Posted on 11/05/2004 2:01:26 AM PST by Liz
Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment Approvals Reinforce U.S. Religious and Moral Divide
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."
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:
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."
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Beware the "Uriah Heeps" out there planning, plotting, ingratiating their way into conservatives' confidence.
They would manhandle our conservative victory----to dilute the mandate conferred by proto-conservatives----for their own self-serving agendas.
The Uriah Heeps could care less for the rights of the unborn, and the restoration of conservative values to our beleagured Nation, and the rest of proto-conservative issues that drove millions of Christians to the polls.
The agenda-laden Uriahs, the elliptical thinkers---lurk in the shadows-----plotting ways to take credit for conservative victories.
It ain't gonna happen.
Any mucking up of our hard-won conservative victory will be met with fierce resistance.
Moral issues were Election 2004's key issues, and moral issues alone will set the agenda.
We will not stand by silently while the Uriahs do their Everything-For-Us-Nothing-For-You act.
Moloch lapel pins?
Is that like anti-molester child protection laws?
Or anti-killer murder prohibitions?
You'll know them by the size of their Bibles.
I've yet to hear mention of the veteran vote. There are millions of vets out there as well as millions of veterans families, and I would guess 75-80% voted against Kerry. You are talking a huge vote. You could almost ignore the draft dodger, but Kerry was a filthy traitor.
The anti-Rev. Barry Lynn admits that it is the secularists who split the culture and will go on the offensive against Christians and Jews. The Left is always the aggressor.
Excellent point. Maybe the Swifties have data on this? Try a search. And post whatever you come up with. And our prayers and thanks to you and yours for all your sacrifices.
Heheh.....Good man.
I see that subtlety is not wasted on you.
(Sniffle) But, but the Left is so "tolerant and compassionate" (sob).
Well, that wouldn't be Hillary then in 2008! LOL LOL
Man, oh man, you are insightful. LOL.
Nice, very nice deconstruction.
"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."
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I see they still don't really get it. It's about right and wrong. No matter what the left wants to say about it being religion, it really comes down to having base in morality.
It is going to be hilarious seeing Democrats praising the almighty everyday in the 2008 campaigns.
Just like always, they think they can just "make it up" and see if the sheeple will believe them! I think this election proved the sheeple do not believe their manufactured lies!
Perhaps it is still too early in the morning to grasp, but what do these numbers represent? 14% of voters = the 62% who never attend worship services ... huh?
Catholic Ping - please freepmail me if you want on/off this list
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