can christians be democrats?
by Ryan Porter
Published: June 30, 2008
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Conservatives, and the Word was Conservatives.
Call it The Blue Scare. Call it outrageous. Call it what you want, but this election season is seeing a shift among one of the most dependable voting blocs American politics has ever seen. The groups known as the “religious right” and “Christian conservatives” are becoming less “right” and “conservative” everyday that November gets closer.
Even as early as last October the tides seemed to be shifting. A CBS poll showed that evangelicals were most interested in hearing about healthcare while abortion and gay marriage came up dead last among issues of interest. This is a big change since the 2004 election when Karl Rove and gang basically manipulated an entire election based on abortion and gay marriage alone. The evangelical bloc that reelected President Bush then seems to be up for grabs this year.
In light of this shift, there are many confused Christians, such as myself, who are left wondering what to do? What happened to hating gays and protecting life (before birth only, of course) driving the purpose of life? Outspoken televangelist Pat Robertson and the late Reverend Jerry Falwell convinced a generation of Christian voters that liberals are destroying America and that the “pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians” were responsible for the attacks on September 11, 2001. Ah, the good ol’ days…
So what has changed since then? Maybe I missed something, but when did God start promoting non-Republican issues like caring for the poor (the Bible notwithstanding)?
A recent CNN report attributes this change in the political landscape largely to young evangelicals who emphasize social justice and environmental issues more than issues like stem-cell research or gay rights. Some Christian leaders like Jim Wallis, author of God’s Politics, support this new movement due to the fact that the Bible contains thousands of references to caring for the poor and relatively few to the moral issues pushed by Republicans.
While these young rabble-rousers may buy into this line of reasoning, others are not so easily swayed. I mean, seriously, where does the Bible get off telling Christians how to live their lives?
As the election gets closer, anxiety over the changing winds is growing among some religious leaders as more of them are deciding to speak out against presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.
Focus on the Family President James Dobson recently accused Obama of “distorting the Bible” when Obama quoted a passage from the Old Testament book of Leviticus as reason why the Bible may not be a good source for guiding public policy. According to Obama, the passage “suggests slavery is OK,” but Dobson said that the senator was using the “irrelevant” Old Testament to “fit his own confused theology.”
But of course Obama is confused. What else would you expect from a Jesus-following, Bible-believing Muslim who is trying to destroy America? Naturally, Dobson failed to mention that he regularly cites the same Old Testament book of Leviticus as reason for opposing homosexuality. But hey, he’s a Republican, so he is entitled to distort the Bible to fit his own political agenda.
So what can we expect to see from this controversial shift in the evangelical voting bloc? When 2012 rolls around, should we expect to see Democrats in the pocket of Big Divinity?
Heaven forbid religious influence on elections diminishes and people start taking that “separation of church and state” thing seriously. Christians are called to love, and evidently the only way to do that these days is to legislate it. And what better kind of love is there than that which is enforced by the government?
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July 1st, 2008 at 8:19 am
The irony in your last statement is delicious, as the Democrats see “state enforced ‘love’” as the only way to run things.
July 1st, 2008 at 9:57 am
Porter,
Great take on religion in politics; however, the “but when did God start promoting non-Republican issues like caring for the poor” implies that instituting democratic social policy means you “care” for the poor. However, when the govt. says “give me your money or I’ll put a lien on your house or I’ll throw you in jail so that I can fund the welfare state” and you comply, it doesn’t mean you “care” for the poor. It means you don’t want your property repossed and you don’t want to end up in federal prison. The charitable behavior espoused by Christ was always voluntary; the widow’s mite was given voluntarily. As is, there remains a huge gap between Christ’s teachings and the Democrat’s social agenda.
July 1st, 2008 at 10:24 am
So James, do you think that SOME people who want to institute democratic social policy are not driven by selfish motivation and actually DO care about the poor? You don’t have to care about the poor to support democratic social policy, as you point out, but you have to admit that it might be one way that people could show their care for the poor. Just like I don’t have to care about the environment to support more fuel efficient cars (maybe I just want to pay less for gas), but obviously the people who do care about the environment would support the same policies.
July 1st, 2008 at 10:38 am
Don’t forget…Falwell said the ACLU was to blame for 9/11 too. You can’t let them off the hook haha.
July 1st, 2008 at 11:25 am
Lou,
I think James has it about right. Both Testaments refer to what we would call ‘charitable giving’ or caring for your neighbor, in the sense that care is a thing given, not emoted. The thrust of James’ remark is that Christians are called upon to reach into their own pockets, not the pockets of others, to provide this care. Indeed studies of charitable giving show that ‘Red staters’ even poor ones, give far more of their time and money thab ‘blue staters’.
