Kevin Drum (CalPundit) has a provocative post on politics, religion and the Democrats.
But he may be letting the conservative "cultural war" crowd define the turf more than reality warrants. The Democrats are not perceived as anti-religious, except by those who wouldn't vote for a Democrat even if he spoke in tongues, handled poisonous snakes and called down fire from heaven.
Latinos in America, for instance, tend to be more church-going than the average. Yet look at the Latino vote in California. It used to split more evenly, until Pete Wilson made the state Republican Party the party of the anti-immigrant Proposition 187. Now Latino voters turn out at a higher rate than pre-Prop 187 days, and vote more heavily Democratic. Republican candidates just using Biblical phrases isn't going to much affect that.
Bill Clinton is a Southern Baptist, and so is Al Gore. Clinton is very good at using religious references and reverent language. But the Christian Coalition crowd hated his guts - no doubt with that "holy hatred" spoken of in one of the Psalms. And notice how Pat Robertson is much less worried about Arnold Schwarzenegger's sexual escapades than he was about Clinton's sad, half-baked affair with Monica Lewinsky.
One of the best uses of religious language in politics I ever saw was from Jerry Brown during his second term as California Governor. He was campaigning against some new state proposition by Proposition 13 co-author Howard Jarvis that would have slashed state services in half or something like that. At the end of his major TV address opposing the initiative, Brown opened a Bible and read from one of the Gospels (Matthew as I recall) about caring for the needy.
I don't know how much the Scripture reading contributed to the eventual defeat of the measure. My point is, Democrats often do use the language of religion. But the idea that the Democrats are going to win over the hardcore Christian Coalition supporters, who much prefer a Ronald Reagan of vaguely-defined religious beliefs to a Southern Baptist Al Gore, is not very realistic. And forget about the Operation Rescue types who flocked to Alabama to protest in support of Justice Moore's graven image of the Ten Commandments.
Hearing: Johnny Cash, "These Are My People"
Tags: democrats and religion, jerry brown
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