McCain Upsets the American Jewish Community with Comments

By Karyn Chenoweth Oct 2, 2007, 4:38 GMT

U.S. Senator John McCain (Republican- Arizona) EPA/STEFAN ZAKLIN

Several Jewish organizations have come forward and criticized Senator John McCain on Monday after the Republican candidate said he would prefer a Christian president run the Oval Office.

In an interview with Beliefnet, a multi-denominational Web site that covers religion and spirituality, the White House hopeful was asked if a Muslim candidate could be a good president.

"I just have to say in all candor that since this nation was founded primarily on Christian principles ... personally, I prefer someone who I know who has a solid grounding in my faith," McCain said. "But that doesn't mean that I'm sure that someone who is Muslim would not make a good president."

After the interview, McCain refined his comments, "I would vote for a Muslim if he or she was the candidate best able to lead the country and defend our political values." He added that "the Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation."

The interview was published on Saturday.

The American Jewish Committee, an international think tank and advocacy organization based in New York, issued a press statement criticizing the Arizona senator, arguing that McCain should know that the United States is a democratic society without a religious test for public office.

"To argue that America is a Christian nation, or that persons of a particular faith should by reason of their faith not seek high office, puts the very character of our country at stake," Jeffrey Sinensky, the group's general counsel, said Monday in a statement.

A partisan organization, the National Jewish Democratic Council, also called McCain's comments “repugnant.”

McCain refined his comments further.

While campaigning in New Hampshire on Sunday, he said that the most qualified person could be president, no matter his or her religion.

"It's almost Talmudic. We are a nation that was based on Judeo-Christian values. That means respect for all of human rights and dignity. That's my principle values and ideas, and that's what I think motivated our founding fathers," McCain said, hoping to clarify all his statements.

Sunday, in a press statement, his spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker said: "The senator did not intend to assert that members of one religious faith or another have a greater claim to American citizenship over another."