NASHVILLE — Only in the Bible Belt would a political campaign trumpet criticism from a national group that its candidate is sending a divisive message in advertisements.
But in an environment where religion plays an ever-larger role in politics, condemnation from a national atheist group is nothing to hide as Tennessee's U.S. Senate candidates try to woo churchgoing voters.
The American Atheists, which advocates for nonbelievers and separation of church and state, issued a news release on Sept. 19 criticizing Democratic candidate Harold Ford Jr. for a campaign advertisement filmed inside a Memphis church.
The atheist group got some help distributing the news release — the Ford campaign e-mailed it to news-media outlets.
In the ad, Ford walks through the pews of the church where he was baptized and describes it as the place where he "learned the difference between right and wrong."
Ford accuses Republican opponent Bob Corker of running ads that lie about his record on national security before sitting down in a pew with stained glass windows and a large tapestry of a cross visible over his shoulder.
"It's part of a larger and disturbing trend where candidates are invoking religion in order to woo constituencies and win elections," Ellen Johnson, president of American Atheists, said in the news release.
"People are entitled to their own views on religion; they're entitled to theirs and I'm entitled to mine," Ford told the Associated Press.
The inside of a church is an unusual setting for an advertisement, but it's not unusual for a candidate to express his or her religious beliefs, said Marc Hetherington, a Vanderbilt University political scientist and fellow at the school's Center for Religion and Culture.
Ford must overcome stereotypical labels often tied to the Democratic Party, including nonreligious and liberal, Hetherington said. One way to do that is to put his faith on such obvious display on TV. Another way is to stake conservative stances on important religious issues, such as being against gay marriage, which Ford has already done.
"Are people going to think Ford is a more religious person than Corker? Probably not," Hetherington said. "The important thing for the Ford campaign is that people don't see it that Corker has a huge advantage with his faith."
Ford has never been shy in talking about his faith. He tells supporters at campaign rallies that his family required two things of him as a child — attending church and helping with the family's political campaigns.
Ford, along with U.S. Rep. Mark Green, R-Wis., in 2004 launched the congressional Community Solutions Caucus with the goal of finding ways to constitutionally remove barriers and red tape between government and faith-based organizations.
During a conference call with reporters one day, the Memphis congressman invoked the Ninth Commandment in referring to Corker: "Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor."
"I wasn't suggesting that God was with me, I'm making the point that I want to be on his side," Ford said.
Corker campaign political director Todd Womack said the campaign didn't have a problem with the church setting of Ford's advertisement, but rather its message.
"The setting of that ad is really not the issue," he said. "The issue is that Congressman Ford refuses to explain his liberal vote to allow judges to release felons from prisons because of overcrowding and his vote against toughening punishment for illegals caught trafficking drugs."
Corker, a former Chattanooga mayor and state finance commissioner, often discusses how his faith affects his life. On campaign stops and in an ad aired before the Aug. 3 Republican primary, Corker talks of a church mission trip he took in the '80s that inspired him to give his time to public service.
"Certainly, Bob's faith is very important to him," Womack said. "It is very much a central part of who he is and that's reflected on the campaign trail."