WP: A Spiritual Struggle for the Democrats

[kskiska]

Silence on Religion Could Hurt Candidates

Thursday, November 27, 2003; Page A01

The nine Democratic presidential candidates all consider themselves religious, though most keep their faith and spiritual views to themselves when campaigning.

Their silence stands in contrast to President Bush, among the most overtly religious presidents in generations, and could undermine the Democratic nominee, as polls consistently show that voters want to hear more about faith from their national leaders.

Democrats "have been very hesitant to talk about faith . . . and in doing so we have lost a connection with a lot of people," said Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (Conn.), an Orthodox Jew and one of only two candidates who frequently talk about God. Long-shot candidate Al Sharpton, an ordained minister, is the other. "Democrats ought to pay attention to the fact that the two Democrats who have been elected president since Johnson were Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton . . . and both talked a lot about their faith," Lieberman said.

In interviews, most of the candidates said they are uncomfortable discussing their faith as publicly as Bush does or Clinton did. Yet most agreed the party must do a better job of connecting with religious voters, or risk not winning the White House in 2004.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16613-2003Nov26.html

[AtTheEndOfTheDay]

1. I'm sick

of hearing about it from Bush. It makes me nauseous.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

4. Amen...

If they want to talk about their faith, I hope they'll expound on how it's a deeply personal issue that shouldn't be exploited for the sake of a campaign.

[SharonAnn]

6. My aunt says that religion is like underwear -

very personal and very private.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

9. LOL! Maybe it should be changed regularly, too!

...just to keep perspectives fresh!

[Malva Zebrina]

22. right and some of us don't wear any at all!

:bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce::bounce:

[newyawker99]

12. Hi AtTheEndOfTheDay!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[FiveGoodMen]

24. AtTheEndOfTheDay

Just curious: you wouldn't happen to be a Spock's Beard fan?

[roguevalley]

2. I gave up church over this kind of 'evangelizing'. I hope they continue

to keep quiet. Nothing is less important right now. I
believe their ethics are plain on their faces and no
amount of profession is going to make it so for Bush.
Give me ANY ONE of our guys over this faker.

[MrSoundAndVision]

3. Actually

Kucinich has professed that his religion contains the other religions....I like the sound of that!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

8. I tried explaining something similar to that with a fundy jerk...

and he loudly scoffed at me. Nothing is good enough for these SOBs unless it's their brand of PTL-type unchristian christianity.

Maybe we'd have more people voting if candidates would keep their mouths shut about something which has no business being discussed in government.

[SharonAnn]

5. See what this guy says! This is a real Democrat - and religious!

Politics and religion have never been far apart in the preachings and doings of Bill Coffin. As the chaplain at Yale, in the sixties, he was jailed for his activities as a Freedom Rider in Montgomery, and then tried, as a member of the Boston Five, for conspiracy to resist the Vietnam draft.
...
According to Coffin, the faith’s two Biblical mandates are not preserving the sanctity of life and stamping out sin, as Jerry Falwell might have it, but, rather, the pursuit of justice and the search for peace. His new book, “Credo,” which is made up of excerpts culled from a lifetime of sermons and speeches, amounts to a spiritual denunciation of modern American government.
...
He smiled mischievously. “Joe Lieberman heard that I’m not supposed to last very long, so he called me. In his pious tone, Joe started to say how much I had meant to him. I cut him off. ‘Joe, I would give my right arm to have the influence on you now that I had then. You’re an orthodox Jew and a conservative Democrat. It’d be better if you were the other way around—a conservative Jew and an orthodox Democrat!”

http://newyorker.com/talk/content/?031201ta_talk_mcgrath

[absyntheNsugar]

26. Love the admonishment to Lieberman!

"It’d be better if you were the other way around—a conservative Jew and an orthodox Democrat"

Priceless!

[JoeMemphis]

7. Democrats need to talk JOBS!!!!!

Bush is using his faith as a campaign prop to keep peoples' minds off the crappy job market and the quagmire in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Stay on message! Good jobs, not McJobs. Support the troops by bringing them home now.

We shouldn't let Bush dictate the terms of the debate.

[kentuck]

10. Seems I recall Clinton walking out of church with his Bible ??

I think a lot of people that don't consider themselves necessarily "religious" still like the idea that a man is moral and decent. Does Bush go to church?

[impeach the gop]

11. Poppy Cock

I've had about all the christian compassion I can stand. Enough with the non issues. Vote for Dennis!

[Liberator_Rev]

13. Democrats shun religion at their perill !

You can disagree all you want with the OPINIONS in this article, but
Liberals and Democrats who disagree with the FACTS reported in the article just because they don't WANT THEM TO BE TRUE have their heads in the sand. These are important findings:
"An overwhelming majority of Americans consider themselves religious. A recent poll conducted by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center found that nearly 70 percent of Democrats and 80 percent of Republicans expressed strong religious beliefs when asked questions designed to measure these attitudes."
You may WISH it were OTHERWISE. But it's NO ACCIDENT that the Politicians who TAKE THAT INTO ACCOUNT IN THEIR CAMPAIGNING who have been SUCCEEDING in persuading the most American voters to choose them!
"A Pew study in June found that nearly twice as many respondents said "There has been too little reference to religious faith and prayer by politicians" (41 percent) than said "There has been too much" (21 percent). While Bush is sometimes criticized for his references to New Testament theology, only 14 percent said he mentions faith too often; nearly two-thirds said he is striking the right balance. What voters said they do not want are politicians who obviously pander or moralize."




at http://www.LiberalsLikeChrist.Org .

See what Christ might say about the "Christian Coalition" & "Religious Right" imposters.

