'Gospel Voters' and a Return to Prophetic Faith

Originally posted as part of a discussion at TPMCafe.

Ideology and political expediency have trumped the Gospel’s prophetic call to justice and peace for those who have recently dominated the debate over faith and politics in America. But a narrow interpretation of faith in the public square is at odds with our nation’s great religious movements.

The Catholic social tradition in particular offers an unequivocal critique of policies advanced by leading neoconservatives on the religious right who have trumpeted the Iraq war and a holy trinity of tax cuts, unregulated free markets and a Darwinian brand of corporate capitalism that has been devastating to the poor and most vulnerable among us.

Preemptive war and tax cuts for the wealthiest do align with a clear political agenda. But they do not square with the teachings of Christ, who preached “good news” to the poor, kicked the money changers out of the Temple and taught us to love our enemies. The Biblical prophets spoke out against greed and imperial arrogance, reminding kings and the people to serve God humbly and to embrace the widow, the orphan and the stranger in their lands.

A new movement of Catholics, evangelical and mainline Protestants more interested in speaking truth to power than selling out our faith to win elections is now challenging Democrats and Republicans alike to build a culture of the common good where democracy works for more than a privileged few. We could call these religious Americans -- the new “Gospel Voters” – people of faith guided by biblical admonitions to side with the weak over the strong and to love our neighbors as ourselves. These voters are increasingly outspoken about the scandalous gap between rich and poor (the largest since 1929), the shame of 47 million Americans without health care and an unjust war in Iraq that is a humanitarian disaster.

It’s offensive to people of faith-- and all citizens who bring their values into the voting booth-- to assume that any one political party has a monopoly on morality. And it’s irresponsible for the media to perpetuate old story lines now being rewritten by this powerful movement of religious Americans who are embracing a robust vision of the common good.

Even as Christian evangelicals are increasingly diverse politically and speaking out boldly on urgent issues such as global poverty and climate change, exit polls are still stuck in the past. In Iowa and South Carolina pollsters only asked Republican voters if they were evangelicals. The false assumption is that Democrats are unlikely to care much about religion, tone deaf when it comes to matters of faith, blind to biblical calls for justice and compassion

For many years, this story line made at least some sense. Democrats often dismissed traditional religious values and pro-life positions as incompatible with progressive politics. At times, the Democrats and many religious Americans mistakenly conceded debates over culture, the family and bioethics to those who were more than willing to galvanize voters in a strategic effort to create what the late Jerry Falwell called a “moral majority.” But the so-called “God gap”—the double digit advantage Republicans have held for a decade among Americans who attend religious services once a week or more – is shrinking. “Gospel voters” recognize that economic justice is a moral issue and helped minimum wage initiatives succeed in all six states where they were on the ballot in 2006. Faith-based organizers are standing up for the dignity of workers, promoting health care for all as a human right and insisting that all immigrants must be treated with compassion and respect.

In a press briefing before President Bush’s final State of the Union address, Rev. Larry Synder, president of Catholic Charities USA and Ron Sider of Evangelicals for Social Action, among other prominent religious leaders, called on the president to focus on reducing poverty, ending torture and taking seriously the threats of global climate change. These are defining moral issues – at the center of our varied traditions -- that Gospel Voters care deeply about as they grapple with how faith speaks to our most profound political challenges.