[lbo-talk] Al From Beats Tambourine

Nathan Newman nathanne at nathannewman.org
Wed Nov 17 07:10:21 PST 2004


Why is this bad advice? Large majorities of the population are religious in this country. Figuring out how to appeal to those groups based on religious appeals by progressive religious activists seems like a no-brainer. That doens't even require changing any substantive views, even on social issues; it just requires messengers and active organizing among religious voters by progressive religious organizers. This is already done regularly in black churches. Expanding that effort more systematically to white and latino churches hardly seems like "kool-aid drinking" advice.

----- Original Message ----- From: "Carl Remick" <carlremick at hotmail.com>

[This is the best advice anyone has offered since the Rev. Jim Jones suggested sampling the grape-flavored Kool-Aid.]

November 17, 2004

Some Democrats Believe the Party Should Get Religion

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

Bested by a Republican campaign emphasizing Christian faith, some Democrats are scrambling to shake off their secular image, stepping up efforts to organize the "religious left" and debating changes to how they approach the cultural flashpoints of same-sex marriage and abortion.

Some call the election a warning. "You can't have everybody who goes to church vote Republican; you just can't," Al From, founder of the Democratic Leadership Council, said last week at a forum on the election.

Religious traditionalists including Dr. Richard Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the conservative Southern Baptist Convention, and Jim Wallis of the liberal evangelical group Sojourners say Democratic officials are calling them for advice on reaching conservative Christians. And they and some other theologically orthodox supporters of Mr. Bush say it may not take much for Democrats to make inroads among their constituency, if the party demonstrates a greater friendliness to religious beliefs and even modestly softens its support for abortion rights. ...

<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/17/politics/17democrats.html?hp&ex=11006676 00&en=ddc2e67a94260e10&ei=5094&partner=homepage>

Carl

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