McCain: Most Importantly, I am Christian
Republican presidential hopeful John McCain, after causing a stir by claiming to be Baptist, said Monday that what matters is that he is a Christian.
"There's been some talk about my religious persuasion," the Arizona senator acknowledged to CNN Monday after telling reporters over the weekend that he's not Episcopalian, as he has long been identified as.
"[T]he most important thing is that I am a Christian. And I don't have anything else to say about the issue," he concluded.
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At a campaign stop at a Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Anderson, S.C., McCain said he is presently a Baptist and has been for years.
"It's well known because I'm an active member of the church," he told reporters Sunday, referring to North Phoenix Baptist Church in Arizona, where he and his family have been members for more than 15 years.
The presidential hopeful also said he has made plenty of public expressions of his faith.
"I've done that hundreds of times," he said, according to The Associated Press.
In past media reports, however, McCain has consistently referred to himself as Episcopalian and told McClatchy Newspapers in June that while his wife and two of their children have been baptized in the Baptist church, he had not.
"I didn't find it necessary to do so for my spiritual needs," he said.
Despite this, McCain is still considered a full member of the church since baptism is not necessary to be one, as the senator said he was told.
"I'm not Episcopalian. I'm Baptist," the senator told AP on Saturday when asked how his Episcopal faith plays a role in his campaign and life.
While some may view McCain's confession as a political move, as it was made in the conservative and predominantly Baptist state of South Carolina, the senator noted that his Baptist church membership didn't "save me" in 2000, when he lost to George W. Bush in the hotly contested South Carolina primary.
Still, with South Carolina holding the first Southern primary, some people are accusing him of brownnosing with his latest claim in an attempt to get votes in a primary state where Baptists outnumber any other single religious group. South Carolina's crucial early primary is also the first in which Baptists will play a significant role, particularly for Republican contenders.
Others, however, see criticisms against McCain's statement of faith as unnecessarily aggressive.
"[A]s we would say on 'Raw Politics,' this kind of has the smack of a cheap shot," noted CNN's Tom Foreman. "It's not like he said he was a devil worshipper. Like a lot of families, people have different influences of different faiths, and McCain is explaining it away, but explaining it well.
"[H]e's a Christian," he added.
Currently, McCain trails in the presidential polls behind Republican contenders Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor, and Fred Thompson, the actor and former senator from Tennessee.
According to the latest AP-Ipsos poll, the contest remains a virtual tie between Giuliani at 24 percent and Thompson at 19 percent. Not far behind at 15 percent is McCain while former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has 7 percent.
