Why the Religious Are Republican and How the Democrats Can Win the Faithful

Since the 2000 presidential election there has been much debate over why those who go to church on a regular basis vote Republican. Democrats can’t seem to understand why those who follow the tenets of Jesus Christ vote consistently for a political party that seems to take them for granted. Jesus Christ preached and taught "blessed are the poor for they shall be comforted," "blessed are the peacemakers," "clothe the poor," "feed the hungry," and "do unto others as you would have them do unto you." When you think of these suggestions made by the Son of God, no one would automatically think that Jesus must have been a Republican. Yet, those who go to church Sunday after Sunday and whose faith is grounded in Christ overwhelmingly vote every four years for a Republican candidate.

Why?

There has been much discussion about the "moral majority" that the late Dr. Jerry Falwell touted as a vast voting bloc and about its capability to influence American policy and politics. It is true that conservatives who tout a Christian philosophy have dominated the Republican base in the South and Midwest for the past two decades. There has also been much discussion about the savvy of the Republican Party to court and use the Christian vote to consistently win political battles. At the same time, there have recently been more and more questions as to why Republican politicians who embrace conservatives and the Christian faith seem to be getting caught in bribery, corruption, and allegations of lewd or homosexual conduct. The congressional bribery scandals involving Jack Abramhoff, Duke Cunningham, and Tom Delay, the allegations of homosexual conduct by Representative Mark Foley and Senator Larry Craig, and the sexual confessions of the politically active preacher Ted Haggard have given the Christian Republican faithful reason to pause and wonder whether they are being used by the party.

The fact is that the faithful may resent the Grand Old Party and they may even hold their vote for an election or two – as was the case in the 2006 and 2008 congressional elections when evangelicals and Christians as a whole punished the Republican Party severely by voting Democrat or simply not voting at all. But, as a general rule the Religious will tend to vote Republican because it is a part of their culture more than anything else.

When someone accepts Jesus Christ as their Lord and personal Savior they do not automatically change their party identification. They are probably already Republican or Democrat depending on where they are from and their view of government or culture. Most of the time, religious affiliation has very little to do with voting habits.

In the 2004 presidential election, USA Today reported that George W. Bush won 2.54 million square miles of U.S. territory compared to 592,000 square miles of property for John Kerry. There were 159.2 million people living in those counties that went for Dubya and 130.9 million people that went for John Kerry. In land mass alone the Republicans won well over two-thirds of the United States. The 2000 election between Bush and Gore had almost identical numbers. If you were to look at a map, the counties that went Republican stretch from the South through the Southwest and then almost all the Midwest north to the Canadian border. The small bit of real estate that went for Kerry and Gore belonged to the Mid-Atlantic, Northeast, West Coast and small dots of major cities in between. This means that out of 300 million people, 131 million live in highly populated areas and overwhelmingly vote Democrat. I am almost positive, however, that not everyone in between New York and San Francisco are Christians and not every one in Boston, Chicago, D.C., and L.A. are heathen devils.

Politics and culture define the voting habits of citizens while religion simply ties into the voter’s culture and re-enforces beliefs, stereo-types, and biases. And there are different sets of political rules for different parts of the country. The Republican political platform has always been for fiscal responsibility, low taxes, limited government involvement, and individualism. Democrats have always held to the belief that government is there for the people and that the welfare of the collective community outweighs the concerns of the individual – hence the higher taxes and higher distributions for social programs in Democratic administrations. The two parties have completely different priorities in relation to their constituents. Cities with high populations have to worry about high crime rates, housing concerns, higher drug use, higher unemployment, homelessness, and a number of other problems that affect smaller communities to lesser degrees. Major cities are more likely to support gun control to deal with higher crime rates, social programs to deal with drugs, homelessness, housing issues, and the higher taxes needed to fund such programs. Citizens and local governments vote overwhelmingly for Democrats in cities because there is the belief that government regulations are needed to sustain the welfare of the community. In many areas outside major cities, where constituents are more affluent and land is in more abundance, you will find greater numbers of Republicans. People will vote Republican because they feel that it is in their own financial and personal interest to keep government as far from their lives as possible. Republicans generally do not see the reason for harsh gun laws because a number of them still use hunting as an acceptable way to cure hunger. High taxes are treasonous to a Republican because it is the government interfering with the earned wealth and property of individuals for the collective good.

