‘Dance with the one who brought ‘ya’

That’s an old saying in the Midwest, meaning (to paraphrase) you have an ethical obligation to stand by the one who escorted you to the event and perhaps paid your way.

That comes to mind on this day after the election when, in the crush of media speculation, some voices are saying that people of faith are the losers in the sweep to power of liberal Democrats.

How convenient, to write off a critical demographic of voters that candidates wooed and sought and consulted and included, to reach their flocks. This is (thankfully) not president-elect Obama, but operatives who are voicing their hope…and scorn.

GetReligion breaks it down and provides good links to polls. Catholics and evangelicals figured prominently in this race, and they’re both divided right down the line. This time around, we saw the ‘religious left’ split from the religious right in the evangelical demoninations, and Catholics split between the ‘peace and social justice’ and ‘pro-life’ crowds (a false dichotomy – it’s both/and, not either/or). Abortion was the decider.

In the end, they made a difference. And who “they” are is an important delineation within ‘the religious vote’.

Similarly, a sizeable gap exists between those who attend religious services regularly and those who attend less often.

Some prominent, self-proclaimed pro-life Catholic scholars brought their influence to the public arena on behalf of Obama, in spite of Church teaching on the primacy of life among all issues (a de facto clash between the candidate’s policies and Catholic teaching). So now that he has won the office of the presidency, some want to throw them overboard.

Christian America mounted one very massive prayer campaign and get-out-the-vote effort for this election. The least they hope for is that his administration will continue not only to ask for their voices, but listen to them.