Illinois Candidate Lowe Chats with Voters at Rail Station

As I walked through the Elmhurst Metra station to get my morning coffee, a tall young political candidate stood waiting for commuters. Behind him stood a woman who could have been his campaign manager--or his mom--handing out leaflets. It was Ben Lowe, the Democratic candidate for the 6th Congressional district in Illinois.

As a liberal Democrat used to the parade of conservatives at the train station in the days before elections, I decided to ask him some difficult questions. Ben Lowe proved to be intelligent and quick on his feet with the answers, though I didn't agree with everything he said. But since he's the candidate running against Peter Roskam and the Democrat in the race, he'll probably get my vote. Ben Lowe has gotten only limited financial (and other) support from the Democratic party establishment. This is not surprising, since he disagrees with the party stance on some issues.

"So you went to Wheaton College," I asked. "Did you sign the behavioral contract." Ben Lowe admitted that yes, he did sign it. Wheaton College, in Wheaton, IL, requires that all students, faculty, and staff adhere to a community covenant, even while they were not at work or off campus. This covenant used to forbid drinking, smoking, and all social dancing. In 2003, the rules were liberalized to comply with Illinois law, and many of these restrictions were dropped.

I asked him about his views on the separation of church and state. "I strongly believe in the separation of church and state," he said. I did not ask him to explain how he would interpret this separation, and his idea of what separation of church and state entails presumably may differ from mine. Separation of church and state could be applied to federal funding of faith-based charities, the teaching of creationism, and a host of other issues.

We moved on to the issue of abortion, which is important for many Democrats. Not surprisingly, Ben Lowe, a son of two missionaries born in Singapore and a graduate of a faith-based Wheaton College, described himself as pro-life. He added that he supports it as it is stated in the US Constitution, which of course mandates that no person be deprived of life. So the issue of choice, the Ben Lowe and I disagree. Like Obama, I believe that abortion should be "safe, legal, and rare."

Ben Lowe added that as a biologist, he believed that life began at conception. He actually majored in environmental studies, which is a subset of biology. Wheaton College has a long history of controversy over the infusion of religious beliefs into the teaching of the sciences. In the 1990s, Wheaton College required all its science faculty to sign a statement refuting evolution.

On its web site, the Wheaton College biology department says, "The Department of Biology bases its approach to biology on the Biblical view of God as creator and sustainer of the universe, introducing biology majors and other students to the concepts of biology and helping them to discover and interpret the characteristics of nature as part of God's creation." Clearly, Wheaton College does not support the long-held scientific viewpoint that evolution is responsible for biological diversity. As a scientist I find this troubling, and I wonder how Ben Lowe's religious beliefs will affect his support of funding for scientific research.

One issue on which Ben Lowe and I can agree is that of environmentalism and global warming. Before running for office, he wrote a book on the case for evangelical Christians to support environmentalism and founded a non-profit called Renewal. Renewal takes an Christian approach to environmentalism. Lowe has argued that evangelical Christians should be involved in efforts to curb global climate change, with Adam having been commanded to care for the Garden of Eden.

According to the Glen Ellyn Patch, Ben Lowe supports a commitment to immigration reform with a path to citizenship, stimulating the economy with green jobs, and incentives for small business. Though he's pro-life, the Patch says he's more interested in age-appropriate sex education and funding for programs to support mothers, rather than overturning Roe v. Wade.

Ben Lowe currently trails Peter Roskam by a wide margin in the polls and is not expected to unseat him.