Barack O-Bible

I just listened to the first installment of Another Goddamned Podcast, and they discuss the topic of politicians (Barack Obama in this case) pandering to Christians. (A great podcast by the way!)

This has been a problem longer than I've been alive. Every time any legal challenge tries to draw a clear line between church and state (nativity scenes on government property, ten commandments on government property, the phrase "under God" in our pledge of allegiance, the phrase "In God we Trust" on our currency, etc.) the politicians of both parties practically fall over each other trying to be the first to condemn any such challenge. These are some of the only times you'll see unanimous votes in the House or Senate to overturn any such ruling. It is very clear that Atheists have no voice in politics whatsoever.

In fact, we have less support now than we had at the turn of the 20th century. Adding "In God we Trust" to currency and "Under God" in the pledge all happened in the Twentieth Century.

And now we see this recent turn of events where Barack Obama is going out of his way to proclaim his Christianity and make it clear that he will live and lead as a man of faith.

I have so many mixed emotions on this subject that I could literally argue with myself for days. I want Atheists to have a voice, and I want them to have the option to oppose candidates who threaten the separation between church and state. But after 7 years of the current crop of Republican leaders (it's not just Bush), I've changed my voting registration from Independent to Democrat, and I'll support even an Evangelistic Christian Democrat over any of the current crop of Republican candidates.

The Background

Although this is highly oversimplified, let's group Americans into one of 4 categories:

1. Social Liberal and Economic Liberal
2. Social Conservative and Economic Conservative
3. Social Liberal and Economic Conservative
4. Social Conservative and Economic Liberal
   

But we only have 2 parties to choose from, and so the parties gravitate toward the two largest groups, which seem to be groups 1 and 2.

Group 3 tends to be people who register as independents, and they can be tipped into either party.

Group 4 is a perfect fit for evangelical Christians, and likewise should split evenly between Democrat and Republican. And yet Evangelicals overwhelmingly vote Republican.

Why do Evangelicals vote Republican?

Just a few decades ago, the Bible Belt voted overwhelmingly Democrat. Christian morals and the Democrat political values were a natural match. The Democrats stood up for the poor and disadvantaged. But this lead to supporting the Civil Right movement of the 60's, and this was highly unpopular in the Bible Belt. And honestly, the Bible is not a great champion of Civil Rights.

But the Civil Rights movement worked very well for the Democrats, and so they became the party supporting women's rights as well, and this lead to supporting abortion, and even attracted supporters of gay rights and animal rights.

The Bible is not a strong supporter (to say the least) of women's rights. Although the Bible doesn't say much against homosexuality, it says just enough to allow homophobes to use the Bible like a sledgehammer against anyone supporting gay marriage. The Bible doesn't have a single passage that is clearly anti-abortion either, but it has enough literary references to life before birth that Christians seem to have interpreted it that way, and they've made it a major issue.

Southern evangelicals live in a very homeostatic world, and anything that supports a social change is terrifying to them. This was the tipping point that converted evangelicals to the Republican Party.

I think after being in the Republican Party for so many years, the evangelical Christians have become slightly brainwashed with some of the extreme forms of economic conservative beliefs as well. (Evangelicals are prone to brainwashing. What a surprise.) I've seen Christians who live in poverty but vocally support tax cuts for the wealthy. They've also adopted this the Republican slavish worship of business that says if capitalism is good, then all businesses must be good, and corporations can do no wrong. Republicans LOVE Wal-Mart and Microsoft and Haliburton and Lockheed-Martin and Enron (until they got caught) and Oil Companies and any company that makes money at the expense of everything and everyone. And now many evangelical Christians have adopted this philosophy...even when it is (sometimes) at odds with Christian morals.




Barack Obama

Anyway, all of the above is the foundation for what is happening to the Democratic party today. The Republicans get all of the Group 2 vote, half the Group 3 vote, and all of the Group 4 vote. It has been a rough time for the Democrats for the past few decades. The loss of the evangelical Christians has hurt the Democrats in ways that they've never been able to fully recover from. They only managed to barely get control of congress after a long series of historically tragic mistakes on the part of the current Republican leadership. (Again, it's not just Bush. I could ramble off at least 20 names in the Republican leadership...or 10 if you don't count the one's who have already been forced to leave office.) But this backlash against Republicans won't last.
Many Democrats honestly believe that they cannot prosper without stronger evangelical support. We will always be this "divided nation" of two Americas unless the one of the two parties can make a home for disenchanted factions in the other party.

Barack Obama's pandering to faith is nothing new. Bill Clinton would quote scripture with the best of them, and Jimmy Carter was one of the most religious presidents in recent history. The Democratic party is doing everything it possibly can to appeal to the Christian majority of this country.

And as an Atheist, this very troubling to see all of American politics kissing up to Christian evangelicals every chance they get, but we have to fact the facts that Groups 3 and 4 have all the power right now, because Groups 1 and 2 are entrenched and loyal and evenly matched. Democrats are going to have to attract groups 3 and 4 by promising to cut spending and promising to lead with faith.


Big Picture

People who have a strong belief in God are the vast majority of the American population today, and will be so for at least another 50 years if not much much longer. There is nothing that can be done about that. If the Democratic party is to succeed, they very much need to attract people of faith. Many Evangelicals are NOT opposed to the economic liberalism of the Democratic party. Mike Huckabee is proof of that. What they are (mostly) opposed to is the social liberalism of the party.

The Democratic party needs to prove that it's political values are more in sync with Christian moral values than are the Republican political values. They need to prove that they have a realistic form of economic liberalism that will keep spending in check.

For Barack Obama to pander to the Christian majority is totally expected and needed. Is it dishonest? Maybe, but I don't know Obama's personal beliefs. He seems very genuine in his spirituality, and yet he's had the guts to openly support and enforce the separation of church and state. He seems to understand the difference between espousing faith and governing by faith. The Republicans clearly don't understand that difference. The Republicans are convinced to their very core that this is a Christian nation because the founding fathers were all devout Christians. They definitely were not.

I will be keenly watching for any moves that directly violate our Constitution, but outside of that, I'm fine with Barack making moves to bring more Christans into the Democratic party. Those Christians who are militant about abortion above all else will probably never be Democrats. But there are lots of moderate faithful who are not one-issue voters, they will balance all these concerns and be willing to back whichever party supports the greatest number of their values. These are the Christians who are largely voting Republicans but are disenchanted with many current Republican policies.

So, I wish Barack Obama all the luck. I think he has a better chance of winning converts from the right than Hillary does. He has a better chance of making all of us put down our hot-button pet issues and come together as a nation to solve the bigger problems facing us all. I voted for Barack over Hillary, and I sincerely hope he wins.

Go Barack!!!!!!!!!!!!


(Side Note)
It's not that I don't like Hillary. She rates highest on support for the sciences. But I don't think most Americans realize how much Hillary is hated on the right. Even the people on the right are keeping it quiet, but it's there. I spent some time in rural Tennessee...disguised as a Republican...and I swear those people are ready to lock-and-load and start causing violent trouble if she looks like she'll win. I think she also might have a chip on her shoulder against Republicans (and deservedly so) which would prevent her from working as well with Republicans as Barack. There are too many Republicans who would lose all of the credibility if they suddenly agreed to anything Hillary wants.

Right now, we are facing such dire issues that I'm totally in the mood to forgive everything any Republican has ever done and just get on with our lives. I think Barack has that attitude as well. I'm not sure Hillary does.

Then again...only Nixon could go to China and only Kirk could make peace with Klingons. Maybe only Hilary can appease Republicans? :)