Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Terry Mattingly

Home
Religion News
That Christians For Dean www guy

That Christians For Dean www guy

Last updated on: January 30, 2013 at 4:20 pm by tmatt

That Christians For Dean www guy 2013-01-30T16:20:56-05:00 tmatt

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

John Paget has no doubt there are conservative Christians in cyberspace who are praying for the salvation of his soul.

This may seem like a strange use of prayer time, seeing as how he is a pro-life, evangelical Christian who is a graduate of Biola University — once the Bible Institute of Los Angeles — and active at the First Baptist Church in Olympia, Wash.

Then again, Paget runs a certain political website.

It’s www.ChristiansForDean.info, with this cheery headline: “Good News! Christians don’t have to vote Republican anymore!”

Thus, Paget gets mail. Some of it says “hallelujah” or “Thank God somebody is doing this.” But many correspondents disagree.

“Lots of people assume I’m a fake, some stooge working for the campaign who is trying to fake Christians into voting for Dean,” he said. “Some people think I’m all mixed up. Many others assume that I’m lost and they say they’re praying that I will accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.”

Paget laughed and added: “So I feel supported in what I do. I have all these people praying for me.”

Other letters urgently question Paget’s core belief — that his progressive views on peace, economics, gender and the environment can justify voting for a politician who backs abortion rights and gay rights.

Consider this email from Austin, Texas: “If you are a Christian and plan to vote for Dean, or a Democrat, you need to get on your knees and ask God for guidance because you are on the wrong track, or you do not worship the same God as do most Christians. … They will eventually lead to the downfall of this nation. Wake up.”

Actually, Paget is a documentary filmmaker and he does not work for Dean. He also noted that he is registered as an independent. Nevertheless, he is a statistical rarity. He is a morally conservative churchgoer who feels at home among Democrats. Dean and the other Democrats know they need to find more people like Paget — quick.

It’s a matter of numbers. Voter News Service found that 14 percent of 2000 voters attended religious services more than once a week. These voters backed George W. Bush by a 27-percent margin. The 14 percent of the voters who said they never attended went to Al Gore by a 29-percent margin.

These secular voters are especially crucial in major cities on both coasts, noted Louis Bolce and Gerald De Maio of the City University of New York, writing in The Public Interest. But national Democratic candidates know they also need votes in the Bible Belt and heartland.

This “pew gap” is not new. While trends vary among blacks and Hispanics, they noted, the religion gap among white voters in the 1992, 1996 and 2000 presidential elections was “more important than other demographic and social cleavages. … (It) was much larger than the gender gap and more significant than any combination of differences in education, income, occupation, age, marital status and regional groupings.”

Meanwhile, the fastest growing Democratic power bloc is what Bolce and De Maio called the “anti-fundamentalist” voter. In 1996 and 2000, about a third of the total white Democratic presidential vote came from these voters that identified themselves as intensely secular or religious liberals.

As a member of the progressive United Church of Christ, Dean was preaching to these voters when he told a Houston crowd, “We’ve got to stop voting on guns, gods, gays and school prayer.” He also told the Washington Post that his faith played a crucial role in convincing him to sign a Vermont bill legalizing civil unions for gays. “From a religious point of view, if God had thought homosexuality is a sin, he would not have created gay people,” he said.

Hear those church doors slamming?

At some point, said Paget, Democratic candidates will have to learn how to reach out to traditional believers, especially those — such as Southern evangelicals and northern Catholics — who once were crucial to their party’s fortunes.

“Democrats have to get over their hostility to Christians and realize that we are not all Pat Robertsons and Jerry Falwells,” he said. “They have to stop taking pot-shots at us and be willing to invite us into a broader, more diverse Democratic Party.”

presidential elections

Previous Post

January 21, 2004

The passion of old words and symbols

Next Post

February 4, 2004 Terrorism, fiction and the Truth

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Academia Anglicanism Announcements books Catholics doctrine evangelicals family life First person Godbeat Islam Judaism Mainline churches Marriage mass media movies Orthodox Politics popular culture religion sex Social issues Uncategorized Web/tech World World religions worship young people

Select a Month July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002 January 2002 December 2001 November 2001 October 2001 September 2001 August 2001 July 2001 June 2001 May 2001 April 2001 March 2001 February 2001 January 2001 December 2000 November 2000 October 2000 September 2000 August 2000 July 2000 June 2000 May 2000 April 2000 March 2000 February 2000 January 2000 December 1999 November 1999 October 1999 September 1999 August 1999 July 1999 June 1999 May 1999 April 1999 March 1999 February 1999 January 1999 December 1998 November 1998 October 1998 September 1998 August 1998 July 1998 June 1998 May 1998 April 1998 March 1998 February 1998 January 1998 December 1997 November 1997 October 1997 September 1997 August 1997 July 1997 June 1997 May 1997 April 1997 March 1997 February 1997 January 1997 December 1996 November 1996 October 1996 September 1996 August 1996 July 1996 June 1996 May 1996 April 1996 March 1996 February 1996 January 1996 December 1995 November 1995 October 1995 September 1995

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said, "As for me, I know that my redeemer lives"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Abraham Job Joseph Moses