--- In [email protected], "shempmcgurk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Kirsten Powers > > Bio > > 10.24.2006 > Obama and The God Factor (31 comments ) <snip> > Obama gave a speech earlier this year and the reaction from the Far > Left was swift and harsh (and full of unbelievable cluelessness > about how much the Democratic Party does not understand religious > voters). Fortunately there were more open minded people on the Left > who gave him a fair hearing such as Amy Sullivan at Slate (link: > http://www.slate.com/id/2144983/) and Nathan Newman at TPM Cafe > (link: http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/coffeehouse/2006/jun/28/obama_religion_an > d_the_blog_reaction). > > Much of the harping from the Far Left was about how Obama wanted to > change the Democratic Party's position on gay rights and abortion.
It's not clear how that idea got started. He didn't say anything about changing the Democratic position on either. The description of the reaction from the far left above is simplistic in the extreme. Read the comments to the TPM piece to see how varied and nuanced it was. Those few who react with uncompromising negativity whenever religion comes up tend to do so simply because the only *form* of religion they know anything about is noisy and intolerant fundie Christianity. That's ignorant, of course, but the right wing takes advantage of that sort of reaction to tar the entire Democratic Party as hostile to religion, which is by no means the case. > On topic: > > Not God's Party: A New Poll Shows Democrats Are Losing (More) > Religious Voters - By Amy Sullivan - Slate Magazine -- > http://www.slate.com/id/2148547/ The same two things are going on here, I think, and Sullivan mostly misses how they interact: The Republicans, especially the nutcase far right, have worked for years to smear Democrats as not religious; and many Democratic political folk are reluctant to talk about religion because they don't want to be associated with intolerant fundie Christianity. These two factors combine to create the *perception* that the Democratic Party isn't the place for religious people, but in reality that's simply not the case. Democrats are just as religious as Republicans; it's just that they don't feel the need to *say* so all the time. To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
