Dems going for the evangelical vote is like...

[Ned_Devine]

Republicans trying to get the moveon crowd. Why do they insist? It looks and sounds ridiculous!

[Warpy]

1. Evangelicals and fundies are two different animals

and Evangelicals don't all buy the cafeteria Calvinism infused with Rand that the fundies are all pushing.

Some Evangelical congregations are quite sensible.

[Dr Fate]

4. So long as these are the evangelicals we are catering too, fine.

If that is the fact, then I agree w/ you 100%.

People find it hard to believe that there is a progressive wing of even The Southern Baptist Church and certain Pentacostal churches too-

Carter & MLK, for instance.

I would hope that we are catering to them concerning ecomonic issues, helping the poor, etc more so than the gay-baiting & anti-choice stuff.

[Warpy]

20. Have you seen Dean's interview on CBN?

He struck exactly the right balance, tying Democratic core issues regarding economic justice into the words of Jesus. He did a great job.

He got pilloried by the gay community for a remark on gay marriage that was incomplete and taken out of context and ignored Dean's record of signing a civil union bill into law in Vermont, but overall it was a great interview and struck exactly the right chord for religious outreach.

As a godless liberal (Buddhist flavor), I realize the importance of taking the GOP brand off Christianity. That can and should be done with Jesus's own words. Allowing them to keep lying about their ownership of a philosophy that they vote counter to at every opportunity is something that simply can't be tolerated.

Reaching out to them is how we do this. Pointing out the cognitive dissonance between the teachings of Jesus and the GOP platform, tactics, and effect on our economy and foreign policy is how we do this.

It is essential.

[atreides1]

5. Point them out

"Some Evangelical congregations are quite sensible."

Perhaps you or someone else can provide a list of the sensible ones, that way we won't waste any time or effort on the "fire and gays should be crucified" bunch.

[Dr Fate]

8. Jimmy Carter. The Martin Luther King Family. Johnny & June Cash.

Those are some of the famous names- but I did not include several of my aunts & unlces, or activists I knew in the Richmond County GA Democratic party.

[jonnyblitz]

22. I greatly admire Father Roy Bourgeois from School Of Americas

Watch. :thumbsup: I would consider him a fine Christian although I am sure the official Catholic Church wishes he would go away! He's one of those damn commie pinko liberation theologists!! :sarcasm:

http://www.speakoutnow.org/People/FatherRoyBourgeois.html

I am often quite critical of religion but I am aware there are many great christians.

[ulysses]

32. right.

He's a good man.

[Bjorn Against]

30. read some Jim Wallis he is an evangelical and quite sensible

I am not religious, but I agree with much of what he says.

[tonkatoy57]

10. Maybe Not

I attend my wife's United Methodist church.

The Methodist's identify themselves as Evangelicals, meaning they believe in the importance of spreading the words of Jesus. This in no way means that my wife's congregation or the Methodist Church as a whole are fundamentalists.

My wife's church, and in turn the Methodist hierarchy, are unabashed believers in social justice and do not condone in any way, shape, or form throwing the poor under the train, elective war, corporate malfeasance or many of the actions of the current administration.

Does most of this congregation already vote progressively? More than likely.

Are there others who are churched and identify themselves as evangelical christians who are not presently voting for candidates expressing a progressive agenda who may be open to changing their voting habits?

I don't know.

There are "values voters" and then there are "values voter". If the Democratic party can sway some who, out of force of habit, traditionally vote for Republicans more power to them.

[iconoclastic cat]

2. Bullpucky. nt

[rocktivity]

3. What Dems need to do is drive a wedge between the religious right

and the religious. Call out the GOP's extremist religious right on their anti-American hypocrisy, and even the atheists will get on board.

This is the kind of speech (pdf file) Obama should have made instead of pandering to the GOP's fabricated perception of Dems being anti-religious.

:headbang:
rocknation

[Dr Fate]

7. That's it- there is a RIGHT way to do this.

I'd rather point out that Democrats are more in line w/ spiritual people on economic issues and on the war- rather than gay-bait & lean anti-choice.

