Democrats pushing for their religious voice

With the launch of www.faithfuldemocrats.org today, the Democratic establishment looks to further set in stone that they are a party that gets religion.

Only one in four voters thinks that the Democrats are friendly to religious voters. And as this CBS news article details, former Democratic Party chairman David Wilhelm was booed when he told members of the Christian Coalition that good Christians could belong to either political party.

Ergo the new Web site that is "tired of politicians, partisans and preachers spelling God 'G-O-P'." On the site, you can read a "faith exclusive" from Pennsylvania Senate candidate Bob Casey, or a blog entry on Internet porn from Eric Sapp, a staff person at Common Good Strategies, a DC-based consultancy agency that works with Democratic campaigns to clue them in regarding faith issues.

Looking over the new site, I'm all for Democrats cluing themselves into religion. Some of the great victories for the Left in the past century have been steeped in faith-based organizing, from the Civil Rights Movement to the Labor movement, and even now the Environmental Movement (for a great dose of optimism on how liberals and conservatives might actually work together to solve our environmental crisis, see this article about Harvard professor E.O. Wilson).

What boils my britches, however, are consultants looking to mold religious values into a series of talking points to elect Democrats. It's no different than consultants (ala Karl Rove) molding religious values into a series of talking points to elect Republicans (see elections in 2000, 2002, and 2004). It may be effective, but what you get in victory you lose in authenticity.

I know religion is the new fora for practicing politics, and I get that Democrats have lost touch with the core social justice principles that make many people - myself included - register with the party. But I hope that folks realize that this Web site - which hopefully will do some good - looks more public relations than religious substance. Reading Bob Casey's take on faith is great, but when he says that he takes to heart the words of St. Francis that we should "preach the Gospel always...use words whenever necessary," I'd like him to offer an explanation for how he's preaching the Gospel in one sentence, and saying that he would have voted for the Iraq war in the next sentence. Because my religious values dictate that the two don't go together.

For what it's worth, I hope this site does push Democrats to embrace religious values, and urge candidates to open up about what faith values drive their desire for public service. What I hope it doesn't become is a gift-wrapping center for packaging Democratic candidates in faith-based wrapping.