Great Awakening?

According to an article in today's NY Times, a recent poll shows that fewer Americans view the Republican Party as “friendly to religion” than a year ago.

The survey found that the proportion of Americans who say the Republican Party is friendly to religion fell 8 percentage points in the last year, to 47 percent from 55 percent. Among Catholics and white evangelical Protestants, the decline was 14 percentage points.

The decline among the observant groups mentioned near the end is particularly noteworthy--perhaps we're about to witness some great awakening to the fact that the politicians who indulge in the most God-talk aren't necessarily those likely to advance the values of believers. (Sometimes that's just as well, but that's another matter). A lot of Christian leaders, even very conservative ones, have been saying as much for a long time, and now that recognition may be spreading down in the pews.


We should note too that "[j]ust 26 percent of poll respondents said the Democratic Party was friendly to religion, down from 29 percent last year."

I don't know think we're likely to see an rush of socially conservative Christians into the Democratic party, and I don't think such a shift would make any sense. The mistake isn't to pin your hopes on the wrong party--it's pinning them on any political party.

My own politics are influenced very much by my religious beliefs, but I don't care if a party is "friendly to religion" in the sense of its members saying kind things about the nation's "heritiage of faith", or praying in public. Those things put me off, in fact. I would like to see parties govern humanely. Provide for the needy, open opportunity for those who lack it, take care of the land, cultivate community, and protect freedom of conscience. I'd endorse that platform with or without biblical trimmings, and I'd prefer it without--why should we turn justice and compassion into sectarian concerns? Lately, we've done that with war, and the gesture doesn't seem to have brought any blessing on that project.

Tags; Religion; Politics