The “r” word again, besides religion

Aha! Another condescending analysis of religions and politics in America. This one kind of drips with scorn.

“Talk about your faith!”

That was the nearly universal advice to Democratic politicians after the publicly pious George W. Bush vanquished the more religiously reticent John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election. The largest plurality of voters — 22% — had told exit pollsters that “moral values” (left undefined in the poll) were their most salient concern. Add to this enigmatic survey finding the fact that 11 states passed amendments banning gay marriage, and the result, according to gleeful Republican pundits and not a few Democratic consultants, was the exposure of a Democratic God gap.

“God gap?” Why the sarcasm?

Ever since then, Democrats have been trying to show that they, too, have God in their hearts and in their caucus rooms.

Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., has declared herself a “praying person.” “I was lucky enough to be raised in a praying family, and learned to say my prayers as a very young child,” she said at a benefit in Boston last year. The House’s Democratic Faith Working Group, created in 2005, provides “members of strong and authentic faith” an organizing venue. The lengthy “My Faith as My Guide” section of Rep. Harold Ford’s campaign website discloses that Tennessee’s Democratic senatorial candidate went into politics to put his “faith and beliefs into action.” Other Democratic hopefuls have testified to their religion as November draws near.

This piece says more about the author and the Democrats than was, possibly, intended.

What are we supposed to learn when a candidate talks about his faith: That he is a good person? The rich history of religious bounders and charlatans should give the lie to that hope. Nor has a sincere belief in God prevented behavior we now view as morally repugnant.

There’s the “r” word again. Is that in the talking points for a certain party and its media operatives? Funny thing is, it’s working against them.

This surge of mediagenic piety is discouraging to one of the least heralded segments of the political spectrum: secular conservatives. The conservative movement has supposedly benefited from politicians who publicize their relationship to God. Non-believing conservatives, however, see this electoral gain as a Pyrrhic victory. Conservative principles, they say, are best grounded in reason and evidence, not revelation.

“They say” that because that’s the beauty of absolute truth. Better stated — as it was by Pope John Paul II – “faith and reason go together like two wings on which the human reason rises to the contemplation of truth.” Which is divinely revealed.