Naturally it’s possible to be a Christian, and support ‘progressive’ social policies. Naturally it is possible for socialists to actually care about the poor, naturally it is possible for conservatives to care about all human life.
Russ
July 1st, 2008 at 11:33 am
If you’re just looking for a bomb to throw into the room, why not suggest that it is impossible for Christians to be Communists?
;-)
Russ
July 1st, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Russ,
Mind citing the source for the “studies” that you cite? Stats are meaningless without the source and research methods.
I acknowledge what the Bible says about “reaching into your own pockets”, but a main idea throughout the article (not to speak for Porter) is that for once Christian values are being used to support Democratic policy. Republicans do this all the time to support their own policies. Not to start a different argument but Republicans oppose gay marriage, a stance that has no Constitutional foundation, but they still oppose it because they think it’s “icky” (i.e. sinful). But now when the tides change, Republicans get all huffy and want to cite the Bible as reason for NOT using Christian principles to guide public policy.
You can’t have it both ways!
July 1st, 2008 at 1:56 pm
I’m not suggesting that Democrats don’t actually care for the poor (Though, on a side note, I do believe that their policies help perpetuate poverty.) Many of them may care very much. And they try to prove it by citing the billions they want to pour into welfare institutions. They conversly “prove” that conservatives are against the poor by citing their opposition to welfare institutions.
Democrats love the poor and Republicans hate the poor. It’s a cliche and has been for years. Which is fine and may even be logical conclusion for one to arrive at. What is illogical is the statement that Democratic welfare institutions spring from the Sermon on the Mount. They don’t. They can’t. Because Christ never leveraged his contacts in Rome with his injuction to care for the poor. Nowhere will you find Christ supporting a publican driven effort to enforce charitable giving.
However, funding for government-subsidized anything is imposed on the citizenry by the force of law. Pay or go to jail. Be charitable or Uncle Sam will take your home away.
Where in the New Testament is a similar threat imposed upon the masses?
July 1st, 2008 at 2:16 pm
You are missing the point, James.
I acknowledge that it is not Biblical for Christians to try to achieve Christian goals through the government. The point is that Republicans get away with pursuing Christian goals through government all the time, so it is hypocritical of them to preach to Democrats when they try to do the same thing.
Republicans don’t have a monopoly on misinterpreting the Bible.
July 1st, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Porter,
When are you going to stop lying to yourself and write in the Democrat column? You aren’t a moderate if you only bash republicans. Also, you sit on the verge of hypocrisy when you show how the “religious right” stereotypes liberals, and then you go on to stereotype the “religious right” yourself. Religious right is a useless term that is used by the media to describe its frustration with conservative politics. The truth is there are religious people all over the political spectrum and many conservatives who aren’t religious at all. And it isn’t just religious conservatives who bring their beliefs to the voting booth. You need to rethink that.
July 1st, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Wow, clearly someone missed the not-so-serious tone of this piece. Ever heard of sarcasm or satire, Tom Tom? Porter’s columns usually require readers to be a bit more savvy than that.
p.s. Just between us, I hear Porter is actually a Republican, so maybe you should take a lesson in creative writing before you fly off the handle and make wild accusations. Good thing this site doesn’t let people like you write for it.
July 1st, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Lou,
Here is the survey to which I referred: http://www.catalogueforphilanthropy.org/cfp/db/generosity.php?year=2004
There are others, and as with all statistics, figures don’t lie, but liars can figure…take all with a grain of salt.
What rankles me in this thread is this…the Right gets pounded for hypocrisy when opposing a ‘Christian Values’ policy from the left side of the aisle. No so fast my friend! The policy you are all extolling is a Socialist/Communist policy : “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” Which is clearly the policy of the social programs in this country. This is not the Judeo-Christian model at all, and trying to ‘wrap it in the Bible’ for the purposes of this debate is disingenuous.
Russ
July 1st, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Right, it is a satire, and a satire generally requires you poke fun at a folly to bring improvement to it. In this case its the beliefs of religious conservatives, not everyone. He’s not making fun of everyone; you’re allowed to disagree with a piece of satire. Why don’t you take a creative writing class?
July 2nd, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Hmm… stereotyping a group while complaining about stereotyping. Sounds like irony. That’s why this is funny. I think you are taking this way too seriously Tom Tom.
July 2nd, 2008 at 5:09 pm
Russ, what makes you so sure Jesus was a Capitolist? I don’t see that any where in the bible. Not that I’m saying he would have been a Communist or anything, heck I don’t believe he was real.
