A Study in Contrasts
In recent interviews, the gubernatorial candidates spoke openly about their religious upbringing and current-day convictions, revealing a side of their personas rarely seen on the stump.
In the case of Rendell, Philadelphia's former mayor, it's a portrayal of a man for whom organized religion has played little role.
Rendell, 58, recalls his parents sitting him and his brother, Robert, down when they were very young and explaining the role their Jewish faith would play in their lives. Jesse and Emma Rendell, both Russian Jews, had decided not to raise their sons in any formal religious training.
“The guys who spend the longest time in synagogues on Saturdays are the biggest crooks from Monday through Friday,” Rendell paraphrased his father as saying.
Instead, his father insisted that his sons “help Jewish people whenever we could and remember the history of the Jews and the struggle of the Jews and never to lose our identity as Jewish people. And religiously, just to follow the Golden Rule.
“And he said God will take care of you,” Rendell recalled. “I felt my father got it dead on.”
By contrast, Fisher, a longtime legislator and two-term attorney general, believes his faith instilled as a young boy shaped the values he now holds.
“I don't think there is anything in life that leaves a bigger impression on you than the Ten Commandments,” Fisher said. “Those are what guide you.”
Fisher, 57, was an altar boy for seven years, from fourth grade through high school. It gave him an appreciation for Catholic Mass and forced him to learn Latin, much of which he has since forgotten.
Fisher said he remembers his father, C. Francis Fisher, attending Mass every day during Lent. “He would go no matter what. That was his routine. I was always very impressed with that.”
Later in life, daily demands prevented Fisher from duplicating the feat. “It was impossible,” he said.
Still, only once during the campaign has he missed Sunday Mass. And that was because he was booked on an early flight from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia. But he said he woke up early Monday and walked to a Cathedral for the 7 a.m. Mass “as a make-up.”
“To receive the body of Christ, that's important to me,” he said.
Rendell said he has attended Jewish services only when called on to do so as mayor, “never on my own.”
“I don't think going to a building matters,” he added. “The only religious services that matter is if they are relevant or if they are uplifting.”
Of all the services he's attended, Rendell said those offered by evangelical, predominantly black churches appeal to him most.
“If I were to join an active church, other than the fact that I'm Jewish, I would like to join one of those,” he said. “It's very uplifting. It has real faith in it.”
Nonetheless, Rendell said he “finds a lot of things about the Jewish religion to be commendable. There is less pageantry, less ideology.”
Faith Not an Issue?
Fisher differs with the Vatican in one key area. Like Rendell, he supports capital punishment. “I respectfully disagree,” he said.
Fisher attended South Hills Catholic High School in Pittsburgh and went on to earn his undergraduate and law degree from Georgetown University, run by Jesuits.
Every day, at least once, Fisher turns to prayer.
“I pray for guidance. I pray for support. I pray not as much for myself but for my family. I always ask God to protect them.”
Despite the stark differences between the two candidates, only once has the issue of religion bubbled to the surface in the campaign.
Last month, Fisher, trailing badly in the polls, wrote a letter to tens of thousands of Catholic leaders across the state. The Republican nominee wrote that he shares the view of the Church on key issues, pointing out that, unlike Rendell, he opposes abortion rights and homosexual “partnerships,” and supports school vouchers.
“I respectfully ask for your support, and your prayers,” Fisher told 75,000 priests, nuns and heads of Catholic schools and hospitals.
Even so, Catholics prefer Rendell 2-1, according to two recent independent polls.
A candidate's religion, Rendell said, is “a non-issue.”
“It shouldn't play a part. To this day I haven't a clue what Mike is,” Rendell said days before Fisher sent the mailing to Catholics.
In the primary, Rendell did try to play the religion card, but it was a softer sell than Fisher's.
Against Democrat Robert P. Casey Jr., Rendell's campaign handed out fliers in Jewish communities. The leaflets noted that as Philadelphia's district attorney in 1984, Rendell lobbied on behalf of Soviet Refuseniks and, as mayor, he was giving with his time when it came to the Jewish community.
Mike Young, a longtime Harrisburg political analyst, is at a loss to explain why faith hasn't become more of an issue in the race, especially given the great contrast.
“It's a classic confrontation between a modern secularist and a traditional religionist,” Young said. “You could not go to central casting and get
better embodiments. It's night and day.”
Rendell is so low-key on religion that many people, including supporters and even some close allies, don't know he's Jewish.
Rebecca Price of Harrisburg, who was holding a Rendell for Governor sign at a campaign event, figured the Democratic nominee to be Catholic. “He's Italian, right? Sure sounds Italian. No? Maybe it's just his Philly accent,” she said, wrinkling her brow. “Greek?”
“A lot of Jews don't even know he's Jewish,” said Larry Ceisler, a political commentator for Fox News Philadelphia.
Briefly in summer 2000, Rendell's religion took political center stage because of a comment he made as chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Speaking to reporters, he speculated about America's readiness to vote for a Jewish vice president.
“I don't think anyone can calculate the effect of having a Jew on the ticket. If Joe Lieberman was Episcopalian, I think he'd almost be a slam dunk,” Rendell said of Al Gore's former running mate, who is an Orthodox Jew.
Living Up to the Golden Rule
Pennsylvania has shown a willingness to put someone of Jewish faith in a top statewide post. Said Ceisler: “This is a state that has elected Arlen Specter and Milton Shapp, and both of them wore their religion on their sleeves.”
Specter, the state's senior U.S. senator, has won four statewide races. Shapp served two terms, from 1971 to 1979, becoming the first and only Jewish governor in Pennsylvania, where Jews make up about 3 percent of the population.
Nationally, there hasn't been a Jewish governor since 1995, when Bruce Sundlun of Rhode Island left office. In the spring, seven Jews in six states were running for governor. All but two either lost in the primary or dropped out of the race early.
Only Rendell and Linda Lingle, a Republican from Hawaii, remain. Like Rendell, Lingle leads in the polls.
Fisher would become the fourth consecutive Catholic governor of Pennsylvania.
Rendell believes in God, he says, “because I can't figure out how else we got here.”
“For a person who is trained to think empirically,” said Rendell, Philadelphia's former top prosecutor, “someone has to have started it.”
He's less certain about heaven, however.
“I don't know about an afterlife,” said Rendell. “I think good deeds are their own rewards. You get your rewards for doing good and living up to the Golden Rule on Earth.”
Fisher has no doubts.
Certainly there is a heaven, and a hell, he said. “And I pray I make it to heaven.”
(This article, which originally appeared in The Morning Call, reprinted courtesy of Politics and Virtue.)
