The Democrats and Faith

For John, BLUF:  Maybe the DNC should pay for rising Dem politicians to intern at Funeral Homes for six months.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

The Democrats’ Religion Problem

This Opinion Piece in The New York Times was written by Professor Daniel K Williams.♠  It was published on Friday, 23 June, after the Democratic Party Candidate, Mr Jon Ossoff, lost the race for US Representative from Georgia's Sixth Congressional District.

Apparently some radio interviewer talked Mr Ossoff into proposing to his long term girlfriend.  It appears that neither Mr Ossoff, nor his advisors, thought that his long term relationship would be an issue in the Sixth Congressional District.  I am guessing he was wrong.  That inability to understand the faith grounding of many voters is what Professor Williams talks about in his OpEd.

Here are two paragraphs that seem to capture the situation:

Yet now younger, secular Democrats are attempting to separate their party’s progressive values from those religious traditions.  Some may belong to a religious tradition or consider themselves to be spiritual people, but they are not able to speak the language of a communally based faith because it does not inform or shape their political views.

This has posed a problem at the polls, because most Democratic voters are not as secular as these activists might assume.  While only 47 percent of white, college-educated Democrats identify as Christians, Christianity remains the faith of 81 percent of African-American Democrats and 76 percent of Latino Democrats.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Teaches History at the University of West Georgia.  He is the author of God’s Own Party: The Making of the Christian Right, which examines the Evangelical movement to the Republican Party.