Interestingly, both are right.

Culture is the second defining element in the citizen’s vote and religion is a very big part of culture. There is a culture war raging between traditionalists and secularists, both seeking to define the American existence. Traditionalists see secularism as a danger to society as a whole. The radical upheaval of the 1960s questioned the motives of U.S. leaders and interests. The sexual revolution brought pornography, homosexuality, abortion, and individual privacy to the forefront of the American public. Many believe that these secular movements endanger the traditional family and challenge the traditional definition of loyalty and morality. Traditionalists are family-oriented and hold their loyalties to God, family, and country. Their sense of morality is more likely to be founded on Christian ethics as opposed to social "realism." In opposition, secularists believe that the traditional definitions of morality and loyalty should be challenged. Their philosophy was founded on the general belief that society has a duty to question the government, its leaders, and motives. For the secularist, the 1960s did not bring radical upheaval to society but opened the eyes of the public to the realities of sex, the evils of the Vietnam War, government cronyism, poverty, and racism. The sexual revolution was not about destroying the traditional family but showing the realities of the human condition. Sexual lust, cravings, and secret sins are not hidden until the marriage bed but examined in public allowing those with different lifestyles to live in the open and not feel ashamed. They believe secularism opened society to the realities of life.

Religious Democrats who are normally African-American, liberally minded Catholics, American Episcopalians, and Lutherans embrace elements of secularism because of the equality it spouses. The secularism of the 1960s opened America to confront its racist past by bringing Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy, and Brown v. Board of Education to the forefront of American society. It brought about Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, which turned America’s attention to the needs of the less fortunate. While not condoning the results of the sexual revolution there is a general acceptance that secularism brought about more equality. The sexual revolution eventually brought the gay lifestyle into television and media, helping to bring about a greater level of acceptance even if there are those who do not condone the lifestyle. The government and eventually most of society left ingrained habits of bigotry behind and became more inclusive. Acceptance of the changes in society are now the norm even as traditionalists continue to decry what they believe to be the evils that secularism produced – especially in the sexual arena – such as the decline of the American family, acceptance of homosexuality, acceptance of divorce, the single family home, and the general deterioration of accepted morals.

In the 1980s, traditionalists turned to the Republican Party and Ronald Reagan to take America back to its roots and back to its Christian foundation. It is true that those who have a moral foundation grounded in the Christian religion are more likely to have a black and white view of the world where wrong is wrong and right will always be right. The only demographic where this does not hold completely true is within the African-American community. African-Americans, as a whole, consider themselves highly spiritual, denounce homosexuality, espouse a firm belief in Jesus Christ, and mourn the loss of the family structure within their community. Yet, they vote Democrat by almost ninety percent in every election because it was the Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson who supported and pushed the Voting Rights Act, which unshackled the chains of racism that long plagued the nation and provided the Great Society with its tax payer funded services in the highly populated urban areas where they live. Most African-American communities are largely confined to large cities where the politics are urban, the community needs are many, and will therefore lean Democratic by nature.

In a Time magazine poll on faith and politics, Republicans stated nearly two to one that faith should be a factor for a president in making decisions. This is in contrast to Democrats, who by nearly 75% believe faith should not be a factor in presidential decision making. 71% of Republicans believe that religious values serve as a guide to political decision; 56% of Democrats disagree. 49% of all Republicans describe themselves as "born again" while only 35% of Democrats describe themselves in the same way. Catholics, Evangelicals, and Orthodox Jews all have certain views in regard to abortion, sexuality, and morality. These groups are more likely to vote consistently Republican than those who champion opposing or more inclusive views of the subjects in question. Of course, these numbers have changed slightly in the 2008 general election because Barack Obama presents himself as a committed Christian and the religious Right never trusted John McCain who considered their "moral majority founders" "agents of intolerance."

