God and Politics: The Left's God Problem

Robert Parham's essay on why the left is still losing ground with people of faith is quite excellent. The left embraces faith in much the same way the embrace minorities. With soundbites and scaremongering. That might be enough to keep voters you already have, but it isn't enough to get voters you don't.

Bruce Prescott, an Oklahoma Baptist and voting Democrat, has this to say:

Few Democrats that I know are concerned about preserving liberty of conscience for persons of minority faith, they are primarily concerned about preserving votes for their next election.

Republicans are certainly guilty of the preserving votes phenomenon too, especially in the last few years. But I'd like to see American government take a leading role in advocating for religious rights, especially on the international scene. I think either party would do well if they advocate for it.

UPDATE: Michael asked my thoughts about Faithful Democrats. Well I definitely prefer them to the athiest variety. But while I may share my faith in God with them, I doubt I share their likely faith in government. I would much rather have a small government that empowers citizens to perform good works instead of a large government that empowers itself to perform good works at the expense of its citizens.

My sister and brother-in-law are most likely faithful democrats. They go to church regularly. But in terms of practical values, I probably share more with athiests like Kim and Connie du Toit than I do with them. Which is a shame, but unfortunately no less true.