Where are the Christian Democrats?

With all the discussions on this board about how the religious right is forcing their agenda upon America, I was wondering, where is the religious left? Why are they so silent?Christian democrats constitute a large portion of swing voters in this country and just because many of them voted for Bush doesn’t mean they are republicans. Surely republicans don’t hold the monopoly on religious views in our culture.My curiosity was piqued when I came upon this photo of a recent ad campaign by democrats who seem to be doing something about the faith and values message and are taking their case to the streets. Around the world, Christian Democrats seem to be a fairly large movement with established political parties in several countries. They are far from silent and have an active political voice.But in this country, democratic leaders who take issue with conservative religious views generally do not contest them on religious grounds, but rather contest the very fact that religion was invoked at all.As such, religion has become the bailiwick of the Republican Party, and the Democratic Party is often viewed as the party of secularism. That may be exactly what many on the left truly desire. Ok, but that philosophy won’t win many elections in the US.In light of the disastrous showing by the democrats in November, democrats need to do something and get themselves organized before the mid-term elections. Are ad campaigns such as this going to help or are these tactics going to be perceived as being me too.What would you suggest?

Just to let you know, there are religious left people, including on this forum. Jar might be a good example. The reason they aren't known for forcing their agenda on America is:1) They are not desperate regarding their religion and feel the need to impose it upon others through legal fiat (the difference for example between the Taliban and moderate Islam elements in Afghanistan)2) They are probably more likely to believe in secular gov't in general, and as such want to avoid combining their religion with the gov't. There is at least one religious left organization dedicated to that very thing. I don't see why you characterize it as disasterous. They did not win, and so Bush is back in office and that might be disasterous, but they did a decent job and got 49% of the vote. They even got mine and I generally dislike Democrats.Some Democrats certainly have fallen into despair and are thinking like you. Those are the ones that suck anyway.In reality the Reps pulled together in an astounding way, with people voting en masse for a lame candidate just to protect the party. The problem, which could be spotted at the convention, is that Reps created some pretty odd bedfellows to make that miracle happen and post election these fellows are waking up to that fact.The question will be who will win the battle for control of the Republican party (McCain was discussing the coming battle last Sunday on Late Edition) and if it will end up shattering the Reps in coming elections (as it did last time Reps won big).I think the best bet for Dems is to realize they have to hold on to their position as generally center and make Reps aware they are the center at this point. Okay, so I just got done ripping into Reps, now let me rip into Dems and follow the heart of your OP.I think you put your finger on a problem that certain Dems are having. The idiots who really don't have any principles behind their party affiliation are scrambling to figure out how to reinvent themselves so that they can WIN WIN WIN!Well maybe that's a little unfair. Maybe some with principles are just so shaken that they have lost their way due to desperation.In any case, ads like you cited are just pandering and my guess is that's how it'll be perceived. Indeed it even has the potential to lose people... like me for instance. How on earth can they claim to be for secular gov't if they are busy plastering billboards with messages they are like Jesus.Actually wouldn't that offend religious types as well? But maybe right now certain desperate Dems are feeling like Jesus right now. Yeah yeah messianic complexes of course, but more than that, like they were trying to help and bring peace and then God abandoned them.Perhaps they can run that in upcoming Ads. Show a picture of Bush at his inauguration and some democratic candidate on the cross and the caption... "Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do."

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holmes
"...what a fool believes he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.."(D. Bros)

Who among the Democrats isn't a Christian? Can you name a single atheist in public American politics? I sure can't.At any rate I can think of one prominent Christian Democrat; maybe you've heard of him, he ran for president and all. John Kerry. Ring any bells?

Maybe Kerry should have talked more about what a Christian he was.Good campaign strategy.

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Maybe Kerry should have talked more about what a Christian he was.

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He tried, the catholic church condemned him for his stance on moral issues, and threw their support into the candidate who enjoys war, money, oil, and capitol punishment. Well maybe just targeting Bush with these unsavory things that he apparently is for, America as a whole are the ones who voted for him, and who with their obsession of oil went to war. I don't really travel by car yet, I have a permit but I hope I don't turn into a greedy American who would rather see thousands die than to have a day without food, fuel in the car, or a shelter to live in. Most of the world isn't as lucky as we are I guess.

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porteus@gmail.com

He only mentioned it every single time he gave a speech.Would it have mattered what he said? Honestly it's not like Americans seem to give a damn what our politicians actually say, right?

As a long term Republican, one who worked for Ike when he ran for re-election, I've wondered where all the Christian Republicans have gone? Since Reagan all I've seen have been exclusionary bigots loudly proclaiming they were Christian Republicans. Their actions though have not been Christian at all.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Nonetheless they were Christians. You know, like Hitler was a Christian.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yup. Sadly that's true. It's a shame so few Christians behave in a Christlike manner. It's something that Christianity needs to address.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Some would characterize the election as a disaster solely because Bush won. But I was referring to the other elections which resulted in expanded majorities picked up by the GOP in both the Senate and the House as well as the ouster of Daschle. The only place the dems didn’t lose ground was in the governorships where they broke even. I don’t believe the majority of people were protecting the party. Moral issues were much more important than protecting the party. Besides, Bush is hardly a lame duck with expanded majorities in both houses of congress.Frankly, I believe Bill Clinton summed it up best: In his speech to the Urban Land Institute, Clinton attributed Kerry's loss to the Democrats' failure to counter how Republicans portrayed them to rural and small-town voters.

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If we let people believe that our party doesn't believe in faith and family, doesn't believe in work and freedom, that's our fault. Democrats need a clear national message and they have to do this without one big advantage the Republicans have, which is they won't have a theological message that basically paints the other guy as evil.

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The Republicans had a clear message, a good messenger, great organization and great strategy. The Republicans did a better job of turning out those who were already registered who hadn't voted as well as bringing out their base. Source

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I didn't want this thread to rehash the election results. I wanted to move beyond that and discuss democratic strategies for countering the religious right. Maybe, but the Dems still need to figure out to appeal to rural and small town voters. They will have the coastal vote. But 2004 proved that's not enough. Yeah, I agree. That type of advertising seems fake. Ads like that won’t get republicans to move and at the same time they risk losing some of their base. hehe.....Republicans can only hope they do that.

I can't either. Oh yeah, ....Kerry, wasn't he the guy who had all those problems with the veterans?

I remember some veterans had some problems with him, but since they turned out to be liars, I stopped paying attention.

That may be true to a certain extent and fringe groups always tend to be more vocal than the majority. But the point of the OP is that Christian Democrats can't afford to remain silent on faith and family issues if they expect to chip away at Republican control.This message has been edited by Monk, Wed, 06-01-2005 09:08 PM

seriously though, why would veterans have a problem with a war hero?and not a draft-dodger?has everybody just lost their common sense? how does good war record = bad war record < no war record?granted, that's not as bad as the attacks on max cleland who was accused to being a terrorist himself, after losing three limbs fighting for hios country in vietnam.

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אָרַח

kind of a "duh" point, but:the left generally does not believe in forcing anyone's agenda on anyone, but rather allow for individual freedoms and civil liberties.so christian democrats aren't rabid in their beliefs, by definition, and do not try to manipulate politics in favor of them (ie: legislating so-called religious issues).

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אָרַח