[An oped in today's NY Times, below, faults the Dems for not banging the tambourine and shouting hallelujah. In this backward God-besotted country, making overt religious appeals might indeed hold some short-term advantages, but in the long term the Dems would be selling their (admittedly negligible) souls to the devil, so to speak. The social worth of progressive policies can always be explained in rational terms; there is no need for Dems to resort to religious mumbo-jumbo, which at some point is always divisive, to make these policies appealing.]
Putting God Back in Politics
By JIM WALLIS
WASHINGTON - As the Democratic candidates for president attend religious services for the holidays, their celebrations may be tempered by an uncomfortable fact: churchgoing Americans tend to vote Republican.
An overwhelming majority of Americans consider themselves to be religious. Yet according to the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, people who attend church more than once a week vote Republican by 63 percent to 37 percent; people who seldom or never attend vote Democratic by 62 percent to 38 percent.
This disparity should concern Democrats — if not as a matter of faith then as a matter of politics. More important, it should concern anyone who cares about the role of religion in public life. By failing to engage Republicans in this debate, the Democrats impoverish us all....
The separation of church and state does not require banishing moral and religious values from the public square. America's social fabric depends on such values and vision to shape our politics — a dependence the founders recognized.
It is indeed possible (and necessary) to express one's faith and convictions about public policy while still respecting the pluralism of American democracy. Rather than suggesting that we not talk about "God," Democrats should be arguing — on moral and even religious grounds — that all Americans should have economic security, health care and educational opportunity, and that true faith results in a compassionate concern for those on the margins....
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/28/opinion/28WALL.html>
Carl
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