Posted on 12/20/2010 11:07:34 AM PST by Libloather
Things Fall Apart
How Democrats gave up on religious voters.
Tiffany Stanley
Edition December 18, 2010 | 12:00 am
When Barack Obama burst onto the national scene at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, he represented—among many things—the shining hope for the religious left. Here was a liberal politician who was not afraid of the language of faith, who just might reclaim territory that the Democratic Party had, willingly or not, ceded to Republicans. Red America did not own religion, Obama declared: “We worship an awesome God in the blue states.
Between 2004 and 2007, when Obama announced his candidacy for president, he became possibly the most prominent Democratic politician who was comfortable speaking about religion—a liberal who gave the impression that his religiosity was heartfelt, genuine, and important to his politics. He spoke with ease about his conversion; of the influence of Reinhold Niebuhr and Martin Luther King, Jr.; and, in a key speech before the Call to Renewal conference in 2006, of the importance of “religion in the public square.” In the 2008 presidential election, Obama’s message seemed to resonate with religious people who had not, in recent years, gravitated toward the Democratic Party. He won more churchgoers than any Democratic presidential candidate since Bill Clinton.
But, in just two short years, the left has become sluggish in its courtship of religious voters, significantly scaling back its faith-outreach programs.
(Excerpt) Read more at tnr.com ...
Mark 13:22 (King James Version)
For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.
NOPE. Republicans pointedly betrayed the Christian Right, subverting Value Voters for SaddleBack, and offering up candidates who, for the first time, did not embrace Life. Without the solid support of Life, there is little in the Republican agenda to attract (keep) Christians.
In their estimation, yes. In yours or mine? No. But they are considered a mainline evangelical Christian Church in this country. They're the largest (at least until they began vomiting members and congregations) Lutheran denomination in the US. Then you have the Episcopalians...
But your question was to why wouldn't they be open to homosexuals. You took the narrow view of that openness. They take the broad (secular) view.
No comment on this thread has said it better.
I take a narrow view of Christianity, too. And of the defintion of an evangelical church. As a mainline church, the ECLA does not meet the criteria that I believe are the correct ones.
This whole phoney baloney attempt to sucker in Christians was doomed to failure. It was a cynical con job based on obama's and others' opinions that the Christian is a credulous boob and easily swayed.
Remember, "clinging to guns and religion and fear of outsiders" is what makes us all tick, right?
What I’m saying is that the ELCA has been an established Christian Lutheran denomination for decades. And, it is the largest Lutheran denomination. That’s mainline.
The fact they’ve fallen in their beliefs and practices makes them unfit in God’s eyes, and the eyes of those such as us who follow God’s Word. But they can still be classified as a mainline denomination. They just ain’t Christian anymore...
I never said they shouldn’t be welcomed. I said they were open toward having homosexuals in their congregations. And by that I meant without their recanting their sin, even to the point of being allowed as clergy. Big difference from evangelizing to the masses...
Trust you? I spent years in the ELCA. I know what they are. They are the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. They call themselves evangelical. They practice evangelism. The balance of your description is spot on. But they have everything to do with evangelism...unfortunately.
And, yes, as you say, they will get their reward...
I agree with you on this issue. What I am saying is that mainline Protestants, all denominations or at least most of them, have fallen away from Christian teachings, and not just recently.
The problem is more with the leadership than with the people in the pew, IMO.
Every church has its struggles. That’s because it’s made up of us mortals, sinners all. Let’s face it, anything we touch will have its good side and bad side. It’s up to us faithful to insure we follow the path Christ has set for us.
Yes, the problem lies mainly with the leadership, but as witnessed in the ELCA and elsewhere, there are many “people in the pew” as you put it who willingly follow. Their faith is weak and unenlightened; often by design these days.
I couldn’t agree more.
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