This diary pointed out some of the positives of the new very interesting Pew Forum poll:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
What i want to point out is that the American electorate is fundamentally a very religious one, that they think religion has a POSITIVE impact on society, unlike the many folks here who believe, as Marx said, it is the opiate for the masses. and that again, there are fundamental divides between two bases of the Dem party, african american/minorities vs secular white liberals. We all have to work in a coalition together, and as someone who tries to build those bridges, i'm simply just pointing them out.
Folks seem to snicker at the thought of anyone saying the Bible should take precedence over the will of the people. never mind that a majority of Democrats's most loyal base, african Americans, shares the same view.
according to the pew poll, Whites overwhelmingly say the people's will should be more influential (65% to 30%), while blacks are almost evenly divided (50% say the Bible, 48% the will of the people). when you realize that for most of this country's history, the "will of the people" endorsed slavery and segregation, you realize why african americans would look to God's law for salvation above "man-made" earthly laws. like i said, this is fundamental divide i see over and over w/in the Democrats coalition, with the white secular liberals being totally ignorant of how this fact of life for people of color influences their values and politics.
Also check out the percentages of which group heard the most sermons on homosexuality in their churches. it was black protestants. nothing surprising to any of us who know these communities, but something the white secular "netroots", who fancies themselves as the "true" representatives of the Dem party, should be aware of.
Fully 69% of Americans say that liberals have gone too far in keeping religion out of schools and government.
Meanwhile, those "evil" religious right people are more popular than the secular liberals! The proportion who express reservations about attempts by Christian conservatives to impose their religious values is 49%, a high number, but not as high as the 69% wary of the influence of secular liberals. clearly, most americans are tired of both the ACLU AND the Christian Coalition shoving their agenda down our throats.
The Democratic Party continues to face a serious "God problem," with just 26% saying the party is friendly to religion. geez, i wonder why?
Also, most average Americans see religion as a positive influence on American life, and believe that the decreasing religiousity in America is a BAD thing. contrast that to much of the netroots, who would gladly love it if every politician didn't say "God bless america" and sees the pledge of allegiance "under God" as endorsing theocracy, most Americans think those are positive influences.
Today, roughly six-in-ten (59%) say religion is losing influence on American life, while 34% say it is gaining influence. And, overwhelmingly, Americans favor more, not less, religion in the country. i'd say that's at odds with most of the liberal blogsophere attitude about religion, and a reason for why Democrats do not have a "religion-friendly" reputation. Fully 79% of those who say religion's role is declining representing 50% of the public overall believe this is a bad thing. Meanwhile, among the minority who feel religion's influence is growing, more say it is good than bad, by a margin of almost two-to-one.
Large majorities of Republicans (87%), independents (65%) and Democrats (60%) decry efforts by liberals to limit religious influence in the public sphere, including 70% of conservative and moderate Democrats. But just 38% of liberal Democrats express this view. So liberal (i.e. Secular white Dems) should know they are out of step with the American public on these issues.
http://people-press.org/...
for me, as a sympathetic evangelical who agrees far more with Dr Laura than i do NARAL, i would say to Democrats that the religious right are not your real enemies, as annoying as Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell are. a lot of evangelicals/religious right folks can be persuaded to vote the right way if you have candidates of convictions and honesty (i.e Hackett, Dean) and you don't have to "sell out" your principles to do it. The Republicans I loathe are the big business Wall Street elite types. you can never win over those selfish pricks and they are the ones who are screwing all the rest of us over.
For the liberals who can't understand why most of this country believes religion is losing influence when all they see are fundies running this govt and annoying televangelists on tv, i can say that religious folks decry the lessening influence of religion in the same way secular folks do: the self absorption, greed, materialism, violence that seems to prevail over the common good in our me-first culture (as exemplified by all GOP policies...), all to us signal a culture in decline, that has lost its Godly way as people obsess more over the size of their houses and their paychecks than they do about serving their neighbors and the poor.