The election of Barak Obama has opened the door for a new, religious, democratic base that could extend to evangelicals in the South and Mid West. The collapse of the economy, the governmental failures of Bush administration policies, and a questionable foreign policy have all aided in the election of Barak Obama. It also did not hurt that Barak Obama – even with the distraction of the Reverend Wright fiasco – was widely perceived to be articulate and sincere about his Christian faith. The relationship Obama has developed with evangelical Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in California has only re-enforced the growing perception in the minds of new and younger evangelicals that America’s new president is one of them. Now is the time Democrats can wage an all out campaign to reach the hearts and minds of Christians, who in the past, were almost completely ostracized by the Party. There are certain elements of the Democratic Party platform which can be presented as a Christian duty, such as providing Health Care for all or at least all children, providing basic services such as clothing and feeding the poor, and providing infrastructure in poorer nations for clean water to limit catastrophic disease. Also, there are ways to limit the secular divisions within the Party and firmly held Christian beliefs such as espousing a platform that elevates human life and decries the number of abortions. The Party is strong on Roe v Wade and should not change that stance, rather, Democrats should support a female’s right to choose while espousing the virtues of family and motherhood by providing alternatives that make the choice of life more possible and condemning the absentee father. Here is a suggestion for the Democratic Party: why not have qualified liaisons who are familiar or apart of the Evangelical and Catholic communities develop ties between women’s groups, the gay community, and other secular issue groups whose sole intention is to develop dialogue, resolve issues, and possibly consensus on small issues that can be agreed upon while not giving up the core tenets of faith or belief. The Democratic Party would be astounded at what could be accomplished.

Democrats should also be very afraid of where religious loyalties lay. Barak Obama has made some headway with the community while the Democratic Party as a whole has not. People voted for Barak Obama in the general election but against the Republicans in the congressional elections. Translation: Many people voted for Barack Obama, change, and hope but not for the Democrats or their platform. They were simply tired of Republicans gumming up the works. This is why the Democrats need ideas and soon so that the voter pendulum does not swing the other way. Voters could very well turn against the Democrats in Congress if they are perceived to be going against the cultural grain.

The truth of the matter is that Jesus is not a Republican. When Christ returns to earth He will not take only the Republican Party with him to the great GOP convention in the sky. Democrats will be welcome. Atheists may be in trouble.

Most tenets of the Christian faith espoused by Christ are not political directives, just amazingly good advice to aid fellow human beings and live a life of fulfillment, rich in spiritual happiness, and pleasing to God. Many Republicans give to those in need even if they do not want the government to do so and many Democrats have a committed love for Jesus Christ even if they support a pornographer’s First Amendment right to publish smut.

Citizens’ votes are not ultimately based on being "born again" or belonging to the religious Right as a unified bloc (although they are a political force); voting patterns are really based on the nature of the region – the populated inner city versus the less populated country – and the embrace of tradition or secularism.

Tradition and secularism have both negative and positive aspects. No one wants to go back to racism or bigotry or a false sense of sexual reality. Secularism pulled back the veil on these aspects of American life and all Americans are better off for it. But, America has lost its sense of morality, perhaps because secularism has pushed the boundaries to far for what should be accepted and what should be rejected. Black and white issues have become gray and ambiguous. Popular culture has moved from The Honeymooners and Cliff Huxtable to Nip / Tuck, Britney Spears, and reality television. I am not sure if everyone can agree that this is a good thing. Traditionalists and the religious are needed to ensure a voice for morality, just as secularism is needed to be a voice for those who have no voice or are disenfranchised, which could and should work as a common goal. As for me, I want my son know that bigotry in whatever form is wrong but there is a limit to what is an acceptable lifestyle. Tradition is a good thing but a healthy respect for secularism and openness is healthy as well. It is important to remember that Jesus accepts all, he would that "none should perish but all should receive the Kingdom of Heaven" – traditional Republicans and secular Democrats alike.