Posted on 12/01/2005 8:05:38 AM PST by Valin
After years of defining itself as the party of secularism, the Democratic Party is at a crossroads—they’ve suddenly discovered that Americans are becoming more religious. So what can they do? Learn how to sound spiritual.
Well into America’s third great religious awakening (about which I started writing ten years ago), magazines like Business Week, Fortune, and Forbes have all carried articles speculating on the growing buying power of America’s evangelicals. Yes, Henry, they really do spend over seven billion dollars a year just on religious articles. Time recently ran a cover story about the country’s 25 most powerful evangelicals. Some of them were Catholics, but who cares. The important thing is that they are very powerful. And very religious. And very conservative, too.
December 9th will see the opening of Disney’s adaptation of C.S. Lewis’s Christian classic, The Chronicles of Narnia. Before filming began, Disney checked the religious symbolism with Lewis’s stepson to make sure the movie didn’t portray anything un-Christian. Gosh, even the ABC television hit, “Desperate Housewives,” features a character who seems to be returning to his religious Catholic roots. And then there was the unanticipated impact of Mel Gibson’s The Passion.
The marketplace is a pretty good place in which to spot trends, and businesses around the nation have clearly spotted this one. Christianity, after decades of disrespect, is back. Christians can now come out of the catacombs. They are finally on the front edge of the wave. It is now chic to be a Bible-believing Christian or Jew.
But what do you do if your business has been declining? What if you are a Democratic politician trying to figure out how to run for President in 2008? You have a problem.
Americans are rejecting the secularism of the Left. That secularism gave us abortions by the millions, and this has started making many Americans, including the daughters of the women who marched for Roe v. Wade, quite squeamish. That secularism gave us deteriorating downtowns, where so-called “compassion” for drunks defecating in doorways trumped concern for tax-paying citizens.
The Democrats can no longer hide. Too many Americans know, or have come to suspect, that policies rooted in secular doctrine have brought us to a place we no longer recognize and certainly don’t like. Despite hysterical outbursts from the high priests of secularism (too frequently self-anointed Jewish leaders), Americans are rejecting the lie that fervent Christianity is the problem. This rabbi, along with most Americans, knows it to be the solution to America’s growing problems.
So what is an ambitious Democratic politician to do these days? The answer is easy. Talk spiritual, and with any luck, you’ll bamboozle enough Americans into believing you’re religious. And then, you’ll start winning their votes.
Let me offer some specific tips for any such ambitious Democratic candidate. For a start, talk about how “family values” really means:
“Providing health care to every child and that God cares about the 12 million children without health insurance.”
“Valuing a child with diabetes over a frozen embryo in a fertility clinic.”
“Viewing the teaching of science as a primary social good.”
“Reserving the right for each person to prayerfully make decisions for herself about when she dies.”
“Believing in legal protection for gay couples. Say that you understand those who believe that the Bible opposes gay marriage, but explain that you read that text differently.”
Add, in solemn tones, that “Jesus healed the sick, so he might have some concern for those 45 million Americans without insurance; he was not a hater, so would surely not join in demonizing gays; and he spoke constantly of the poor and the marginalized.” Sound really confident when you lie that “the Bible has more to say about caring for the poor than about eradicating sexual sin.” Don’t worry; nobody will challenge you on this whopper.
Now here is something important. You can help destroy traditional religious morality as long as you sound spiritual. Point out piously that we should not tell our kids that sex before marriage is forbidden. Explain that “since many of them will not marry for years after the onset of puberty, it is unreasonable to suggest that this traditional standard should be maintained.” Still, stress that “the ethical principles that apply inside marriage apply outside of marriage as well.”
Finally, use natural disasters to attack faith-based initiatives. Denounce the Bush Administration for exploiting the success of religion to further fund churches and synagogues. Put it this way: “The lesson of Katrina is that social service is the job of government.”
See what I mean? It is quite easy to sound religious while actually being merely spiritual. That way, you can continue furthering the goals of your party and avoid alienating the growing number of us who take Biblical religion very seriously.
And talking of taking religion seriously, I have a confession to make: I plagiarized all the examples of spiritual-talk above. With only minor editing for space purposes, the quoted passages were lifted entirely from the sermon given on November 19, 2005, by the president of the Union for Reform Judaism. As a final note, that organization—only half in jest—is often referred to as the circumcised wing of the Democratic Party.
Rabbi Daniel Lapin, an Orthodox Rabbi in Seattle, Washington, is author of Thou Shall Prosper, America's Real War, and Buried Treasure. He is the president of Toward Tradition and hosts his own television and radio shows.
Bump.
With the MSM behind them... they'll continue to advance their agenda.
That's their problem
They can quote the Bible till the cows come home .. but if they don't understand what they are saying ... they will never get it
The Democrats' dilemma:
"Do we be ourselves and repress religious people, or do we suck it up and allow religious freedom for purely political reasons?"
They can talk religious all they want but we still know BS when we see hear and smell it.
Not only that, but they usually don't quote the Bible accurately in the first place. Bill Clinton and Al Gore were both famous for leaving out key words and phrases and adding invisible others.
But don't worry. Most people who would be swayed by their faux piety wouldn't know the difference anyhow.
It wouldn't be the first time the Bible was quoted for a nefarious purpose. The Devil quoted Scripture passages in order to twist them also. They'll find themselves in friendly company.
On the Friday after Thanksgiving, a friend and I drove there.
The enclave is a series of mobile homes plopped onto an unkempt lot just off of route 615; the proverbial middle of nowhere. The entry to the settlement has a guardhouse, it was unmanned (I think) when we were there, but it gives the place an unsettling, prison-like look. There is also a green and white sign, about six feet by eight feet, which denotes the camp as "The home of American Muslims, Jamat-al-Fuqra", with some Arabic symbols surrounding the text. There is also a street sign which says "Sheik Gilani Drive". Sheik Gilani, incidentally, was the cleric who Daniel Pearl had gone to interview when he was captured, and subsequently beheaded in Pakistan.
Baron Bodissey, over on gatesofvienna.bogspot.com has a better summary, as he paid them a visit too. Suffice it to say it is an eerie thing to see not 20 miles from Babcock and Wicox's nuclear facility in Lynchburg.
I post this because after seeing the enclave, one begins to feel a justifiable fear for what might be going on behind the fence there, but as we travelled around the area to get a feel for who else might be in the area, we found something very symbolic, and very encouraging.
This Muslim enclave is surrounded by what has to be the most churches per capita of anyplace in America. We saw seven or eight churches (all but one Baptist) within a three mile radius of the enclave, a very comforting, encouraging sight indeed, given the thoughts we had entertained while sneaking around the Muslim encampment.
Christianity may be the only way we in America can keep from becoming what we now see in France. My vote goes to the strategy of "surround them with churches".
While I agree with you I'd also support a law saying that every mosque must be in the middle of a pig farm.
Pleasant watching the democrats suffer. Think I'll have a brew with lunch and raise a toast.
As the only openly religious candidate, Joe Lieberman recieved about 1% of the Democrat votes in the primaries.
Dems are beyond hope in this generation.
It's not a problem for the democrats...they will just issue a statement that they've ALWAYS been the party of faith. Rewriting history is a democrat specialty.
Dems are beyond hope in this generation.
I'm afraid you're right.
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