Posted on 07/09/2006 9:40:55 AM PDT by Chi-townChief
"Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen." (Hebrews 11-1)
When Barack Obama stepped out and spoke at length about his faith, my initial reaction was it may start a flood of religious testimonials from Democrats who have accepted the assumptions of the Far Right.
On the other hand, when one looks at the question of religion and public policy over the sweep of American history, it is quite different from the picture painted by the Right. The Democratic Party over the past 50 years seems to have found itself between the proverbial rock and a hard place.
The rock is the public policy positions that were necessitated to make this country, as Martin Luther King Jr. said, live up to the full meaning of its creed. The hard place is a Republican Party standing in the wings waiting to take advantage of a public backlash that invariably comes from doing the right thing.
Consequently, it is a good thing for an elected official to speak confidently about his or her religious groundings. However it is something else to put them into practice in a political context. For example, since the Fourth of July was celebrated this past week, we can start with the founding of this great nation.
When this country was founded the largest moral issue of the day was side-stepped. In fact, the moral issue of the day was compromised by the Founding Fathers and written into Article 1, Section 2 of the Constitution.
This section deals with the basis for determining how representatives will be sent to Congress.
It reads, "Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included within this union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons."
It was this three-fifths compromise that lead to the wide spread belief that African-Americans were viewed as three-fifths human. The number three-fifths was part of a political compromise that enabled the southern states to join the union knowing their interest in slavery was protected by the Founding Fathers.
Morality was sacrificed in favor of political and economic expediency. After all, the first six presidents of these United States were slave owners.
In the years leading up to the Civil War the economy of the South and the national economy orbited around slavery and the many byproducts of this inhumane system. On top of this economic base developed a system of values, beliefs, material rewards and benefits that taken together shaped the southern way of life.
Churches were an integral part of this lifestyle built on owning humans as property. Denominations like the Quakers and the Methodists got it right the first time and opposed slavery on moral grounds. Others, unfortunately, went along for the social and economic joy ride.
After the Civil War the country took a few steps toward aligning its social and economic policies with the moral vision of Richard Allen and Absalom Jones, the founders of the African Methodist Episcopal Church during the brief period we know as Reconstruction. However, this period was short-lived.
Terrorist violence, lynchings and legislative roll-backs of the laws passed during Reconstruction set the stage for the modern civil rights movement's fight against segregation and, ultimately, the call for the Voting Rights Act of 1964.
Remember what Lyndon Johnson said when he signed the Voting Rights Act in 1964: It is the right (moral) thing to do but with the stroke of this pen the South would be given over to the Republicans for the next 40 years.
Kevin Phillips, writing in his highly recommended book "American Theocracy," states, "The Democrats' crowning problem lay in a deepening mismatch with the cultural and religious viewpoints of the their erstwhile bastion, the white South."
He continues, "When Democratic administrations were in office, Washington authorities were as much at odds with the southern white majority as the carpetbaggers of old, which helps to explain the resentments unleashed."
Earlier Phillips estimates that racial policies accounted for one-third to 50 percent of the white South's defection from the Democratic Party. Thirty to 50 percent of white southern votes swinging to the Democratic Party's candidate would have spelled certain victory in 2000 and 2004.
The challenge for the Democrats is not they are insufficiently pious. Democrats need to do a better job of crafting their moral messages in the vocabulary of the church.
David Johnson's "Subject to Change" appears every other week in The Star. Johnson is a professor at South Suburban College in South Holland and a former mayor of Harvey. He may be reached at djohnson@southsuburbancollege.edu.
Well they are a cult...
Hahahaha. This is too funny. The Dems are never going to win as long as they are crafting their message to cloud their true beliefs of course they are never going to win running on their true beliefs. The only way the Democratic party can win power is to jetison the rabid Abortion / Gay / AntiAmerican block but then again that would leave them with the task to rebuild their base but in the long term they could focus on things that could resonate with the public like consumer rights and other issues to help provide people more control and more options when they face crises. There is a lot of room for a Democratic party but the insanity that is today's Democratic party can not win by positioning itself against the very country they wish to lead.
Hillary's effusions of "faith" make me chuckle. I suppose there is no bottom of her contempt for the American people.
Well they do have faith.....in the Almighty Federal Government.
Building somethign out of nothing? Why not live your message of faith?
As Ann Coulter pointed out, their faith is defined by:
Their sacraments (abortion).
Their holy writ (Roe v. Wade).
Their martyrs (from Soviet spy Alger Hiss to cop-killer Mumia Abu Jamal).
Their clergy (public school teachers).
Their churches (government schools).
Their doctrine of infallibility (as manifest in the "absolute authority" of such spokesmen as Cindy Sheehan and Max Cleland and the Jersey Girls).
Oh, they'll craft their own message of faith alright--out of whole cloth. The Party is disgusting in a slimey sort of way.
There's only ONE reason the Dems would craft their language to match that to the church: it is to hoodwink the Church into thinking the Dems are on their side, and believe what they believe.
They will be most effective with those church bodies that do not hold fast to true Biblical beliefs.
If they can fake out enough of them, they might be able to wrest control again. And if they do, watch them turn on those same churches that supported them. In fact, I will be so bold as to make a prediction: The Democrats, should they get into power, will attempt to destroy the Church, making worship of Jesus illegal, and will imprison those that do ala the old Soviet Union.
Democrats....deny this if you can.
I saw a video clip of this photo-op in Church.
Barack clapped while singing hymns almost exactly like Hillary claps while singing hymns....like she has no spirit.
It was offputting.
Obama again: The False Messiah of the Dims.
.
Perhaps they should try on THIS..?
The Words:
http://www.Freerepublic.com/~ALOHARONNIE
The Pictures:
http://www.Freerepublic.com/~JLO
The Thread:
http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1085111/posts
.
Posted before but worth posting agin.
President Anyone?
The GOP is doing well,
The future looks bright and clear,
They’re not so sure at the DNC
As 2008 draws near.
Hillary is breathing hard,
Edwards is getting a “do.”
Kerry wants to try it again,
And Clark is saying “me too.”
Dean is pumping out hatred,
Daschle has built up his shoes;
Gore is nervously watching
To see how Hillary moves.
Anything is possible
As far as politics go,
But the chance of this crowd winning ‘08
Hangs between zero and no.
Demos oppose the war in Iraq,
And tried very hard to mislead.
Now they’re beginning to self-destruct,
Like a Roadside IED.
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