On “Justice Sunday” – April 24, 2005 – thousands of Christians around the country watched a live broadcast from a Kentucky mega church in which conservative Christian leaders depicted Democrats as “hostile” to religious Americans for opposing some of President George Bush’s judicial nominees. Is that portrait accurate?
Since losing the bid for the presidency last November, the Democratic Party has been rethinking how it reaches out to people of faith. The party is taking seriously election exit polls that showed religious voters – those who say their faith directly influences their ballot choices – voted overwhelmingly Republican. Similarly, a post election report from the Bliss Institute of Applied Politics showed that George W. Bush won the votes of 78 percent of white evangelical Christians and 53 percent of the non-Latino Catholic vote. These numbers have brought calls for new Democratic leadership and a more appealing party platform and for building better relationships with Americans who say their faith influences their vote.
Many of the voices for reform have come from within the party, from elected Democrats who may be positioning themselves for future runs for office and want their party to learn from the religious savvy of the Republicans. Since the November election, several Democrats have called upon the party to rethink how it talks about religion and how it relates to religious voters. Among them:
• Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., offered praise for the influence of “religious and moral values” on delaying teenagers’ decision to become sexually active.
• Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said Democrats have “lost the ability to connect with people’s value systems, and we’re going to have to work to get that back.”
• Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., said her party needed to “get comfortable” expressing religion in a meaningful way.
• Dick Gephardt, former Democratic congressman and presidential candidate, said the Democrats had failed “to speak to our faith, and to relate to people that we share their faith.”
• Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., said his party needed a “come to Jesus” moment.
The party has begun taking steps. In February 2005, Time magazine reported that House Democrats have formed a 20-member “faith committee” to highlight the moral dimension of party policies for voters. The Democratic National Committee is considering a “center for religious outreach” to connect with religious voters. The Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, will sponsor events around the country aimed at showing that Democratic policy is in step with faith.
But will this be enough? Many politicians and scholars say that unless Democrats change the way they relate to religious voters – learning to meaningfully address religious issues and candidates’ personal faith – they cannot hope to recapture the religious vote from the Republicans.
Why it Matters
If the Democrats want widespread support for their candidates, their legislative proposals and their stances on judicial nominees and other matters, they must reach beyond the secular population. And if they hope to recover the White House in 2008, they need to appeal to more religious voters.
Questions for reporters
• Can the Democrats learn to approach religious issues and voters as successfully as Republicans have? What should they do to reach out to religious voters?
• Will voters buy the party’s newfound religious fervor? Or will they see it as a ploy to capitalize on their religious beliefs?
• If the Democrats do not successfully appeal to religious voters by the next national election, do they have any hope of seating a president?
• Do the Democrats have a hope of reaching evangelical Christians? Or should they focus instead on reaching members of mainline, African-American and Catholic churches?
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National sources
SCHOLARS
• Russell Arben Fox is a visiting professor of political science at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro. On his In Medias Res, a blog of his writings, he has written that the Democratic Party has abandoned religious progressives like him. He has called for transformation of America’s political and party system.
Contact 870-972-2217, rfox@astate.edu.
• Geoffrey Layman is an associate professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland in College Park. He wrote The Great Divide: Religious and Cultural Conflict in American Party Politics (Columbia University Press, 2001). He says there may be nothing the Democrats can do at this point to win the evangelical and conservative Christian vote, but they can focus more strongly on the mainline Protestant, Catholic and black Protestant voters. Contact 301-405-9709, glayman@gvpt.umd.edu.
• Alan Wolfe is a professor of political science at Boston College and director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life. Contact 617-552-1862, wolfe@bc.edu.
• Melissa Harris Lacewell is an assistant professor of political science at the University of Chicago and author of Barbershops, Bibles, and BET: Everyday Talk and Black Political Thought (Princeton University Press, 2004). She recently spoke about the African-American vote and religion in the 2004 election at a conference on religion and the American presidency at Claremont McKenna College. Contact 773-702-8059, info@melissaharrislacewell.com.
