Religion and Politics

What is happening to the "Values Voter"? A new Pew study has found that

Fifty percent of conservatives think churches and other places of worship should stay out of social and political matters, up from 30 percent four years ago . . . On this question, the gap between conservatives and liberals is narrowing: just four years ago, liberals were twice as likely as conservatives to say churches should stay out of politics. Now, 50 percent of conservatives and 57 percent of liberals think that. Four years ago, 62 percent of liberals opposed church involvement in politics. Democrats and Republicans are about even on the question as well.

Hmmm. What is going on here? Are conservatives less religious than they were four years ago? Is our country losing its religion?!?!? No, I think the answer can be summed up in one word: disillusionment.

George W. Bush (with the help of Political Advisor Karl Rove) ran two Presidential campaigns aimed at garnering the evangelical Christian vote. Knowing that the religious base is a big component of their party, they capitalized on this base to barely squeak out a victory in 2000 and secure a respectable win in 2004.

Winning the souls, or at least the votes, of conservative evangelical Christians is central to the Republican Party strategy under President Bush . . . After the 2000 election, Rove lamented in a speech at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington that only 15 million evangelical voters had gone to the polls - 4 million fewer than expected. This disappointing turnout helped explain the close election, Rove said. Looking ahead, he vowed to pursue policies that would motivate evangelicals in 2004 - specifically the white conservative Protestants who overwhelmingly support Bush.

Rove's strategy worked well in 2000 and 2004 (and especially in the midterm congressional elections of 2002 when the Republicans had sweeping victories in both houses of Congress). After Bill Clinton and his sex scandal, I remember feeling energized at the thought of a "moral" President - someone who turns to prayer for answers. Our country can't go wrong with a God-fearing man for President, can it?

George W. Bush is among the most openly religious presidents in U.S. history. A daily Bible reader, he often talks about how Jesus changed his heart. He has spoken, publicly and privately, of hearing God's call to run for the presidency and of praying for God's help since he came into office.

That all sounds good to me. I want that in a President, and I voted for it!

The problem is that things haven't gone so well. I am not so sure we got what we were looking for in a President with GWB. Sure, he is a plenty nice guy. I appreciate and respect his religious views, but, to both conservatives and liberals alike, he hasn't done that great of a job of being President (as evidenced by his low, low approval ratings). The Iraq war, illegal immigration, the Harriet Miers fiasco . . .

GWB relies on "instinct" and "intuition" in making a lot of decisions.

Bush's top deputies - from cabinet members like Paul O'Neill, Christine Todd Whitman and Colin Powell to generals fighting in Iraq - have been told for years when they requested explanations for many of the president's decisions, policies that seem to collide with accepted facts . . . that [the President] relied on his "gut" or his "instinct" to guide the ship of state, and then he "prayed over it".

Maybe God-fearing isn't enough to be President. Prophet, perhaps. President, no.

At the same time, Democrats, seeing how effective turning out the religious vote was for the Republicans, have been trying it a bit themselves. I remember listening to John Kerry awkwardly try to inject scripture into his public speeches while running for President in 2004. He didn't come across as very sincere (in my opinion). But, fast forward to the Democrat National Convention of 2008: it's a regular old gospel fest!

At the first official event Sunday of the Democrat National Convention, a choir belted out a gospel song and was followed by a rabbi reciting a Torah reading about forgiveness and the future. Helen Prejean, the Catholic nun who wrote "Dead Man Walking", assailed the death penalty and use of torture.

Young muslims in headscarves sat near older African-American women in their finest Sunday hats.

Four years ago, such a scene would have been unthinkable at a Democratic National Convention. In 2004, there was one interfaith lunch at the Democratic gala in Boston.

But that same year, "values voters" helped re-elect President Bush, giving Democrats of faith the opening they needed to make party leaders listen to them
. . .

There will be four "faith caucus" meetings, blessings to open and close each night, and panels and parties run by Democratic-leaning religious advocacy groups that didn't even exist in 2004 . . .

One hallmark of Democratic faith efforts at the convention is diversity, which might soften objections from party activists wary of the Christian right or any mixing of religion and politics.

Behind the scenes, efforts to attract the religious vote will concentrate largely on Christian "values voters".

"If we create or become a mirror image of the religious right, we have failed", said Burns Strider, who ran religious outreach for Hillary Clinton's campaign and now does faith-based political consulting. "But if we have increased the number of chairs around the table, then we've succeeded".

Who exactly are the Democrats trying to "woo" with all of this religious talk (which honestly strikes me as a little hypocritical coming from the party in which so many states have added "separation of church and state" to their Democratic platforms)? It certainly can't be liberal Democrats. From 2004 to 2008, the percentage of Democrats who feel that churches need to stay out of politics barely budged. No, it's the conservative Republicans who are changing their minds. So, while more disillusioned conservatives are shaking their heads wondering what to do, the Democrats are welcoming them with open arms.

"People of faith are being engaged in the convention in a new and robust way, and it's because of Senator Obama's acknowledgement that people of faith and values have an important place in American public life," said Joshua DuBois, the Obama campaign's religious affairs director.

Uh, sure. More like Senator Obama's acknowledgement that he can pick off disaffected religious voters from the Republican party who want a "faith-full" president, but who don't trust the Republicans to deliver.

The campaign is giving a platform to people who otherwise would not have been invited to or attended a Democratic convention. One example is Joel Hunter, a moderate evangelical megachurch pastor from Orlando, Fla., who will offer the benediction Thursday, the night Obama accepts the nomination.

"Now there's a genuine interest in speaking with groups and religious groups who were previously considered enemies, said Rachel Laser, who works on culture issues for the centrist Democratic think tank Third Way.

(Note - another evangelical, Cameron Strang, backed out of offering a prayer Monday night.)

Will it work? Will "values voters" really jump ship? Will conservative Christians give up positions on important issues like abortion because of "compromise language in the Democrat's abortion platform that acknowledges the need to help women who want to keep their pregnancies" and flashy religious hoopla? Are we really dumb sheep who just follow whatever political shepherd is calling out God's name? "Mumble, mumble, mumble, GOD, mumble, mumble, mumble". Must . . . follow . . . President . . . talking . . . about . . . God . . .

I don't think so, and it doesn't appear to be so.

Despite all the effort, there is little evidence religious votes are shifting. A Pew poll released last week showed the political preferences of religious voters, including highly sought Catholics and white evangelicals, have scarcely budged since 2004.

Catholics are up for grabs, but white evangelicals have become so solidly Republican, Obama has little chance of carving too deeply into the Republican lead, said Allen Hertze, a University of Oklahoma political scientist.

Recently, McCain and Obama both appeared at a forum on faith to appeal to religious voters, although Obama appeared to be working a little harder.

In several cases, Obama gave a Christian interpretation to his generally liberal political views. He said he is redeemed by Jesus, who died for his sins.

McCain tended to give shorter, less complex answers, winning somewhat more applause than Obama from the large, evangelical church's audience.

McCain has been smart to, for the most part, not use "religion" to attract the conservative vote as Bush did. For one, McCain isn't such a religious guy. Hearing him recite scripture would sound a lot like hearing John Kerry recite scripture - it just doesn't work for him. For two, we've fallen for that once (okay twice), and we are not falling for it again. Not from a Republican (Mike Huckabee gave a go at it, and it didn't work out too well for him either), and not from a Democrat. We just want the issues and the platform to be in line with our own values. So don't tell us that your views are Christian - show us. Talk is cheap anymore.