Evangelicals See 'Religion Gap' for Democrats

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Evangelical Christians, known for opposition to abortion rights and same-sex marriage, flexed their political muscle on Thursday and one said Democrats suffer from a "religion gap" at the polls.

"The religious left is political smoke and mirrors," Diane Knippers, president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, said in a statement read at a gathering of the National Association of Evangelicals. "It simply doesn't have a significant voting base."

In a show of political muscle, the evangelicals attracted speakers from the Senate -- Sen. Sam Brownback, a Kansas Republican, and Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut Democrat -- to a luncheon where the group's broader agenda was emphasized.
...
Brownback spoke of reaching across partisan lines for universal topics, such as rights for the disabled. Lieberman talked about his commitment to stemming global warming, and the place of religious faith in the U.S. government.

"I think your presence, your advocacy on a whole host of issues is not only welcome but necessary and classically American," Lieberman said. "America itself is a faith-based initiative."

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=7870449&src=rss/ElectionCoverage

[Arkana]

1. I got a headline for them

"Arkana Sees Morals Gap For 'Evangelicals'"

[Rose Siding]

3. I kinda like the swipe at the "left"

They've noticed.

[SujiwanKenobee]

8. "Nother headline:

Dems see "Spiritual Deficit" in Evangelicals

[merwin]

30. I would go for 'reality gap'

[Lindacooks]

2. Bullshit.

The religious left is following Christ's teachings. The religious right is nothing but a bunch of hate filled rabid old bigots who think they have the right to tell everybody else what to do, say, think, and how to act.

It's about damn time the religious left started making some noise about this issue. The Repukes and fundies are the exact opposite of what Jesus Christ was about.

And American itself is not a 'faith based initiative', you idiot Lieberman. The founding fathers were deists at most.

[mcscajun]

4. ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"America itself is a faith-based initiative." -- Sen. Joseph Lieberman

:wtf:

When will this phony Democrat and religious wack-job lose his Senate seat? When?

:puke: :puke: :puke:

(damn, we really need the 'bang head into brick wall' smilie around here these days.)

[saigon68]

32. "OLD JOE HAS GOT TO GO" !!!!

Get rid of this Dino sour. He is a foul piece of Human Trash

[cornermouse]

5. Can the evangelical christians say "whited sepulchres"?

How about Pharisees? Hypocrites?

[Dave Reynolds]

6. Wow, Joe went.

Why am I not surprised.

[murielm99]

7. Diane Knippers and the IRD are engaged in a deliberate

campaign to target and destabilize mainstream denominations. The IRD wants to destroy all theological viewpoints but their own, and have all protestant denominations march in conservative lockstep.

They are involved with PNAC, Concerned Women, and other neocon organizations. They believe in military intervention. Avoid these idiots like the plague.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

28. True. "Evangelicals" are in the business of converting everyone...

to their brand of hate. They are not REAL CHRISTIANS!

[yorkiemommie1]

9. joe

you sell us out every time you open your smarmy mouth. what a kiss-up you are. what's in this for you??? if you really believe all of this, then hop over the aisle and join them.

by remaining a DINO you diminish yourself and us.

[hatrack]

10. Other recent headlines here in DU - "Evangelicals Critical of Bush Budget"

"Evangelicals Speak Out Against Environmental Policy"

Oh, but now they're back on track, slamming Democrats for their "lack of morals".

Well, it was fun while it lasted, but now back to the Kool-Aid trough.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

11. oh jesus christ joe stfu

and as for "the religious left is political smoke and mirrors" who really gives a shit what Diane Knippers of the "Institute on Religion and Democracy" thinks? Perhaps we should institute full talibornagainization of our society just so we can put a fucking burkha on her and limit her opinion to what should be for dinner. That's what she wants, right?

hey robertson-fellating telefundies, we don't care what you think so please kindly go get fucked.

[Anakin Skywalker]

13. Heh Heh. Getting F***ed Will

actually relieve them of all that built-up tension they have which is causing them to be so uptight and self-righteous. :)

[Solon]

12. Fuck them, they don't know what the fuck they are talking about...

I guess I have no religion then, hey? I'm fucking sick of these Bullshitters who think they are the only Religion that matters in this country. Anyone here think I would be welcomed on the Religious Right? I don't think so. The Religious Left is NOT supposed to be about a particular religion's values, but about the values that ALL their religions place on Human Rights, Dignity, and the Pursuit of Happiness. This argument of these assholes is smoke and mirrors.

[liveoaktx]

14. Al Sharpton on Faith

Sharpton at Tavis Smiley shindig

[mhr]

15. Our Godless Constitution (The Fundies Know Not Of What They Speak)

Our Godless Constitution
by Brooke Allen
The Nation
February 3, 2005

It is hard to believe that George Bush has ever read the works of George Orwell, but he seems, somehow, to have grasped a few Orwellian precepts. The lesson the President has learned best--and certainly the one that has been the most useful to him--is the axiom that if you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it. One of his Administration's current favorites is the whopper about America having been founded on Christian principles. Our nation was founded not on Christian principles but on Enlightenment ones. God only entered the picture as a very minor player, and Jesus Christ was conspicuously absent.

