August 2008 Archives

Steve Waldman just posted some new news - at least for me.  That Governer Palin was a Roman Catholic before she was an Evangelical. 

He writes:

Have we ever had an ex-Catholic on a major presidential ticket? I can't think of any.

    "Of course," Patricia told me, leaning in close, "of course English people don't even like the Scottish." Patricia, the funny, perceptive, activist wife of a progressive Church of England vicar, made a face. " I have no idea if you'll be able to elect Obama," she said. "We'd never vote for a Scot for high office;  so I'm not convinced white people here would ever elect a black man."

    In talking about religion, race, and politics this week with British voters of different ages and backgrounds, I've come to believe again, albeit with some light rolling of the eyes, in American exceptionalism. But I've also come to see the ways in which the image of America--its faith and its politics---carries meaning for English (and, to some extent) European Christians.

    For the last week, I've been in England to work with "emerging" postmodern Christians of all denominations. This is, of course, a country with a state religion, ubiquitous churches and mosques, and a powerful evangelical movement; but the spectacle of religion as part of electoral politics is almost entirely absent here. Paul and his wife Jeni,  a young Christian couple who work in management, were appalled by the way American candidates proclaim their faith. Jeni describes herself as English -"and I love it! I like the queen, I'm passionate about London--" and she grew up as a preacher's daughter. She remembered, approvingly, when a reporter badgered Tony Blair with questions about his church's minister. "Tony Blair just said, 'We don't do religion' and that was that," she said. "As it should be."

    Such discretion means  the set-piece issues of abortion and gay marriage that have become staples for the U.S. Christian Right in election years fail to arouse much passion among voters in Britain. "Abortion just isn't a political issue here," said Dave, a self-described socialist serving as the vicar in a London parish. Dave, an influential preacher who left the evangelical movement to become an Anglican priest, remembers "a few" attempts to stir up outrage over abortions. "But really," he said, "that was all settled in 1969."

    What remains unsettled in England and in Europe are issues of race and immigration. As in America, different generations understand race in very different ways. For Jeni, the young white English woman who grew up dating a black man, religion--in her case, the Nation of Islam followers who taunted her--is often  a force for racial separation. For  Fuzz, a Australian church consultant in his 50s who works across the Middle East and Asia, Christianity is a force that's capable of transcending racial and ethnic boundaries. But all believe that American racism is, as Dave the vicar put it, "extreme," and that levels of racial conflict in America are higher than in Britain or its former colonies. Strikingly, they tend to read American movements for racial justice--both black and Latino--as essentially religious movements led by Christian preachers. And they tend to believe that today's equivalent political power lies not in Christian workers for racial justice, but in the fire-breathing, uncompromising, social conservatism of  the mighty army of right-wing Christian voters.

    It's testament to the political genius of the Christian Right that it's exported abroad -and confirmed in the minds of American voters--this image. None of the British voters I spoke with had any idea of the actual percentage of the U.S. electorate who self-identify as evangelical -just 8% in 2007, according to evangelical pollster George Barna. None of them knew that Barna also showed, back in 2004, that a third of all born-again voters thought abortion was morally acceptable, and about the same percentage thought homosexual relationships were morally acceptable. 

   But that's politics. Spin, marketing, money and power. And as lovely as the English disdain for mixing politics and religion might seem to me, the reality is that in the absence of an established church, American churches do constantly compete in the marketplace for power. American religion, to the slight horror of our friends in Britain and beyond, remains right down in the mud of political life, mixed up in inextricable ways with the common life of citizens. May God have mercy on us all. 

This is why newspapers are withering and "The Daily Show" is flourishing. It's not the fault of journalism--my chosen profession--but because in a world where John McCain picks Sarah Palin to be "a heartbeat away from the presidency," sometimes only satire can reveal the truth...Viva Swift!