• Corwin Smidt is director of the Paul B. Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics and a professor of political science at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich. He is author, editor or co-author of 10 books on religion and public life, including In God We Trust? Religion and American Political Life (Baker Academic, 2001). Contact smid@calvin.edu.
POLITICAL ANALYSTS
• Michael Barone is a political analyst, senior writer for U.S. News & World Report and principal co-author of The Almanac of American Politics (National Journal, 2004). He has said Americans increasingly vote as they pray, or don’t pray. Contact via Patricia Jackson in publicity at Regnery Publishing Inc., 202-216-0600.
• Amy Sullivan is a doctoral candidate in sociology at Princeton University in Princeton, N.J., and an editor for Washington Monthly, where she has written of the Democrats’ need to reclaim religion from the Republican Party. Contact 202-393-5155, asulliva@princeton.edu.
• Agha Saeed is a political scientist, chairman of the American Muslim Alliance and founder of the American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections. He informally tracks American Muslim voting patterns and says that during the 2004 election, Muslim support previously enjoyed by Bush significantly eroded. Contact 510-299-9313, aghaksaeed@yahoo.com.
• Zahid Bukhari directs the American Muslim Studies Program at the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and is the former director of the Muslims in the American Public Square project. He recently spoke about Muslims and the 2004 election at a conference on religion and the American presidency at Claremont McKenna College. Contact 202-687-2947.
INFLUENCE ORGANIZATIONS
• James Skillen is president of the Center for Public Justice, a Christian-based policy research center. He says the Democrats do not need to inject more religion into their platform, but do need to show they take religious people seriously. Contact 410-571-6300 ext. 11, jim@cpjustice.org.
• Richard Cizik is vice president for governmental affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals. He has said Democrats “are generally in a fog” about relating to evangelicals. Contact 202-789-1011.
• Joseph Loconte is a fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, where he examines the role of religious belief in strengthening democracy and reforming civil society. Contact via Khris Bershers, director of media services, 202-608-6148, khrisbershers@heritage.org.
• Melody Barnes is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a research and advocacy group. She directs the center’s Faith and Progressive Policy initiative, which is intended to organize religious progressives to compete in strength and numbers with religious conservatives. Contact 202-682-1611.
• David Saperstein is a Reform rabbi and director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. He addressed the issue of how Democrats can better reach people of faith at a retreat of the Democratic Caucus earlier this year. He says that whatever Democrats do, it must be “genuine,” and they must be careful not to “religiousize” their politics, but rather moralize the current political discourse. Contact via Alexis Rice, director of communications, 202-387-2800, arice@rac.org.
• The Rev. C. Welton Gaddy is president of the Washington, D.C.-based Interfaith Alliance. Contact communication director John Lynner Peterson, 202-639-6370 ext. 105, JPeterson@interfaithalliance.org.
POLLSTERS
• James Zogby is a senior analyst with the polling firm Zogby International, and is co-founder and president of the Arab American Institute in Washington, D.C. In his weekly column, “Washington Watch,” he wrote last fall that John Kerry failed to capture the enthusiasm and support of many Muslims. Contact via communications director Rebecca Abou-Chedid, 202-429-9210, aai@aaiusa.org.
• John C. Green is director of the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron in Ohio. He is co-author of the center’s report on the 2004 voting turnout as it breaks down along religious lines. Contact 330-972-5182, green@uakron.edu.
POLITICAL ACTIVISTS
• Al From is the founder of the Democratic Leadership Council. Of the last election, he said that voters who never went to church voted overwhelmingly Democratic. Contact 202-546-0007.
• Kristen Day is executive director of Democrats for Life of America, an organization that works toward the election of Democrats who oppose abortion.
• Jim Wallis is founder of the poverty-fighting coalition Call to Renewal, editor in chief of Sojourners and author of the best-selling God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It (HarperSanFrancisco, 2005). Contact through Tim King, 202-745-4636 or tking@sojo.net and media@sojo.net.
Background
• Read the Bliss Institute’s report “The American Religious Landscape and the 2004 Presidential Vote: Increased Polarization.”
• Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, Calif., held a conference on “Religion and the American Presidency” in April 2005 that included a panel on the relationships between American presidents and voters of Catholic, Protestant, Evangelical, Muslim and Jewish faiths. The conference also investigated the growing influence these groups have on American politics.
