You can't just say especially with conservatives, it goes to Democrats just as much. Look at Nancy Pelosi freaking out because the Catholic Church was doing whatever it was wanting to do. Reverend Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. I am sure the whole Black Congressional Caucus has religion entrenched in their actions. How big of a deal is made out of where the President chooses to go to church? To say it is especially with conservatives is a farce and you of all people Vinyl should be ashamed of how you played it.
I'm not ashamed at all about how I word things around here... at all.
You can list as many instances you want to try and even out the playing field regarding religion and its influence on politics but it won't change a thing. Beyond affiliations and a various statements said by certain people, one can also pay attention to people's actions as well.
For
decades now, Democrats have had problems winning over a considerable number of faith based voters come election time. Even Obama, who managed to win over more religious voters than many other previous Democratic nominees (including John Kerry from last year), still couldn't come close to the numbers generated by John McCain in this sector. Studies from the Pew Research Center for the People & The Press further illustrate the separation between Democrats & Republicans when it comes to religious voters as well.
Religion and the Presidential Vote - Pew Research Center for the People & the Press
Then there's the campaigns themselves. Since the 1980s,
have you yet to find a Republican candidate in any town, city or state that didn't formulate a bid for office based on a majority (if not all) of these particular principals:
1. Promotion of "traditional marriage" and opposition to adultery
2. Support for a roll back of aspects of Feminism and support for a traditional role for women in the family.
3. Opposition to same-sex marriage
4. Support for traditional education and parental involvement in that education
5. Support for policies that encourage "adoption over abortion"
6. Support for behavior identified as traditional or moral such as respect, discipline, attentiveness, religious commitment
7. Support for healthy choices such as a nutritious diet, medical screenings, and physical activity
8. Support for "abstinence education" exclusively regarding risks associated with early sexual activity such as teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases while not teaching such topics of sex education as human sexual behavior, safe sex and birth control.
9. Support for policies that are said to protect children from obscenity and exploitation
BTW, I'm sure you're foaming at the mouth to say that Obama was against same-sex marriage, therefore debunking that checklist and my opinion. But the key word here is MAJORITY... not just a couple.
There's also the actual religious factions, plus their overall impact on their political parties. The Christian Left is far less influential to their collective party, much unlike the Christian Right is to theirs. For starters, the left clearly don't have the numbers, nor do they have such conviction to vote purely on their religious beliefs. As for particular issues, we can use homosexuality as a prime example. Although both sides may believe that homosexual sex is immoral, the Christian Left find that to be largely unimportant when compared with issues relating to social justice, or even matters of sexual morality involving heterosexual sex.
And please, don't make the mistake in trying to include race into this equation. You can talk about Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and the Black Congressional Caucus all you want. But you'd have to ignore one glaring fact in order to bring this up as some kind of group that has any real effect over the Democratic Party... Population. Caucasians make up close to 80% of the people in our country, including some who may have some trace of Hispanic descent, compared to Blacks that only make up close to 13%.
USA QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau
The largest religious body in America? The Catholic Church with more than 66 million people as of 2002, followed by Southern Baptist which is considerably less with 16.4 million.
Largest Religious Groups in the USA
The racial breakdown of Catholics? According to a study conducted in 2004 by the Barna Group, 60% of Catholics in America were caucasian while only 4% were Black. As for Southern Baptist, their numbers may be low in comparison but they do maintain 42,000 places of worship in our country. If we looked at the racial breakdown of these people, you'd see that more of them are caucasian as well. Their decline in numbers over recent years are further reflection of their inability to attract more minorities to their side, and they'll probably be struggling with that for a long time considering their stances on immigration. But I digress...
As for the Black Congressional Caucus themselves? We can say that they're all Democrat, but let's look at their overall numbers. They only have one member in the Senate (out of 100), as well as 43 members in the House of Representatives (out of 435). Once again, the math doesn't add up. Their "influence" on politics is minimal at best.
Need we go on?
