A gimp.
Posted on 09/04/2006 9:19:06 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - David Wilhelm once drew hisses when he suggested that Christians could be Republicans or Democrats.
Years later, Wilhelm is spreading that message again, and he's hoping for a better response this time.
With a leading poll showing only one in four Americans viewing the Democratic Party as friendly to religion, Wilhelm and a broad-based group of Christian Democratic activists are starting an Internet effort to organize religious voters whose views might be compatible with Democrats.
The site, http://www.FaithfulDemocrats.com, will go online Tuesday and showcase theologians, party strategists, political leaders and bloggers in hopes of conducting a national discussion on politics and faith.
"It struck me as strange that people whose political world is motivated by faith had to be Republican. Democrats need to be on the playing field," said Wilhelm, who recalls the unfriendly reception he received 13 years ago when, as chairman of the Democratic Party, he suggested to Christian Coalition members that good Christians could belong to either party.
He said the new Internet site will give religious Democrats "the moral support and some language they can use."
The nonprofit Web venture was conceived by Wilhelm and Chicago-based Democratic activist Jesse Lava. Tennessee state Sen. Roy Herron, a former minister, and Rev. Romal Tune, founder of the Washington D.C.-based Clergy Strategic Alliances, are co-chairmen.
By venturing into the unrestricted and freewheeling world of the Internet, however, FaithfulDemocrats are just as likely to find an full-throated blowback as an amen chorus.
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., caused a furor in the liberal blogosphere this summer when he warned liberals and progressives in a speech that "we cannot abandon the field of religious discourse."
The Web site and its place as an alternative to Christian conservatism comes as churchgoing voters who consider themselves politically liberal have tried to link their religious values to causes such as social justice, opposition to the Iraq war and the environment.
Over the last 30 years, the GOP has found common ground among traditional pro-business, anti-tax Republicans, small government advocates and social conservatives. Democrats, on the other hand, have been influenced by a secular, liberal bloc that advocates separation of church and state. The party's disparate groups have had more trouble finding a single voice.
A poll by the Pew Research Center found that the proportion of Americans who considered the Republican Party friendly to religion dropped from 55 percent last year to 47 percent this year. But that is still significantly higher than the 26 percent who regard Democrats as friendly to religion.
An effort such as FaithfulDemocrats is an "example of the evolution of this debate," said John Green, an expert on religious voters and a senior fellow at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. "It could be very well be that things like this could turn that image around."
FaithfulDemocrats' debut on the Internet features articles such as "What's wrong with the Religious Right" and "Religious values, the higher ground."
Does anyone know a real Christian that admits to being a Democrat? I don't.
Thanks!
Saw Ann and her 7/28/06 Book TV event on CSpan today, Give 'em hell, Ann!
Nothing will change for peoples' perceptions of the Democrat party until the Party changes it's platform to take out the planks that are so unfriendly to religion and religious expression. That ain't gonna happen.
The "Christian" DIMRAT voice will be characterized by:
1. RANK DEMONIC HYPOCRISY.
2. UTTER OBTUSE SILLINESS
3. TRANSPARENT IRRATIONALITY
4. HIDEOUSLY CONTRADICTORY DOUBLE MESSAGES
5. RASPY, HATE FILLED, STRAIGHT FROM HELL TONES
6. DUPLICITES OF THE WORST SORT THAT WOULD CAUSE DRUNKEN SAILORS TO BLUSH IN ABJECT GUILT AND SHAME
7. STUPIDITIES SO GROSS THAT THINKING FOLKS WILL WONDER WHAT microbes off of what slug's arse managed to climb up a microphone to utter such startling stupidities.
8. DOUBLE SPEAK so TRANSPARENT that folks will wonder if BRAVE NEW world has been resurrected.
9. RAILING, RANTING, SCREAMING OBSCENITIES as the "CHRISTIAN" DIMRATS forget what forum and issues they are supposed to be role playing.
10. SHRILLERY'S forked tail and forked tongue continually slipping out from behind her frozen smile mask and out from under her white nun's habit made especially for such alternate reality contexts.
Oxymoron Pronunciation: "äk-sE-'mor-"än Function: noun Inflected Form(s): plural ox·y·mo·ra /-'mor-&/ Etymology: Late Greek oxymOron, from neuter of oxymOros pointedly foolish, from Greek oxys sharp, keen + mOros foolish : a combination of contradictory or incongruous words (as cruel kindness); broadly : something (as a concept) that is made up of contradictory or incongruous elements - ox·y·mo·ron·ic /-m&-'rä-nik, -mo-/ adjective - ox·y·mo·ron·i·cal·ly /-ni-k(&-)lE/ adverb
Glad to read of it. Thanks.
Democrats look at religion as something that needs to be changed so they've hijacked it.
A gimp.
A large amount of evangelicals homeschool. The Democrats will never win this large vote as long as they are so in the pocket of public education.
A lot of people their politics is where the rubber meets the road. For instance gas prices can make or break a race. For a homeschooling family, this is by far the most important issue in their lives.
I can say with confidence my large hs group votes probably 95% Republican.
Every time I see the bumper sticker "Christian and a Democrat" it makes me want to ask - yes but which one do you do well?
Which religious voice?
The voice that talks about killing babies?
The voice that wants to take guns away?
The voice that wants to halt surveilance on terrorists?
Which religious voice? LOL! </sarcasm off
Not God's Party: A new poll shows Democrats are losing (more) religious voters
Dims are just so amusing, when they break out their contorted God talk, yet again. It worked so well for Kerry, right? LOL. The last time anybody took a Dim seriously on religion, we got Jimmy Carter, and now there's that pesky "by their fruit ye shall know them" thing, that they've had to contend with ever since.
So while there are plenty of liberal church members, Official Democrats aren't aware of them?
SSSHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
If you could add pardoning 500+ criminals for bribes and paybacks, you'd be describing Clinton.
More numbers of traditional Catholics are also homeschooling, especially with so many schools closed and the Catholic schools still open often dominated by feminist nuns.
In my rural area, homeschool groups are small, so on some things the Protestants and Catholic homeschool mothers get together for group outings for the children.
I never really thought about it, but now that you mentioned it, you are correct. True Christians and true Democrats mix like oil and water. The Democratic party stands for everything that is anti-Christian.
Once you've had a successful homeschool experience, public schools seem poor and second rate.
Homeschooling makes people very aware very fast of how antagonist Dems are to personal rights. If it has to do with sex, they are for it. Otherwise, with them your life is not your own, especially when it comes to raising your children.
The Dems are so obvious about taking away homeschooling rights that successful homeschooling families get very antagonistic to them. My church has several Dems, but my homeschooling group has none. And we do have Catholics, also.
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