Haley attacked about her faith

There’s a whispering campaign going on in South Carolina this month, but it’s not what you might think. The whisper is that the political smear tactics that this state made famous don’t seem to be working this time around.

There’s a whispering campaign going on in South Carolina this month, but it’s not what you might think. The whisper is that the political smear tactics that this state made famous don’t seem to be working this time around.

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It started a couple of weeks ago, when two separate allegations of adultery were directed at Nikki Haley, a Republican candidate for governor. Last week, more unseemliness: Some of Haley’s critics, including at least one county GOP chairman and two pastors, questioned whether the candidate, a first-generation Indian American who was raised in the Sikh tradition, is really a Christian, as she says she is.

It’s a touchy topic for South Carolina, where race, religion and negative campaign tactics have a long, uncomfortable history in politics.

“This is the sad truth in politics: If you want to really make something stick on somebody, you make it very negative and you whisper it,” said South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster, who ran against Haley in the primary for governor but is supporting her in the runoff. “That’s what’s happening to Nikki right now. There’s no basis for it. There’s no reason for it. It’s politics at its worst.”

Haley says she converted to Methodism at age 24. She, her husband, Michael, and their two children attend a Methodist church in Lexington, South Carolina.

But in speeches and email campaigns, the detractors, who include a state lawmaker, a local Republican official and at least two local pastors who support Haley’s opponent, are spreading the view that she is concealing her true faith.

They recall that six years ago, she was recognised in an Indian newspaper as the first Sikh elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives. They note that when she ran for the legislature in 2004, she described her marriage in a Methodist church but did not mention that she and her husband also participated in a Sikh wedding ceremony, and that she attend Sikh services with her family a few times a year.

They also point to changes on her campaign website, which they assert is evidence that she is trying to reposition herself a strong Christian.

Earlier this year, before she became well known as a candidate, the site made reference to “God Almighty.” That has been changed to “Christ.”

Pastor Ray Popham of Oasis Church International in Aiken told CNN: “I think she needs to be straight up with people, if she is both. If she believes that you can be both, then she should say that up front.”

And Tony Beam, an interim pastor at Mount Creek Baptist Church in Greenville, asked listeners on his radio program recently: “Is Haley being honest about her faith?

Asked to respond at her appearance on Friday with 2008 GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, Haley demurred, saying she is focused on the issues.

“I think that the people of South Carolina rose above it, and that says a lot about the people of this state. And I don’t think we need to give it any more thought.”

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