Our Constitution makes no mention whatever of God. The omission was too obvious to have been anything but deliberate, in spite of Alexander Hamilton's flippant responses when asked about it: According to one account, he said that the new nation was not in need of "foreign aid"; according to another, he simply said "we forgot." But as Hamilton's biographer Ron Chernow points out, Hamilton never forgot anything important.

In the eighty-five essays that make up The Federalist, God is mentioned only twice (both times by Madison, who uses the word, as Gore Vidal has remarked, in the "only Heaven knows" sense). In the Declaration of Independence, He gets two brief nods: a reference to "the Laws of Nature and Nature's God," and the famous line about men being "endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights." More blatant official references to a deity date from long after the founding period: "In God We Trust" did not appear on our coinage until the Civil War, and "under God" was introduced into the Pledge of Allegiance during the McCarthy hysteria in 1954 .

Snip ......

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050221&c=1&s=allen

[gizmo1979]

16. Well,they have a reality gap

so we're even.

[DRoseDARs]

17. "Democrats See 'Morality Gap' for Evangelicals" n/t

Fuck'em.

[Sandpiper]

18. Joe, you're a Jew

You'll never be part of their club, no matter how much you suck up to them.

[intheflow]

24. He's no more a Jew than they're Christians.

They all worship at the Temple of Wall Street. It's one of thosse crazy cult groups. Drink the Kool-Aid... Drink it!



:puke:

[Coastie for Truth]

19. True - Progressives are carrying out God's work

Evangelicals are sitting on their hands - waiting for the Rapture - while children go hungry, the sick go uninsured, the Evangelical Pres wants the elderly to live out their years in peonage and poverty.

Which side is the 'Religion Gap" on.

I'm with Jimmie Carter, Martin Luther King Jr., Jim Wallis, and Michael Lerner, and Monsignor Charles Owens Rice (he's going strong as ever at 95 - God bless him) -- and even Father Bernie Ward. I am a "Faith Based Liberal Progressive."

Dobson and company are with the forces of Satan.

[CornField]

20. They are scared -- really scared, aren't they?

Finally they have their heart's desire -- republicans all over the place on the Capital. What will be the excuse when those republicans do not place their promises on the silver platter?

And exactly what will happen when Christians realize Jesus left instructions on many topics. Their morality has not been limited to stances on abortion and homosexuality.

[deadparrot]

21. Yes, life is great when religious fundamentalism runs amok in government.

Look at Iraq. And Afghanistan. And countless other Middle Eastern countries. Yes, fundies are great. Let's have more! Who's with me?



:bounce:

[cap]

22. yeah... just watch the collection baskets at Catholic churches

in my church, they've gone down since the election...

I've seen people yank their kids from Catholic schools and stop going to church when the church has worked for the Republicans...

[leesa]

23. Screw Fundies...most ill-informed closed minded people in the country

They 'live' their lives according to social laws from over 2000 years ago and think they are enlightened. People too lazy to use their God given brains.

[Vogon_Glory]

25. By Their Works Shall Ye Know Them

Right-wing evangelicals may wonder why many Democratic voters are less than thrilled with them. Well, maybe it's because many of us not only strongly disagree with their politics regarding women and gays, but also because we don't see them as being particularly "Christian" when it comes to the rest of their actions.

The fundamentalist/evangelical positions regarding reproductive rights and gay rights aside, I don't see much to applaud about concerning the right-wing "Christians." The right-wing evangelicals have joined in the Far Right's efforts against government aid to the world's poorest populations. The right-wing evangelicals have remained silent when it comes to fighting air and water pollution. The right-wing evangelicals have fought a continuous fight against public education. The right-wing evangelicals have stood silently by while their right-wign political allies continue to allow discriminatory policies against ethnic minorities to continue. The right-wing evangelicals have remained silent about the deplorable status of most folks' housing. The right-wing evangelicals have endorsed the politicos who rammed through the bankruptcy bill and tax cuts for the rich. The right-wing evangelicals have also endorsed the same politicos who are seeking to destroy Social Security.

I believe that many believing Christians are appalled at the un-Christian policies put forward by these people in the name of the Son of Man.

And right-wing evangelical clerics-turned-politicos wonder why progressive voters and progressive politicians don't surge forward en mass to lick their hand like well-trained lap-dogs? The answer is obvious--if these [olyester Pharisees were willing to look.

[intheflow]

26. That toad Lieberman!

I always think I cant have less respect for him than I do, and then he sinks to new lows.

[davekriss]

27. I see a Jesus gap in Evangelicals!

(and I am a Jesus-loving Christian!)

[VegasWolf]

29. Liberals see a sanity, reality, here on earth gap with Evangelicals! n/t

[hopein08]

31. Just when I thought Joe had redeemed himself...

ugh...

[kbm8170]

33. Bye, Joe. . .

And since when did evangelical christian impersonaters really have any clue about the spiritual influences of Americans? Talk about "smoke-and-mirrors". . .try watching a few of those Republican-backing financed pass-the-offering-plate and bash the queers televangelista telethons saturating our broadcast airwaves.