Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Democrats try out faith-based message
Concord Monitor Online ^ | 6/24/07 | AnnMarie Timmins

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."


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: democrats; faith; judeochristianity; moralabsolutes; religiousleft
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-54 next last
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.'"

What she is describing is moral relativism and this is just more proof that they simply don't get it.

1 posted on 06/24/2007 1:18:29 PM PDT by wagglebee
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: 230FMJ; 49th; 50mm; 69ConvertibleFirebird; Aleighanne; Alexander Rubin; An American In Dairyland; ..
Moral Absolutes Ping!

Freepmail wagglebee or little jeremiah to subscribe or unsubscribe from the moral absolutes ping list.

FreeRepublic moral absolutes keyword search
[ Add keyword moral absolutes to flag FR articles to this ping list ]


2 posted on 06/24/2007 1:19:07 PM PDT by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wagglebee

Socialist are Goddless. They give fishes instead of teaching to fish.


3 posted on 06/24/2007 1:21:47 PM PDT by bmwcyle (Satan is working both sides of the street in World Socialism and World Courts.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wagglebee

The Democrat party is a joke when it comes to morality. One reason I left it.


4 posted on 06/24/2007 1:23:04 PM PDT by Recovering_Democrat (I am SO glad to no longer be associated with the party of Dependence on Government!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wagglebee

“The Obama campaign asked Tigert to be involved after hearing her testify in favor of civil unions at the State Huse...”

Kind of undermines the entire article, no?


5 posted on 06/24/2007 1:23:04 PM PDT by jocon307 (The Silent Majority - silent no longer)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wagglebee

Jesus drove the money changers out of the temple.

Today’s money changers are the liberal/socialist/communist so_called “progressives” who want to give ALL the money to the government.


6 posted on 06/24/2007 1:27:24 PM PDT by kitkat (I refuse to let the DUers chase me off FR.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wagglebee
“What she is describing is moral relativism and this is just more proof that they simply don’t get it.”

Which is exactly what Obama is talking about. They have faith alright, but faith in WHAT?? It certainly isn’t in WHOM it should be!

7 posted on 06/24/2007 1:27:53 PM PDT by gidget7 ( Vote for the Arsenal of Democracy, because America RUNS on Duncan!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: gidget7

They have “faith” that big government with flexible morality is the answers implementing worldwide socialist totalitarianism.


8 posted on 06/24/2007 1:29:12 PM PDT by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: wagglebee

I am waiting for the ACLU and Barry Lynn to complain.


9 posted on 06/24/2007 1:31:57 PM PDT by Kuksool
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wagglebee

So this is the new lie since all the Democrat Party’s old lies are showing kind of thead bear in the aftermath of 2006.


10 posted on 06/24/2007 1:33:26 PM PDT by MNJohnnie (If you will try being smarter, I will try being nicer.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wagglebee
"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."

The only thing they've figured out is how to try to sound like they found religion in order to try to get themselves elected to office. Actually having faith, is another thing altogether. If any if them get elected, watch them all of the sudden forget their faith.

11 posted on 06/24/2007 1:34:08 PM PDT by lowbridge ("The mainstream media IS the Democratic Party." - Rush Limbaugh)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: jocon307
Obama is a weasal. IF he could have a public baptism it would go a long way towards dispelling the fact that he is a muslim by birth and a muslim he will stay until he renounces his faith in public.

The demoncrats have found their niche at the gates of hell. Their mendacity is legion.

12 posted on 06/24/2007 1:34:34 PM PDT by x_plus_one (As long as we pretend to not be fighting Iran in Iraq, we can't pretend to win the war.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: wagglebee

it is...
John 14:6


13 posted on 06/24/2007 1:37:43 PM PDT by wayne_b24 (tag line in shop. this is a rental ... does it make me look fat?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wagglebee

Treason, totalitarianism, and total theft of our taxes.

Nice “relogious faith” you got there, democrats.


14 posted on 06/24/2007 1:37:53 PM PDT by FormerACLUmember (The ideal tyranny is that which is ignorantly self-administered by its victims.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wagglebee

The DemocRAT mantra: “How can we fool ‘em today?”

RATs will ALWAYS tell you what they think you want to hear, but NEVER what they really believe.


15 posted on 06/24/2007 1:39:23 PM PDT by Zman516 (socialists & muslims -- satan's useful idiots.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: gidget7

he should fire his “religion advisor”. how long has b. hussein obama been incorrectly using the phrase, “i am my brother’s keeper”? Genesis 4:9


16 posted on 06/24/2007 1:40:11 PM PDT by wayne_b24 (tag line in shop. this is a rental ... does it make me look fat?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: jocon307

Liberals/Socialists/and extended to the natural conclusion “Communists” can not tolerate the moral absolutes of the Bible///

But the Liberal Church will find warm companions in the Dems....why?

Because they have sold their souls to the devil


17 posted on 06/24/2007 1:41:19 PM PDT by Halgr (Once a Marine, always a Marine - Semper Fi)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: wagglebee

This is probably why Romney leads New Hampshire in the polls.....relativism.


18 posted on 06/24/2007 1:41:57 PM PDT by colorcountry (To pursue union at the expense of truth is treason to the Lord Jesus. - Charles Haddon Spurgeon -)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wagglebee
How can one claim to be a Christan and vote democrat given that the democrat party embraces sinful behavior.
19 posted on 06/24/2007 1:42:41 PM PDT by Kimmers (Si vis pacem, para bellum)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wagglebee
They have to legislate immorality into law in order to control the masses, namely faith based people, of all faiths! The only way they can get control is totalitarianism. And Christians are the biggest threat. I am still waiting for the “pushing back” to start. So far, I see it on small scales, and it isn’t enough!
20 posted on 06/24/2007 1:43:14 PM PDT by gidget7 ( Vote for the Arsenal of Democracy, because America RUNS on Duncan!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-54 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson