Posted on 06/24/2007 1:18:27 PM PDT by wagglebee
C hurch attendance in New Hampshire is among the lowest in the country, which is why the invite from the Barack Obama campaign was unusual. At "faith forums" across the state last week, voters were asked to discuss how their faith should influence politics and public life.
Chuck Hotchkiss, a professor at Southern New Hampshire University, helped organize the forums and attended the first, in Portsmouth, not knowing what to expect. The crowd of 40 from seven faith traditions encouraged him.
So did their reaction.
"People came out of there really surprised and pleased at having the opportunity to have that kind of conversation, because that's not something you get to talk about much in everyday life," Hotchkiss said.
That may change in this presidential election.
Talk of religion and politics has long been the domain of the conservative right, especially around hot-button issues like abortion and gay marriage. According to exit polls, 40 percent of the electorate go to church at least once a week and tend to vote Republican. In the 2004 election, of the 26 percent of voters who attended weekly services, 60 percent voted for President Bush, 40 percent for John Kerry, according to the Washington Post. Among those who attended church more frequently, 65 percent supported Bush and 35 percent Kerry.
The split is called the "God gap" in political circles, and Democrats are trying to close it.
This month, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Obama appeared on CNN to answer questions about their faith. The campaigns have religious advisers, too. In recent months, the candidates have described their positions on immigration, poverty and the rebuilding of New Orleans as expressions of faith. Like the Obama campaign, the Clinton team is organizing voters around faith issues in each state and intend to host listening sessions where "faith surrogates" can spread Clinton's message across the country.
"Faith and politics," said David Lamarre-Vincent, executive director of the New Hampshire Council of Churches. "As the right got it right, the left finally figured it out."
Lamarre-Vincent was contacted by the Clinton campaign last week about the priorities of New Hampshire's churchgoers. The campaigns are more interested than ever, and Lamarre-Vincent isn't complaining.
The council is in the midst of a two-year effort aimed at poverty, peace and the environment. To that end, clergy and lay leaders are encouraging members of congregations and parishes to question candidates thoroughly on those issues and to share their own beliefs.
"Whether it's creation stories leading to the protection of the environment or teachings in the Old and New Testaments, where the poor are mentioned thousands of times," Lamarre-Vincent said. "We've encouraged people to become fully engaged in the public square . . . and let (candidates) know these issues are important to them as people of faith."
Dante Scala, a political science professor at the University of New Hampshire, has watched elections closely for years. He's not convinced the religious references will resonate as well here as they would, say, in the South. But that doesn't mean there won't be a payoff for Democratic candidates, he said.
"Being able to talk about faith gives voters insight into the character of a person," Scala said. "Particularly in a primary, where there isn't that much of a difference on the issues, faith provides a window."
Adam Taylor, director of campaigns and organizing for Sojourners, a Christian organization focused on spiritual renewal and social justice, said there's a significant shift this election that's made it easier for the Democrats to claim some religious ground. This time around, he said, the leading Democratic candidates are much better at talking about faith than the leading Republicans.
Clinton has said prayer gave her the strength to endure her husband's infidelity. She talks of immigration as a moral issue. Edwards admitted on CNN to straying from his faith for a time but relying on it when his son died and his wife was diagnosed with cancer. Edwards has said his work around poverty, for example, is a direct expression of faith.
Obama discovered the church after college, when he took a job organizing impoverished communities in Chicago. Whether he's discussing war, veteran benefits or poverty, Obama returns to the same biblical passage: "I am my brother's keeper."
The leading Republican presidential contenders, meanwhile, are struggling on the faith front, Taylor said. Rudy Giuliani is a twice-divorced, pro-choice Catholic. Sen. John McCain angered the religious right during the 2000 presidential election, Taylor said, and has never been vocal about his faith.
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney seems the most comfortable discussing his faith, Taylor said, but his Mormonism may unsettle many Americans.
"There are a lot of voters out there who can be reached around faith," Taylor said. "And there is a growing recognition in the Democratic Party that they can no longer be hostile to people of faith. (For those faith voters) there is not a sole litmus test, but they do care about how candidates approach life morally."
That has been the message at the Obama faith forums, Hotchkiss said. The idea, he said, isn't to line up voters behind a single position on universal health care, for example, but to encourage them to seek common ground and build relationships that allow for listening and compromising.
The Rev. Dr. Leanne Tigert, a pastoral counselor, ordained minister, theological teacher and member of South Church in Concord, is thrilled to be having these conversations in New Hampshire. The Obama campaign asked Tigert to be involved after hearing her testify in favor of civil unions at the State House, and she accepted in part because she saw Obama as a candidate of hope and inspiration.
"My agenda is not to convert people to my faith," Tigert said. "My agenda is to live out my faith caring for my neighbors, who might be across the street or across the world in Iraq."
Obama's faith forums have left Tigert excited about politics for the first time in years. "For the last 15 years, if you said Christian and religion, people thought you meant my way or the highway," Tigert said. "Our version is, 'Your faith is as significant at mine.' Let's bring out faith to the table for the mission of justice."
Have you ever seen that feminist bumper sticker that says “If you don’t like abortion, don’t have one!”? I saw it on some POS Honda driven by some feminist thing one day. Then I put that together with the hang-up that the covens at Pandagon or Feministe have about rape and came up with the tag line.
This is just as believable as Democrats nominating a certified, award-winning war hero in 2004, in order to prove that they ... what, like war? Now, liberals, who worship at the altar of big government, want to claim religion as theirs. I know I’m convinced.
I wondered about that too, there are three main monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), one large polytheistic religion (Hinduism) and Buddhism which is nontheistic. There are very few Shintoists in America, so I am very curious as to what seven traditions they included.
That also works well when confronting the Roody Rooters.
Liberal religion is humanism dressed up with religious words.
That’s the “faith” Obama is talking about.
An empty suit faith.
Religion is the opium of the people when they mainline it.
I'm paraphrasing a really silly movie, but I think the Dhims will find this to be true.
The Sodomites stole my church (episcopal)here in New Hampshire, and they wonder why church attendance is declining....
The sodomites aren’t trying to “steal” the Anglican Church (or any other for that matter), they are trying to completely DESTROY six thousand years of Judeo-Christian tradition.
So, Democrats will be talking faith, while if I’m here on FreeRepublic I’m often called a bigot for discussing the faith issues of our candidates. So pretty soon, the only people who will be able to discuss faith in the political arena will be Hillary and Obama.
The GOP leadership is working hard to alienate the conservative religious voters. This anointing of Rudy (who is fading fast) and all the scandals have pushed a number of people to stop supporting the GOP.
It isn’t so much that they will now vote DNC, but that they will stop voting. Neither party is really that interested in the issues that religious Christians care about.
They trot their ‘religious message’ out every four years, then ignore or worse, religious folks in between.
This is exactly the kind of "Reverend" that I would expect to support the Democrats. A "Reverend" that doesn't believe the Bible or its teachings. And is she a lesbian?? Dems are such pathetic jokes when it comes to religion.
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