Catholic Ping - please freepmail me if you want on/off this list
Posted on 11/04/2004 1:15:43 PM PST by NYer
President Bush's victory, the approval of every anti-gay marriage amendment on statewide ballots and an emphasis on ``moral values'' among voters showed the power of churchgoing Americans in this election and threw the nation's religious divide into stark relief. ``The churchgoers, those who voted along cultural lines, put (Bush) over the top,'' said George Marlin, author of ``The American Catholic Voter.''
Albert Menendez of Americans for Religious Liberty, which advocates strict church-state separation said ``Bush could not have won without the evangelical vote.''
Exit polls conducted for The Associated Press and television networks by Edison Media Research/Mitofsky International showed clearly that the president draws much of his support from religious people:
_The president had the support of 78 percent of white evangelicals, 23 percent of the voters.
_Bush won 52 percent of the Roman Catholic vote on Tuesday, and got the support of 56 percent of white Catholics, defeating the first Catholic presidential candidate from a major party since John F. Kennedy. In 2000, Bush narrowly lost the Catholic vote.
_Bush was favored by 61 percent of people from all faiths who attend services weekly; they made up 41 percent of the electorate. Democrat John Kerry drew 62 percent of Americans who never attend worship, but they only accounted for 14 percent of voters.
_When respondents were asked to pick the one issue that mattered most in choosing a president, ``moral values'' ranked first at 22 percent, surpassing the economy (20 percent), terrorism (19 percent) and Iraq (15 percent).
Gay marriage bans were handily approved in all 11 states that held referendums, and analysts said that issue drove up turnout. ``This was a high stakes election for those who support traditional moral values,'' said Geoffrey Layman, a University of Maryland political scientist.
Another index of evangelical support: Republicans seeking open congressional seats who were endorsed by Gary Bauer's conservative Campaign for Working Families. They won all 12 contests, five in the Senate and seven in the House.
A leading conservative activist, the Rev. D. James Kennedy of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., said the voters ``have delivered a moral mandate.'' ``Now that values voters have delivered for George Bush, he must deliver for their values,'' Kennedy said.
More liberal believers, meanwhile, found the results deeply disconcerting, but also saw them as a call to action. ``This election confirmed that we are a divided nation, not only politically but in terms of our interpretation of God's will,'' said the Rev. Robert Edgar, a former Democratic congressman and general secretary of the National Council of Churches.
The Rev. Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State put it more starkly. ``The culture war may go nuclear,'' he said, as ``millions of Americans oppose the theocratic agenda of the Religious Right.'' The problem, said Rabbi Michael Lerner of Tikkun magazine, is that too many fellow liberals are ``trapped in a long-standing disdain for religion and tone-deaf to the spiritual needs that underlie the move to the right.'' They need to shed a core belief that Bush voters ``are fundamentally stupid or evil.'' The left, he and others argue, has to show the religious basis for its policy positions and not let the right define morality.
Each side courted the Catholic vote aggressively, with Kerry forced to buck the leaders of his own church over his support of abortion rights. A handful of bishops said politicians like Kerry shouldn't receive Communion, and many others emphasized church teaching against abortion. ``To run in the Democratic Party you have to be pro-choice, but the church says you have to be pro-life,'' said Marlin, a Catholic conservative. Layman, the Maryland political scientist, said that meant Kerry couldn't ``use his Catholicism as a strength to appeal to Catholics. He was put in this box by the bishops.'' In the end, the majority of Catholics preferred an anti-abortion, Methodist incumbent to one of their own _ underscoring that today's religious divide cuts across denominational lines.
The election shows that Democrats in 2008 ``are going to have to say they are religiously attuned to America and make it stick and make it authentic,'' said Michael Cromartie, an expert on evangelicalism at the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center. ``All future political consultants are going to have to understand religious sensibilities as part of the resume.''
Catholic Ping - please freepmail me if you want on/off this list
The president had the support of 78 percent of white evangelicals,
What are the other 12% thinking?
In the end, the majority of Catholics preferred an anti-abortion, Methodist incumbent to one of their own _ underscoring that today's religious divide cuts across denominational lines.
What a load of ****! This pig talks like the rest of the liars the only thing that 'kerry' is thought as "one of their own" are the cadre of TRAITORS that calle themselves 'democrats' and most of them are NOT Catholics.
They really don't get it, do they? We must look like aliens to them. Sure, develop your religious sensibilities or whatever, Democrats. That'll do it. Put on that sheep's clothing and we'll fall for it.
Ugh. Sickening.
Why are we believing the exit polls? I have wondered from the moment I heard this if it wasn't an effort to discredit the outcome, by saying basically "it's religious wackos." You know, the media bubble talking to itself.
It seems a little weird to swallow AP exit polls at this point, but hey, what do I know? What if IRAQ really was the main issue? Wouldn't we like to know if the victory really was a mandate on Iraq?
Maybe these exit polls are correct. They could be. But I wonder.
Even though W is a United Methodist, he believes fervently in the same moral ideals that Catholics do.
John Kerry tried to "play Catholic" when it suited him. No one believed him at his little game.
It would be interesting to know, wouldn't it?
I said: "I'd rather vote for a real Protestant than a fake Catholic."
No response.
Pro-life ping!
OK, the "fact" that voters consider moral values of great importance was a big surprise to the Democrats - guess that says it all, doesn't it. "Gee, those wierdos on the right have moral vaues. What's that? Gosh, do you think we otta get some? Where do you go to buy those?" "I dunno. Let's ask Bill Clinton or Jesse...."
Now let's talk about the left and the socialist vote.
Oops. 22% ! That's really bad. We need more preaching to the choir, obviously.
Please put me on the Ping List.
You just can't turn on faith or religion when it is convenient for you, like running for office. It comes from the heart. It is not external and it plays out every day. It is who you are, not what you can portray.
Yea! THAT was a perfect response!! Way to go!
The 12% guy's trade is a mental health specialist. In many respects, he's a better Christian than I am.
Idiot statement. The Rev is a God hater, therefore he hates God's people. Simple, isn't it?
My answer: some of these people had an experience of welcoming Christ into their hearts, but that was along time ago. They haven't repudiated their experience, they look back on it fondly, but it hasn't transformed their lives the way it has the other 78%.
Dims that becomes religiously authentic will run from them as fast as they can.
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