United Methodist Church of Little Rock.
Don Jones told Newsweek, “Hillary views the world through a Methodist lens. And we Methodists know what's good for you.”[x]
Methodist Lens
The Methodist Church was founded by John Wesley in the mid 18th century.[xi] From early on it was characterized by a strong emphasis on social justice as well as a disciplined personal holiness of life. Wesley’s original Methodist movement and preaching were fervently evangelistic, resulting in one of the fastest growing denominations in the world. It was especially effective in the United States where Methodist churches dotted the cities, countryside and even Indian territories by the mid 19th century.
By the early 20th century, however, many parts of the Methodist church were influenced by progressive politics and liberal theology. In 1908 the Methodist church published a Social Creed which stated that it stands for, among other things, “the gradual and reasonable reduction of the hours of labor to the lowest practical point, with work for all; and for that degree of leisure for all which is the condition of the highest human life… For the highest wage that each industry can afford, and for the most equitable division of the products of industry that can ultimately be devised.”[xii]
The United Methodist Church, Clinton’s denomination, was formed in 1968 by the mergers of several Methodist denominations. It is one the largest Protestant churches in America.[xiii] Other famous members include President George W. Bush[xiv] and Senator John Edwards.[xv]
Click here for Part 2
