Chasing the Wind

Kathleen Parker writes a fantastic article about how religion didn’t “work” for the Democrats during this election.

Through their post-election soul-searching, Democratic leaders claim to have seen the light. The reason they lost – and the way to win – is God.

It was precisely this sort of insight for which God created Monday mornings. Not to mention the indispensable thunderbolt.

I’m not convinced that religion played as big of a role as the media has been making it out to be. I just think a lot of Americans rejected the “anti-morals” of the more fanatical left. Gay marriage is soundly rejected by the American people, yet the far left rejects anybody that won’t share their pro-gay, anti-oil, pro-abortion message.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says Democrats have to start talking more openly about their faith. Sen. Hillary Clinton told a Tufts University audience that Democrats should use the Bible to advance their arguments about poverty the way Republicans did with gay marriage. And writing for Salon.com, the on-line magazine, Edgar Rivera Colon – self-identified socialist, professor, ethnographer and Episcopalian – said the Democratic Party needs to stop pretending it lives in a secular, rational country.

I think Democrats trying to inject faith into their positions is a good thing. In particular, I think there are some Democrat ideas about poverty and the homeless that could be incorporated into the “compassionate conservative” message, and I know there are faith-based reasons to try to help these. The Democrats should also learn that simply giving money to the poor simply encourages more people to be poor and live off of handouts. But making food and shelter available to those who need it is certainly worthwhile.

Meanwhile, fashioning politico-religious message is problematic. People who are deeply religious fashion their lives, not just their messages, in certain ways, according to deeply held convictions. Religion isn’t a political strategy; it’s a belief system that guides one’s lifestyle.

As this discussion evolves, I keep associating to that memorable scene from “When Harry Met Sally” when Meg Ryan, sitting in a deli, convincingly fakes That Very Special Moment to prove that women can and do fake their lovemaking satisfaction. Co-star Billy Crystal is duly impressed, as is an older woman sitting nearby, who tells her waitress: “I’ll have what she’s having.”

The Democrats apparently have decided they’ll have what Bush has been having. I half expect to see aspiring Democratic presidential candidates showing up at Promise Keepers conventions, high-fiving for Jesus, and photo-oping with little Baptist blue-hairs on their way to Wednesday-night prayer meeting.

While Kathleen’s article points out that our church-going brothers and sisters are sure to see through any hypocrasy, I don’t think it’s a bad thing for the Democrats to start exploring faith in their party platform. Once they crack open the Bible and start asking what God wants, one thing will lead to another… and next thing you know, they’ll have socially conservative positions, too. Ask yourself this: how will a bible-thumping Democrat address abortion? I can’t even come up with a bible quote out of context that would support that position.

Of all the things one can pretend in order to win a voter’s confidence, religious devotion seems the least likely. Moreover, until the Democratic Party’s policy positions reflect beliefs consistent with the values held by American’s religious moderates and traditionalists, their newly fashioned messages are going to sound like what they are. Faked.

You can’t just suddenly start carrying around a Bible and expect to convince people you’re a believer. It is also dangerous to invoke the Bible if you’re not that familiar with it, as Howard Dean proved when he expressed his admiration for the book of Job, which he erroneously placed in the New Testament.

If you like Job, you know where it is.

Exactly. Hebrews 4:12-13, For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-­edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. It is so very hard to maintain a fake position, to continue to quote the bible and do things opposite of what the bible teaches. The Democrats will either have to fake it or believe it. People will see through the fake, and if they believe it, they’d end up being a lot like the conservatives they’re competing against.