In the wake of the November 2 election, many pundits are wrestling with the implications of exit polling showing that, for supporters of President Bush, moral values ranked as the number one concern. Many wonder if, before long, there will be any Christians who count themselves as Democrats.
It's certainly true of the congregation I serve as pastor that the overwhelming majority are Republicans. And ours is part of the so-called, mainstream church, a Lutheran congregation, not associated with the so-called Christian Right in many ways.
But I think it's also true that among Christians who are Democrats, there are feelings of resentment, hurt, and some anger that the faith-rootedness of their political views are disdained or ignored.
For many older Christians, the connection of faith (and, by extension, God) to the Republican Party is a new phenomenon. The repository of the best moral values for many Roosevelt and Kennedy supporters was always the Democratic Party. For them, policies which they saw as helpful to the elderly, handicapped, and discriminated-against all were rooted in Christian moral values.
That connection between Christian morality and Democratic politics, in spite of issues like abortion and gay marriage, seems to still inform the views of some Christian voters, especially older Christian voters.
Democratic luminaries appear to be attempting to tap into that history. James Carville, in a recent joint appearance with wife Mary Matalin on network TV, said that Democrats addressed more of the moral and value issues that Jesus deemed significant than did the Republican Party. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has made a similar argument.
But these and other Democratic discussions of their superior moral values, really beg the question.
The fact is that the moral issues raised by Democrats in this election, rightly or wrongly, weren't the ones seen as important by the overtly "faith-based" voter in 2004.
The Democrats have a point insofar as the full-range of morals and values questions confronting our nation were not addressed effectively by either party in the past campaign. (Pastor Craig Williams is addressing these on his excellent web site.) War and peace, wealth and poverty, and other moral issues may well be appropriately addressed in the political process.
But the Democrats are clearly out of touch with the majority of Christians’ thinking when it comes to abortion and gay marriage. Those were the moral issues that most swayed a large portion of George W. Bush's majority on November 2.
It's doubtful that any amount of "moral values" window dressing will help Democrats make their case to the American people. Without their exhibiting some substantive appreciation of the reality and the legitimacy of the concerns of most faith-based voters, the Democrats will probably not realistically vie for the White House for some time to come.
2 comments:
Mark, Many Democrats here in Clermont County have stated that the Republican Party is now representing the values they once held as Democrats. they feel the Democrat Party has left them, not that they have left the party. Perscriptions for mediccarewastaqlked aboutfor threedecades by Democrats. Theynever passed a bill,but always accused Republicansof obstructing the bill. WellRepublicans passed it. Republicans also increased federal spending on education by 49% (59% in K-12).All they asked was that Johnny and Susie be able to read, write , do math and science at decent levels after graduation from school. Not a lot to ask.Schools want money, parents want results.
Interesting comments.
My intention wasn't so much to make a political statement as a Christian one. You're absolutely right about the sentiments of many former Democrats about their party. I'm one of those. It's no secret that I'm a Republican, although I don't believe that as a pastor or on this site, I should engage in partisan politics. But I became a Republican to a great extent, because of the abortion issue. I nonethless know that there are many Democrats who remain where they're at politically because of their take on other moral issues.
The point I was trying to make in this post, perhaps ineptly, is that we need to respect each other even when we disagree.
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