Faithful Democrats
In the dark days after the ’04 election, I was struck by how many liberal Democrats were asking how Christians could possibly turn out in such large numbers to vote for a Republican party that stands in such stark opposition to so many clearly Christian principles like feeding and housing the poor, protecting God’s creation, and choosing peace over violence.
Some Democrats answer that question by writing off those who voted for Bush as “hateful, close-minded bigots” beyond hope of ever being won over to the Democratic side. There may be some of those types out there, but I believe most faith voters (yes, even “evangelicals”) are open to a
Democratic message. Our issues aren’t the problem. Rather, the reason Dems have had such problems winning over swing Christian voters is that we have failed to understand Two Great Commandments.
To put that diagnosis into context, in the gospel of Matthew, Jesus is asked what is the greatest of the commandments. He answers by quoting Torah and says that the first and most important commandment is to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. And the second is like it, to love your neighbor as yourself.”
There is no question that Democrats are the Party of the Second Great Commandment. Our support for welfare, social security, universal health care, public education, affordable housing, and the like embodies what this commandment is all about. The reason we lose the Christian vote, however, is because we often seem to ignore the importance of the first and primary great commandment: to love God. Without the first, the second fails as a basis for an appeal to many moderate and conservative Christians.
Without question, on most issues the Democrats champion positions much more in line with the teachings of the Bible, and in particular the teachings of Jesus and the prophets, than do the Republicans. But as Luther taught us, works without faith are meaningless. And we have to realize that Dems will need to be able to at least pass a sniff test on the first great commandment and not be seen as against God before faith voters will give us credit for our many accomplishments on the second.
So where does that leave us as a Party? Should we scrap our traditional policy positions and begin madly searching for new public places that the Republicans haven’t thought of yet where we can stick the Ten Commandments? As St. Paul would say, “Let it not be so!” As a Party, we will need to make some changes to what we do and what we say. But there are a number of ways for us to get credit on the “First Great Commandment” without alienating our more secular brethren and while remaining true to (and one might even say, returning to) the core of what it means to be a Democrat. That is what this blog is all about, and I for one am looking forward to the discussion over the next few months…
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