[rkc3]

17. And I think we're starting to see that.

Repubs who aren't Bible thumpers wonder what the hell happened to their party - IIRC that was one of the reasons Christy Todd Whitman wrote her book.

[Tarheel_Dem]

6. With an attitude like that.....

I sure hope you're on the "other" side. Most Democrats are people of faith too. We cannot continue to let the rabid Right control the Christian agenda. As Al Sharpton said on Tom Joyner's show yesterday, "It's time for the Christian "Right" to meet the "RIGHT" Christians.

[madfloridian]

9. That is what the other party wants you to think. They don't own religion.

We have a right to talk to them also.

[Tarheel_Dem]

13. I couldn't agree more MadF.....

We can't afford to ignore anyone at this point, our very lives & those of the people we went to "liberate" depend on it. Having grown up in a large black household & being a PK (Preacher's Kid), and having a HUGE extended family, I can say with some assurance that the Democratic Party cannot afford to ignore Evangelicals and other people of faith.

[MissMarple]

11. Not all evangelicals are fundamentalists. Why let the GOP define us?

Democrats do need to make their positions and values known to a broad spectrum of evangelicals, otherwise the GOP and the fundies get to define how they want the Democrats to appear. Speaking with them neither looks nor sounds ridiculous. Many Democrats are people of deep faith and have strong ethical values.

Our two Democratic candidates for U.S. House District 5 spoke with the local NRA a couple of weeks ago. That was not a waste of time. There were some members who were actually surprised at where these Democrats stand on gun rights issues. Letting right wing diatribe and talking points have a free ride is not a responsible thing to do.

[bvar22]

12. I wish the Democrats would "go after"...

the votes of Americans who work for a living.

Over 50 million of these people believe that it isn't worth going to the polls because no one represents them.


In recent polls by the Pew Research Group, the Opinion Research Corporation, the Wall Street Journal, and CBS News, the American majority has made clear how it feels. Look at how the majority feels about some of the issues that you'd think would be gospel to a real Democratic party:

1. 65 percent say the government should guarantee health insurance for everyone -- even if it means raising taxes.

2. 86 percent favor raising the minimum wage (including 79 percent of selfdescribed "social conservatives").

3. 60 percent favor repealing either all of Bush's tax cuts or at least those cuts that went to the rich.

4. 66 percent would reduce the deficit not by cutting domestic spending but by reducing Pentagon spending or raising taxes.

5. 77 percent believe the country should do "whatever it takes" to protect the environment.

6. 87 percent think big oil corporations are gouging consumers, and 80 percent (including 76 percent of Republicans) would support a windfall profits tax on the oil giants if the revenues went for more research on alternative fuels.

7. 69 percent agree that corporate offshoring of jobs is bad for the U.S. economy (78 percent of "disaffected" voters think this), and only 22% believe offshoring is good because "it keeps costs down."

The Democratic Party is a BIG TENT, but there is NO ROOM for those
who advance the agenda of THE RICH (Corporate Owners) at the EXPENSE of LABOR and the POOR.

[Ned_Devine]

31. Right on!

[Libby2]

14. Yeah, sure Ned.

[madfloridian]

15. Oh, BTW, right wing blogs are out in force today

They are furious about our Democrats daring to intrude on their religious territory. Now I ask you is that a Christian attitude? No, of course it isn't.

They do not own religion.

[TheFarseer]

16. My Aunt goes to Evangelical church and she hates bush

voting straight Democrat this election. Like someone else said, Evangelical is not fundy. Those people that only care about abortion and gays are a lost cause, yes I agree with that, but most church going people have normal concerns like the rest of us.

[Sapere aude]

18. The big lie is that Democrats do not practice religion.

The majority of Democrats are members of some religious denomination. What I think is going on here is that Dems are saying that religion is not only about being anti gay or anti abortion but is about caring for the poor and the environment and other liberal ideas.

Dems are not courting fundies, the God, Guns and Gays types.

[iconoclastNYC]

19. I agree 100%

[Douglas Carpenter]

34. are you aware of the kind of work the group who sponsored the conference

Sen. Obama, Sen. Clinton and Gov. Dean spoke at are involved with?