• Read an essay by Melissa Harris Lacewell posted on the Martin Marty Center web site about African-American religion and its relationship to politics and voting.
• Read a May 7, 2004, article by Amy Sullivan from Blueprint magazine about the Democratic Party and religion.
Regional sources
• Paul Osterman is a professor of management and human resources at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and author of Gathering Power: The Future of Progressive Politics In America (Beacon Press, 2003). Contact 617-253-2667, osterman@mit.edu.
• James Ishmael Ford is pastor of the First Unitarian Society of West Newton, Mass. After Kerry’s 2004 loss, Ford delivered a sermon that, in part, pondered how the Democrats failed to attract more voters over “moral values.” Contact 617-527-3203.
• Samuel J. Abrams is a research fellow at the Center for Basic Research in the Social Sciences at Harvard University and co-author with Morris P. Fiorina and Jeremy C. Pope of Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America (Pearson Longman, 2004). Abrams argues that voters have not grown more conservative, but that religious organizations have become better at organization and capturing attention and influence. The Republicans have tapped into this growth, while the Democrats, lacking a clear plan, have not. Contact via email only, sabrams@fas.harvard.edu.
• Elaine Kamarck is a lecturer in public policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. She was a senior policy adviser to the 2000 Gore campaign for president. Contact 617-495-9002, elaine_kamarck@harvard.edu.
• Dale Kuehne is an associate professor in the department of politics at St. Anselm College, a Benedictine school in Manchester, N.H., and senior adviser to the New Hampshire Institute of Politics. He also is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Covenant Church of America. Contact 603-222-4102, dkuehne@anselm.edu.
• Shaun Casey is a professor of Christian ethics at Wesley Theological Seminary, a United Methodist school in Washington, D.C. He says that to successfully reach religious voters, Democrats must find a “theological idiom” that reflects the lived religion of the candidate and appeals to particular faith communities. Contact scasey@wesleysem.edu.
• Gerald Zelizer is a Conservative rabbi and pastor of Neve Shalom in Metuchen, N.J. In July 2004, he wrote an editorial in USA Today calling on the Democrats to reach out to the “swing faithful.” Contact 732-548-2238.
• The Rev. James Forbes Jr. is senior minister at Riverside Church in New York, N.Y. He spoke about the “moral urgency” of electing Kerry in 2004. Contact 212-870-6774.
• Louis Bolce and Gerald De Maio are professor and associate professor, respectively, of political science at Baruch College, City University of New York in New York City. The fall 2002 issue of The Public Interest published their article outlining the history of religion and the Democratic Party. They found that the Democratic Party has become a home for nonreligious people – approximately 15 percent of the party base. Contact Bolce at 646-312-4116, louis_bolce@baruch.cuny.edu; contact De Maio at 646-312-4414, gerald_demaio@baruch.cuny.edu.
• Jennifer Marshall is director of domestic policy at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C., and former director of family studies at the family Research Council. She has written widely about Republican support of moral issues such as abstinence education, defense of marriage and welfare. Contact via Khris Bershers, director of media services, 202-608-6148, khrisbershers@heritage.org.
• James Smith Sr. is executive editor of Florida Baptist Witness, a weekly newspaper based in Jacksonville, Fla., and has criticized the Democrats’ effort to reach out to religious voters during the 2004 election. Contact 904-596-3165.
• Imam Johari Abul-Malik is outreach director for Dar Al-Hijrah in Falls Church, Va., one of the largest Islamic centers in the country. He is a chaplain at Howard University and is also president of the coordinating council of Muslim organizations representing 46 Islamic centers, schools and organizations from Baltimore to Richmond, Va. He is active with the Muslim American Society, based in Washington, D.C. Contact 202-345-5233, imamjohari@yahoo.com.
• Laura Olson is an associate professor of political science at Clemson University in Clemson, S.C., and co-editor of several books on religion and American politics. She says that there are many Democrats who are also religious but that the party is not well-organized in terms of religious outreach. Contact 864-656-1457, lolson8274@aol.com.
