On Trying to Be More Clear
I may not have made myself entirely clear yesterday, so I will reiterate. Please read carefully before posting a response.
My friend Stick's comment yesterday nailed it. The red states voted against Kerry because Democrats have been seen as weak on defense as far back as Nixon. It had nothing to do with religion and everything to do with the culture of the South and American politics.
Southern Baptist voters do vote for Bush. They also vote to ban homosexual marriage. And they rarely (if ever) vote for a Democrat. But this is no different from the rest of the South. I am only saying that it is possible that the Southern part should trump the Baptist part when analyzing the election. Look again at Oklahoma. Did Christian voters go against their church and vote to allow gambling on Indian Land and the lottery? I am saying no. People were not listening to their pastors (though their pastors were egging them on undoubtedly). They were voting how they normally do. Christians may have voted their "values", but those values are more easily identified as Southern than Christian.
What is at stake here? Do not look at Bush's majority in the popular vote as the result of a religious revival or national renewal movement. Those were not all Christians. True Christians are probably as divided as my friend Stick said in his comment. Both parties stink. Regional and traditional politics won this election. The media is just trying to ignore the fact that the majority of America was red. So they blame it on the religious zealots who make easy prey. The easiest way to discredit Bush is to blame his election on religious fanaticism. This is certainly not the case. The majority of America does not seem to like gay marriage, abortion, the UN, and France. And that majority is certainly not exclusively Christian. But that makes for a boring news story.
My friend Stick's comment yesterday nailed it. The red states voted against Kerry because Democrats have been seen as weak on defense as far back as Nixon. It had nothing to do with religion and everything to do with the culture of the South and American politics.
Southern Baptist voters do vote for Bush. They also vote to ban homosexual marriage. And they rarely (if ever) vote for a Democrat. But this is no different from the rest of the South. I am only saying that it is possible that the Southern part should trump the Baptist part when analyzing the election. Look again at Oklahoma. Did Christian voters go against their church and vote to allow gambling on Indian Land and the lottery? I am saying no. People were not listening to their pastors (though their pastors were egging them on undoubtedly). They were voting how they normally do. Christians may have voted their "values", but those values are more easily identified as Southern than Christian.
What is at stake here? Do not look at Bush's majority in the popular vote as the result of a religious revival or national renewal movement. Those were not all Christians. True Christians are probably as divided as my friend Stick said in his comment. Both parties stink. Regional and traditional politics won this election. The media is just trying to ignore the fact that the majority of America was red. So they blame it on the religious zealots who make easy prey. The easiest way to discredit Bush is to blame his election on religious fanaticism. This is certainly not the case. The majority of America does not seem to like gay marriage, abortion, the UN, and France. And that majority is certainly not exclusively Christian. But that makes for a boring news story.
posted by matt at 3:08 PM
1 Comments:
I understand your point, but I believe that it is important to make the distinction between a traditional, cultural vote, and a vote that is founded on Christian values and conviction. These are not always the same like the media would have us believe. Tying these two together does a great disservice to Christianity. As many of my Bush supporting friends would have you believe, their vote for him IS a religious vote. They think this because that line between culture and Christianity in this region (being the southern states) is so blurred and tainted. Sorry for the novel.
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