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=183521&title=john-mccain-chooses-a-running

Senator McCain's Vice Presidential selection of Alaskan Governer Sarah Palin really has the talking heads, pundits and bloggers going at it today. The focus has been on various issues such as her experience and ability to win over Clinton women.

With all the talking and speculating going on there is one fact we can all agree on: no one really knows enough about Governor Palin to make any conclusive, rational observations. We can only speculate and out of this discourse look for and allow the facts about who she is and what she has done in public life surface.

One area that is receiving little attention on the national news and cable talk shows is her association with the Religious Right. National pundits and talking heads, from their coastal beachheads, usually miss certain currents and facts related to faith that the mass of the nation can be acutely aware. I think this issue is just such the case. Here's why:

David Brody of Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) says "I am told that when conservative leaders heard the news this morning at a meeting at the Council for National Policy, one attendee told me that there is 'nothing but elation. People are giddy. They are energized and they now believe that in fact this campaign has the ability to win this election.'"

Mat Staver, Founder of Liberty Counsel, says, "Absolutely brilliant choice. John McCain could not have chosen a better vice-presidential nominee than Gov. Palin. She is attractive, articulate, conservative, pro-family, pro-life, and pro-marriage. John McCain hit this one out of the ballpark."

Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council says, "Senator McCain made an outstanding pick from the choices that were on the table. Sarah Palin clearly addresses the issues so many conservatives are concerned about. It balances out the ticket."

And prior to the public announcement, on Monday, August 11, CBSNews.com asked Dr. Rev. Richard Land, of the Southern Baptist Convention who McCain should pick and he said, "Probably Governor Palin of Alaska, because she's a person of strong faith. She just had her fifth child, a Downs Syndrome child... She's strongly pro-life. She's a virtual lifetime member of the National Rifle Association. She would ring so many bells. And I just think it would help with independents because she's a woman... I think that, from what I hear, that would be the choice that would probably ring the most bells..."

Now that's a lot of bell ringing within the Religious Right.

O, I must also note that Gov. Palin is listed as an invitee to this year's "Values Summit" of Religious Right faithful.

Governor Palin seems like a remarkable person. She appears to be firmly planted in nourishing and experiencing life within a strong and good family and this is a substantial foundation to admire and applaud for this writer.

My point is that it seems likely that Governor Palin's choice had as much to do with consolidating and intensifying the support from the Religious Right base as it did anything else. Quite Roveian, right? Yep. Energize and intensify the base. Make it whistle and push it to the polls on Election day. Then shave off swing voters until you are over the top.

Senator McCain really has no where to turn but to the old strategies of Republican electoral politics. He's retreating to this base of voters out of default, there's no where else to go even if the Religious Right is waning in power as more and more Evangelicals embrace the larger plate of values such as poverty and climate change and look to the Democratic Party for economic policies that support stronger families. The better known leaders of the Religious Right are gone or sidelined as well. It's not your grandfather's Religious Right, that's for sure. But, its all McCain has.

 The real play; the real battlefield will be with those millions of Evangelicals and Catholics who are swing voters, who are honestly considering both tickets and have yet to make a choice. Can Governor Palin help bring these voters to the Republican side? That remains to be seen. It won't be a set of swing voters the Republicans have to themselves this election cycle. The Democrats are there, too, having conversations, reaching out, sharing their message and story and, by many accounts, making the inroads needed for Election Day.

 Here's the big question: Can the candidate of the Religious Right win Clinton voters? Now, that's an interesting challenge. With total disclosure, I was there, with Senator Clinton, during the primaries. And I don't think a Religious Right candidate can win these voters. The Religious Right kind of speaks only to itself these days and they are too polarizing and play with too narrow a set of issues.

 It's important for people to know Governor Palin, including the adherence to and support from the Religious Right that is emerging in various statements and narratives during this first day of being the Republican Vice Presidential nominee.

It seems impossible to discuss Governor Palin's ability to attract Clinton voters or any voters without full knowledge of her ties to the Religious Right.