Reaching out to people of faith

It is difficult to imagine a more illustrative example of the Christian Right’s true colors than this article from today’s Washington Post.

As a bit of background, the Christian Coalition, founded by Pat “The gays caused 9/11″ Robertson, has been having some problems the last few years. After Ralph Reed left the group’s helm to go defraud Indian tribes with Jack Abramoff, the Coalition suffered a series of management and financial troubles. Now deeply in debt, they had recently named Joel Hunter, the head of a Flordia megachurch, as their new leader.

However, according to the Post article, Hunter has been wished well in future endeavors before even getting started.

The reason? From the article:

He resigned as the coalition’s incoming president because its board of directors disagreed with his plan to broaden the organization’s agenda. In addition to opposing abortion and same-sex marriage, Hunter, 58, wanted to take on such issues as poverty, global warming and HIV/AIDS.

“My position is, unless we are caring as much for the vulnerable outside the womb as inside the womb, we’re not carrying out the full message of Jesus,” he said in a telephone interview yesterday. “They began to think this might threaten their base or evaporate some of their support, and they said they just couldn’t go there.”

Because really—issues of social and environmental justice just can’t be allowed to distract from the important work of gay-bashing and regulating women’s bodies.

While the decision to give Hunter the boot is not at all surprising, it is refreshing to see the reason stated so plainly.

It’s stories like this one that make me shake my head in disbelief when high-profile Democrats like Barack Obama start making noises about how the party needs to reach out to “people of faith.” The idea behind this strategy is that Democrats should try to appeal to the religious voter who typically votes Republican, thereby cutting into Republican majorities in red states and gaining a greater electoral foothold.

Who exactly are we talking about, though? Despite the caricature of liberals and Democrats as wild-eyed athiests, no one in this country, Democrat or Republican, aspiring to any office higher than the local dog-catcher can possibly hope to win without falling all over themselves talking about their faith. While the label “people of faith” is meant to conjure quiet, reasonable people who attend church on Sundays and consider their religion a deeply personal affair, the strategy it represents boils down to “How do we get the evangelicals to vote for us instead of the Republicans?”

The answer? You don’t. They’re crazy.

The Republicans have managed to curry the favor of the religious Right by pandering to the same base the Christian Coalition is worried about losing should it give up its laser-like focus on bigotry and sexual paranoia. Trying to “reach out” to this crowd is a fool’s errand for Democrats. The party already talks about religion—it just doesn’t do it with the same chest-thumping insistence that this is a Christian nation that Republicans do.

Nor should it. Here’s a thought. Instead of scratching our heads wondering how we can get more religious people to vote for us, how about we focus on how we can get intelligent, honest, and sensible people to vote for us. The two aren’t mutually exclusive, and the second seems like a lot better place to work from than the first.