[Rose Siding]

14. Which one has "shunned" it?

That is the media spin but which has actually done anything but practice as they are comfortable?

I hope none of the candidates check the polls to adjust the level of public display of their faiths.

[Liberator_Rev]

15. What is the overall perception of the two parties?

While the Republican Party has been making every effort to be perceived as the party of morality and religion, the Democratic Party has been making every effort NOT to be perceived as having anything to do with religion, because of its misunderstanding of the "Separation of Church & State".
See what I mean at http://www.LiberalsLikeChrist.Org/ChurchState vs
http://www.LiberalsLikeChrist.Org/Democrats .

[lumpy]

16. It is known and Clark has stated he is a church goer

and that he prays. Many of us are repelled by the idea of proselyizing(?) our personal faith. It certainly has been used as a political tool especially since the Christian right has gain so much more political power and is probably a neccesity to gain that particular vote.

[robbedvoter]

17. Brokaw asked Clark the religion question because of his stands on separati

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=34733
Here's what he said on WGCU 90.1, a public radio station in southwest Florida:


Well, I am concerned like many people are. I grew up believing that the whole ... one of the basic principles in our country is that we would keep church and state separate. And this is because everyone is entitled to freedom of religion, and that is why people came to America in the first place. ... And we learned that in order to have freedom of religion, you've got to protect the state from the church. You don't want an established church that we're all being taxed to support, or at least that's the way it was put then. But it's a little more complicated than that. I think that it is a wonderful thing for people to have values and religious, their religious faith, and I certainly have mine. But I think that it is better for our democracy and better for our religion if we keep the two separate.

That being said, personal faith is OK with me as long as I see no conflict with this princilpe (as Holly Joe showed by supporting the faith based thingy).
So, Clark has been very candid about his faith - and that won't allow the GOP to make hay on it - more power to him!

[0007]

18. Brain Lamb of c-span showed his colors this morning...

on Washington Journal.

[lumpy]

19. Whose colors, 0007?

Missed it. Clue us, please.

[bleedingheart]

20. Bush is a HypoChristian...do as he says but he does as he wants

personally I view my religion and spirituality as my own business

[xxqqqzme]

21. if any of the candidates fall 4 this

KKKarl Krap, we deserve 2 lose!


squatter has the holier than the Pope thing sewn up. (He WAS chosen by god afterall) Trying to compete on that level is a losing tactic. I would dare anyone 2 try 2 make squatter a better 'christian' than Jimmy Carter. Carter lives his beliefs, his life is an example...U never saw him making political points of his faith. That is what needs 2 B stressed.

[many a good man]

25. Think JC will do some ads for us?

Jimmy Carter, that is. (The real JC stays out of politics and football games, he told me so).

People have enormous respect for him and his quiet action-based Chrisianity. It might rub off on our candidate so he won't have to thump his bible on the campaign trail.

We need to saturate the airwaves with ads that show Democratic ideals in a good light. Appeals to every segment of the population. Some people are saying this election is coming down to the viability of the party as a whole. That's what we should make the theme, not our guy vs. their shrub. We GOTTA win back Congress, too!

[Malva Zebrina]

23. as polls consistently show that voters want to hear more about faith

as polls consistently show that voters want to hear more about faith from their national leaders.

See this is what I do not understand---perhaps someone who is religious can clue me in--why are people looking to their national leaders to tell them about faith, when they have leaders within their religion? Those leaders all said that the war on Iraq was an unjust war and virtually came out against it, as far as I was able to discern. Yet, Bush trumped them all--and the people followed him and his religious parameters, rather than those of their relgious leaders. I just do not get it--I must be missing something in the dogma of Christianity that says a president is a religious leader , over and above that of a leader in any one of the major monotheistic religions.

This is another thing that this evil man has been able to exploit and get away with. Religion--the Christian religion--it now, according to Bush advocates killing and murder of innocent, babies, children, women and old men --but then, as I read tne old testament,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[area51]

27. Democratic candidates & religion

Maybe the Democratic candidates are more interested in obeying Matthew 6:5-6.

"When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites. They love to stand in the synagogues and on the street corners and pray so people will see them. I tell you the truth, they already have their full reward. When you pray, you should go into your room and close the door and pray to your Father who cannot be seen. Your Father can see what is done in secret, and he will reward you."

:evilgrin:

[IndianaGreen]

28. Bush religion consists of DEATH

Bush executed more people than any other governor in the nation's history, and he is responsible for more innocent civilians killed in war since Vietnam.

[mermaid]

29. Well, I, For One, Do Not Want A Pharisee President!!

'Nuff said.

[mermaid]

30. Remember What The Book of Revelations

said about the Anti-Christ.
I think bush may just be the anti-christ!

[populistmom]

31. I think there is a way of talking about this

Discussing morality and helping our fellow (wo)man and bringing in certain priciples without specifically singled out particular denominations. I think that's too polarizing.

[gratuitous]

32. I think you're right

There IS a way to talk about religion and morality in public life, and we shouldn't abandon the field to the looniest elements of the right wing kooks. It's a fine line to tread, but someone who is honestly and truly religious, who lives his or her faith in everyday life, shouldn't have much difficulty in articulating that.

A brief, sound-bite answer, if one is needed, is to say that like Jesus, you believe in the Law of Love, rather than the love of the law. And that's why you're in favor of a raise in the minimum wage, or early childhood education, nutrition programs, jobs and training assistance, or any of a hundred things that we do better together as a society than we do individually.

[Liberator_Rev]

33. Very well stated, Gratuitous. See . . .

what we "Liberals Like Christ" recommend to Democratic candidates at http://www.LiberalsLikeChrist.Org/Democrats .