But I did go to sunday school every sunday til I was 17 and I don’t think Jesus would have been against a government that tried to help the poor, any more than he would have been against a government that tried to ban gay marriage.
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Ian;
Jesus is GOD. You may not like it, but that is the truth. Jesus does not need any man to defend him, the bible already spells that out. Jesus has called and is calling upon the christian church to help the poor never the government. As far as living a gay life-style, it is sin just like any other sin. God hates my sin just as much as anyones. Since you spent time in Sunday School, do you remember the time when the bible says “all have sinned and come short of the glory of GOD”. Jesus said, “I came to save the world, not to condemn it”. My opinion has little meaning, but the word of GOD is more powerful than anything this world can produce. Opinions are what they are, but truth always stands the test of time.
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Ian,
I don’t think I have said that Jesus was a Capitalist (check your spelling). I was merely commenting that when someone like Lou claims that “Christian values are being used to support Democratic policy” he is being misleading at best. Nowhere in the Judeo-Christian tradition does anyone earn points by forcing others (through whatever means) to be charitable. Democratic policy is closely tied to Socialist/Communist/Marxist theories in this arena. I really don’t think Karl Marx would see his goals as ‘Christian’. Do you?
Using ‘progressive’ taxation to redistribute wealth is not the same as encouraging people to look into their own souls (or whatever), and take personal action to make a discernible difference in the lives of those around you.
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:42 pm
Ian,
I agree that Jesus would not have been opposed to a government that helped the poor. I believe that he would have been against a government which cynically threw other people’s money into a bottomless pit while pushing programs whose net effect was to economically enslave the poor by enticing them to continue to vote for ‘bread and circuses’ instead of actually, effectively helping them. The fairly recent Democratic opposition to a pilot program which would have offered school vouchers to poor families in Washington, DC leaps immediately to mind.
But that’s just me.
Russ
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:14 am
Good job Ryan, I think you caused an interesting discussion. The things is man marginalizes things into categories (or prejudices) in order to better control, conceptualize or understand issues of life. Which we will never fully understand anyways. On tops of that ego, pride and power melt fact and fiction to generate a confusion or the two. My two cents is that there should be a separation of “any particular” religion from the state’s affairs. For anyone person to invoke his religion, or personal beliefs as a tool to leverage their own power or status violates not just Judeo-Christian ethics, I wager to say most religious points of view. Jesus most often in the Bible rallied against the religious norms (Pharisees), which we heavily political. He was a revolutionary. He wasn’t conservative, liberal, right, or left, or from a political preference. He presided outside of that, yet He obviously didn’t sit on the sidelines and do nothing. His mere acts changed the course of history, to put it lightly. I think that if Christ were here physically on earth today He would do what He did 2000 years ago. Inspire change, forgive the sinful, heal the broken,etc… Do what He does and not get hung up in tangles of man’s own devices. I think that it is possible because of God’s grace that anyone of any origin, or group may adhere to God’s promptings. I think our error happens when we begin to speak for God/Jesus instead of simply following.
I agree that the younger generation is questioning motives and authenticity of political groups… with good reason, they have both failed us in certain regards.. Yet the worst thing is that each party of government is making a great point to paint the other party as the warmongers, communists…blah, blah, blah… it is all fear based manipulation. For us to demonize one opposed to another only exposes our own hypocrisy and double standards. Christ hardly challenged politics, but definitely challenged faith or religion. Which are completely different by the way… I think that the Church has dropped the ball and the only other alternative has been for parties to pick up where it was left off.
Sure there are things that I don’t politically agree with with either party, it isn’t a perfect system, but it is the best we’ve got. The true remedy to this is for the “Christians” to speak less and do more, and stop abiding by doctrine but follow the true authentic model of Christianity.
July 3rd, 2008 at 3:14 am
Well said, Jason. I agree with everything you said 100%.
July 3rd, 2008 at 3:28 am
Porter,
Why are you awake at this un-holy hour? It’s not a very christian thing to do.
July 25th, 2008 at 9:25 am
Wow, you maybe my favorite person right now. Thank you for writing about the stuff that no one else wants to talk about.
September 13th, 2008 at 11:38 pm
Ryan,
Move to Oklahoma and look what happens. I’m a month behind the loop.
Love your writing. Love your Jesus.
I think so many fall into a gang mentality very easily, which is why people are so passionate about their parties. I remember the first time that I voted Democrat … I was terrified to tell anyone. It was like I was sneaking around … or cheating. Like it was the mob, and if they found me out, it would not bode well for me.