The organization is called Sojourners - this is their website:


http://www.sojo.net/

They are fairly left-wing on foreign policy and economics and moderate to moderately liberal on social issues

Might I suggest?

check this link to see the kind of issues these American Evangelicals of Sojourners are involved in -- this is definitely not the Pat Robertson type:

http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=news.display_archives&mode=current_opinion&article=CO_031217

[SaveElmer]

21. Same motivation behind the 50 State strategy...

You could substitute "Utah" for "Evangelical" in your statement and it would be no different. It's a strategy of leaving nothing to the Republicans, fight for every sector of society. Sure we aren't going to get even close to a majority of the vote of white evangelical christians, but if the Republicans are forced to fight to maintain their current large majority, if by presenting our ideas to this sector of the public who have been spoon fed nothing but Jerry Falwell nonsense with no serious rebuttal and thereby reduce their fervor somewhat for Republicans, and if we can peel off even 2 or 3% of these people it would be well worth it

[Awsi Dooger]

27. Correct, and we can easily peel off a few percent

It's not like evangelicals vote 95-5 toward Republicans, something where it's obvious we're wasting our time. The '04 exit polls had it 78-21 for Bush among white evengelicals. Protestants who attend church weekly or more often were 70% toward Bush. All the other major categories among church goers were 64% or much less in favor of Bush. I've looked at those numbers for a decade, thinking we're not maximizing our percentages, not even close.

[skipos]

23. Wrong. Your knowledge of evangelicals must come from TV

or else you have had bad luck with them. I know many who are good people that strongly dislike Bush.

[guidod]

24. I'm not evangelical and I'm not

religious. Why wouldn't you want them to go for every vote they can get? There's nothing wrong with that, and welcome to DU. :toast:

[LoZoccolo]

25. The Democrats already have part of it.

http://people-press.org/commentary/display.php3?AnalysisID=103

By the way, the equation of Republican and evangelical is a notion that the Republicans pick as a strategy - out of many possible ones - that would help them win elections. They want to establish that, and now you want to too. Every time people agree with that, they are allowing the Republicans to fight according to their plan that they chose.

[mwooldri]

26. It's not ridiculous.

As other people have said there are differences between Evangelicals and Fundamentalists. And even then there are fundamentalists that are on our side: I'm fundamentally a Christian ;)

It's like Dean's 50 state approach. Appeal to everyone and anyone. It's all a marketing exercise anyway and if we can get it down to a market of one (i.e. Joe Bloggs, here's why YOU should vote Democratic) then that's good. We should give good reasons why even George W Bush should vote Democratic.

Mark.

[SaveElmer]

28. Dean's 50 state strategy won't work without this...

Explain how you grow the party in states such as Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia without courting Evangelicals.

[Odin2005]

29. Carter is an Evangelical, MLK Jr. was an Evangelical.

My hardcore Dem relatives are Evangelicals. Evangelical is not a synonym of Fundimentalist

[Douglas Carpenter]

33. are you aware that the group Sen. Obama was addressing is left-wing?

The conference that Sen. Obama, Sen. Clinton and Gov. Dean was speaking at was sponsored by the Sojourners movement. Sojourners are actually fairly left-wing on foregin policy and economic issues; and moderate on social issues.




Sojourners are the group they were speaking to:

Link for Sojourners

http://www.sojo.net /

link for Sojourners Magazine:

http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=magazine.home

Interview with Rev. Jim Wallis (founder and leader of Sojourners) on Democracy Now - link:

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/04/26/1355204


"The Rev. Tim Ahrens shared Wallis' dismay: "The faith of Jesus Christ has become such a violent and violating faith in the religious right," he contended. Ahrens is the founder of We Believe Ohio, a group of 300 clergy members dedicated to promoting social justice."

"Many Sojourner supporters didn't hesitate to call right-wingers "bible thumpers" and "fanatics," and they criticized the Bush administration for not helping the poor. They gave Obama thunderous applause when he proclaimed his support for separation of church and state and giving teenagers access to contraception. " link:
http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/news/nation/14923089.htm

.