Posted on 09/06/2006 8:13:46 PM PDT by boromeo
Bringing crass and value-free politics to a new low, even for the "anything goes" Democratic National Party, a new web site has been announced called "faithfuldemocrats.org." According the Chicago Tribune, the site's founders said "the seed was planted after 2004 when there was a lot of hand-wringing going on and a lot of people were wondering how on Earth Democrats failed to convey a sense of faith and values in that election." Are they really that stupid? CCI readers, along most other Christians, may wonder how the Democrats will gain any credibility, given the DNC's support for abortion on demand, homosexual rights, government education, and general hostility to families. Perhaps the new site's board members - Clinton apologist Mike McCurry, who was Clinton's press secretary, and Minyon Moore, who advised Clinton and Jesse Jackson Sr. - will add the necessary rhetorical flim-flam to fool Christian voters this Fall.
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WASHINGTON -- A group of Christian Democrats seeking to compete against Republicans for the vote of religious Americans has started a Web site meant to serve as a forum for like thinkers and a political tool to raise money and volunteers for Democratic candidates who share their values.
The new site, FaithfulDemocrats.com, is partly the brainchild of David Wilhelm, a former Democratic National Committee chairman who also managed campaigns for Mayor Richard M. Daley and President Bill Clinton.
Jesse Lava, another co-founder who worked for Wilhelm at the DNC and is an Evanston native, is the site's executive director.
"The seed was planted after '04 when there was a lot of hand-wringing going on and a lot of people were wondering how on Earth Democrats failed to convey a sense of faith and values in that election," Lava told reporters in a Tuesday teleconference.
"What David and I believed was what we needed was some vehicle that would help shape the national debate on faith and politics," Lava said.
"So the main thing was to help reframe the values debate to be beyond wedge-issue politics, beyond fear and division and more focused on justice and the common good," Lava said. "So our site is explicitly a Christian community. It is explicitly a Democratic community."
Lava said the site's founders hoped it would be a place where Christian Democrats could share ideas through blogs and other features and organize efforts to boost particular candidates who reflect their values.
National surveys have repeatedly shown that the most frequent churchgoers tend to be Republicans while those who attend church less frequently are more often Democrats.
The exception to that would be African-Americans, who comprise one of the strongest constituencies within the Democratic Party's base despite as a group having very high rates of church attendance.
Republicans have appealed to religious voters, particularly Christians, by prominently campaigning against abortion, gay marriage and other issues.
For years, progressive Christian groups such as Sojourners have tried to swing the debate away from those wedge issues and more toward such social justice issues as poverty and health care for those without insurance.
The creators of the new site say they intend to be more overtly partisan than Sojourners, filling a niche that had gone unoccupied.
This week, the group is focusing on helping Democrat Bob Casey, who is running for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania against Republican incumbent Sen. Rick Santorum. Casey holds a substantial lead in the polls over Santorum.
The goal is to use the site to raise money and volunteers for Casey this week and other candidates in future weeks leading up to the Nov. 7 elections. While the Web site's organizers hope to have an impact on the upcoming midterm election, their focus is particularly aimed at the 2008 presidential election.
One of FaithfulDemocrats.com's leaders is a Tennessee Democrat, Roy Herron, his party's leader in the state Senate.
A folksy anti-abortion advocate, Herron is a former minister who probably would be an attractive candidate to numerous people who attend the huge, conservative-oriented churches that have provided significant support to GOP candidates.
"I'm tired of politicians and partisans and preachers spelling God G-O-P," Herron told reporters Tuesday. "Now many Americans think Jesus never rode a donkey and today only rides an elephant. The truth is God cannot be held hostage by a political party. And American Christians should not be, either."
FaithfulDemocrats.com's advisory council includes such Democratic political figures as Mike McCurry, who was Clinton's press secretary, and Minyon Moore, who advised Clinton and Jesse Jackson Sr.
It also includes well-known clergymen such as Chicagoan Rev. Leon Finney, president of the Woodlawn Organization and pastor of Metropolitan Apostolic Church, and Rev. Jim Wall, an activist who also was editor of Christian Century.
There is no CHARITY for the poor in paying your taxes to the GOVERNMENT. That is Caesar's obligations. You are still obligated to tithe to God's church.
And how did these Faithful Democrats explain away the adultery committed by Jackson and Clinton? Has the Supreme Court struck down several of the Commandments as unconstitutional?
The Dems really don't know how to do this.
This statement is straight out of a new age type religion. Unity or perhaps even Scientology.
While I believe there are Christians who are democrats, I don't think they are actually aware of the beliefs of their party leadership these days. If they were, would they in good conscience be able to support it? That is exactly why I left the democrat party that I was a member of for years.
This website is just another fake out by this soulless leadership to deceive voters once again. The infamous triangularization of the Clinton's.
What happened to that "separation of church and state" thing Democrats have been using to bludgeon any speech with religious content into submission?
You are correct in your observation about taxes and charity. Both are duties and they are separate. Regarding the sexual indiscretions of certain people I am inclined to heed the words of scripture. "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." If we start holding morals tests for everyone in public office (assuming we could actually read the sins in their life) we would have no one left to serve in either party. Yes Bill was (and maybe still is) a libertine. But that's between him, God and the woman claiming to be is wife. It's not easy. But I try to pray for him now and then usually when I contemplate my own wretched life. It is instructive in humility.
Just like Air America it is destined to sink.
They get it bassackwards every time. The DNC using the airwaves to promote propaganda is not the same as free market popular demand.
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