• David Dalin is a Conservative rabbi and a professor of history and political science at Ave Maria University in Naples, Fla. He has written about Jews and American political history and is at work on a book about the influence of Jews on the presidency. Contact 239-280-1694, david.dalin@avemaria.edu.
• So Young Kim is an assistant professor of political science at Florida Atlantic University. She has studied Asian-American politics and religion. Contact 561-297-3775, soyoung.kim@fau.edu.
• Marc Hetherington is an associate professor of political science at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. He lectures on political parties. Contact 615-322-6240, marc.j.hetherington@vanderbilt.edu.
• Mark Pryor is a Democratic U.S. senator from Arkansas. He partially credits his election to the advice of a political consultant who told him to never give a speech without quoting the Bible. He has said Democrats have trouble with people of faith. Contact 202-224-2353.
• Steven Brown is a professor of political science at Auburn University in Auburn, Ala., where he specializes in religion and politics. Contact 334-844-5370, brown32@mail.auburn.edu.
• David P. Gushee is a senior fellow at the Center for Christian Leadership at Union University in Jackson, Tenn. He is the editor of Christians and Politics Beyond the Culture Wars (Baker Book House, 2000). Contact 731-661-5024, dgushee@uu.edu.
• Catherine Wilson is a visiting professor at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., where she leads a research seminar on campaigns and elections in the United States. Contact 847-467-0276, catherine@northwestern.edu.
• Carol Moseley Braun, a Democrat, is a former U.S. senator from Illinois who ran for president in 2004. She recently gave a speech at Claremont McKenna College on religion in the 2004 election. Contact through Kevin Lape, 312-464-0260.
• Ben Nelson is a Democratic U.S. senator from Nebraska and serves on the federal advisory board of Democrats for Life of America, a group that opposes abortion. Contact 202-224-6551.
• Alan Mollohan is a Democratic U.S. representative from West Virginia and serves on the federal advisory board of Democrats for Life of America. Contact 202-225-4172.
• Muqtedar Khan is an assistant professor of political science and director of international studies at Adrian College in Adrian, Mich. In GlocalEye, his column on global affairs, he has written of the rise of political Christianity, through the Republican Party, in the United States. Contact 517-265-5161 ext. 3949, mkhan@adrian.edu.
• Abed Hammoud formed the Arab American Political Action Committee in 1998 in Dearborn, Mich., to consolidate and increase Arab-American voting power. Contact 313-303-0427, AHammoud@wowway.com.
• Christine Sierra is an associate professor of political science at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, where she teaches a course on Hispanics and American politics. In part, the course looks at Democratic and Republican outreach to Hispanics in the 2002 election. Contact 505-277-1098, csierra@unm.edu.
• Michael Mansfield is a professor of political science at Baylor University, a Southern Baptist school in Waco, Texas. He is an expert on American politics and a scholar in the university’s Dawson Institute on Church-State Studies. Contact 254-710-3161, michael_mansfield@baylor.edu.
• Allen Hertzke is a professor of political science and chairman of the religious studies program at Oklahoma University in Norman. He is co-author of Religion and Politics in America: Faith, Culture and Strategic Choices (Westview Press, 1998). He is an expert on church-based populist movements. Contact 405-325-6421, ahertzke@ou.edu.
• Marc Dollinger is a professor of Jewish studies and social responsibility at San Francisco State University. He contributed an article on Jews and the Democratic Party to the Encyclopedia of American Religion and Politics (Facts on File, 2003). Contact 415-338-3160, mdolling@sfsu.edu.
• Nelson Polsby is a professor of political science at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of several books on topics in American politics, including an examination of presidential campaigns and party reform. Contact 510-642-1474, nwpolsby@socrates.berkeley.edu.
• Chuck Currie is a United Church of Christ seminarian and advocate for the homeless in Portland, Ore. He is also an active blogger and frequently writes on religion and politics. Contact via his blogsite.
• Katherine Stenger is a doctoral candidate at the University of Washington in Seattle. Her focus is on the effect of religious interest groups on American politics. Contact kstenger@uwashington.edu.
