The following are the facts.
America today.
Quo Vadis.
1.Coming to terms with religions public role is one of liberalisms most fearsome problems: how to make their case to religious America? So far, it has been a failure, which is one reason for the hostility of the left to groups such as evangelicals, even though these folks were brought onto the political scene by a liberal, Jimmy Carter.
a. Gone are is religious wing of liberalism, the prophetic voice of Reinhold Niebuhr, Dorothy Day, Michael Harrington, and, of course, Martin Luther King Jr.
2. Even while the Democrats scored signal victories in the 2006 election, exit polls showed that some 60% of those who say they attend religious services more than once a week voted Republican, a figure that is consistent with the 2002 and 2004 elections. "....2012 (50% to 48%)1. Obamas margin of victory was much smaller than in 2008 when he defeated John McCain by a 53% to 46% margin, and he lost ground among white evangelical Protestants and white Catholics. But the basic religious contours of the 2012 electorate resemble recent elections traditionally Republican groups such as white evangelicals and weekly churchgoers strongly backed Romney..." 2012 Exit Polls: How the Faithful Voted - Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life
3. "The Democratic Party is seen as friendly to religion by 26 percent, while 43 percent say the same about the GOP. Thats a 9 percentage point drop for Republicans since 2008, and 12 points lower for Democrats.." Barack : Kevin Trudeau Show
a. Citizens tell pollsters they attend religious services at least once a week and nearly three-quarters say they pray at least once a day. http://www.americanprogress.org/kf/familyvaluesreport.pdf
4. While the number of Americans who have become alienated from organized religion may be increasing, stillTuesdays Gallup survey shows that 77 percent of Americans still claim a religion, despite the trends toward unbranded religion. It also indicates Americans tend to get more religious with age, and speculates that our aging population might also spell an increase in reported religiosity. Gallup Survey Finds a Majority of Americans Still Religious - The Daily Beast
a. About 80% belong to a Christian faith, 79% believe in the virgin birth, 78% say Jesus physically rose from the dead, and 48% claim to have had a born again experience. Gordon S. Wood, American Religion: The Great Retreat
b. Compared to Europeans, over 60% of Americans state that belief in God is necessary in order to be moral and have good values. This is about twice the number of Germans and six times the number of French.
Asmus, Everts, and Isernia, Across the Atlantic.
c. Substantially more people in America believe in angels than they do in evolution. Barack Obama. Blog ? Barack Obama
4. Following the 1960s the left made the politically suicidal choice of cultural radicalism, which succeeded, over political and economic radicalism, which failed.
a. Quoting Peter Steinfels, Dionne noted, "American liberalism has shifted its passion from issues of economic deprivation and concentration of power to issues of gender, sexuality, and personal choice.... Once trade unionism, regulation of the market, and various welfare measures were the litmus tests of secular liberalism. Later, desegregation and racial justice were the litmus tests. Today the litmus test is abortion." With God on Our Side? | The Nation
Thus, the rise of the religious right.
5. And how have liberals built bridges with religious Americans?
a. For instance, when Justin Timberlake ripped off Janet Jacksons top at the Super Bowl performance, liberals tended to mock conservative hysteria over a single barely exposed breast. I did so myself .You dont need to be a Christian conservative to object to the kinds of cultural messages regularly communicated to children and teens by American entertainment culture .would it be so difficult to pay more attention to the outrages against what used to be called common decency
Eric Alterman, Why Were Liberals, p. 239-240
b. Shock jocks Opie and Anthony were suspended for reporting an alleged sex act in St. Patricks Cathedral, and then joked about an anal rape of Secretary of State Condolezza Rice and other unspeakable acts on Laura Bush. XM Suspends Opie And Anthony Over Sexual Comments About Rice, Laura Bush
c. The disrespect for women, and humanity in general in gangsta rap, need not be censored, but should require condemnation by liberals, every bit as much as any perceived racism, sexism, homophobia.
d. American progressive reform has never advanced without a moral awakening with notions about what the Lord would have us do.
Michael Kazin, http://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/?article=159
e. why for instance, do liberals fail to protest when clothing companies selling to teens plaster the subways with posters for the State Property line, which distinguishes itself from other brands by featuring hidden pockets and gun holsters, as if to teach teens to admire jailed drug-dealing thugs and murders?
Alterman, Ibid.
6. John Stuart Mill wrote in On Liberty of the use of moral disapprobation in the proper sense of the term as a useful check on antisocial behavior.
7. At a valuable conference on liberals and religion organized by Columbia
University's American studies program in mid-February, E.J. Dionne, a
liberal and a devout Catholic, conceded that conservatives have a number
of natural advantages when seeking to marry religious devotion to
politics. They own the word "tradition," for one.
And as Russell Kirk
pointed out in his 1953 book The Conservative Mind, the canons of
conservatism tend naturally to appeal to the faithful: Conservatives, he
wrote, believe in "a transcendent order, or body of natural law, which
rules society as well as conscience." Their attachment to "custom,
convention and old prescription" provides a check on "man's anarchic
impulse and upon the innovator's lust for power."
Liberalism, on the other
hand, arose in revolt against many of these same customs and conventions,
particularly the oppressive power of the church.
Canadian Coalition Against the Death Penalty - With God on Our Side?
".....You dont need to be a Christian conservative to object to the kinds of cultural messages regularly communicated to children..."
You can hardly find a more Liberal individual than Eric Alterman.
What future do you wish for your children?
Pick your side.....where you stand.
America today.
Quo Vadis.
1.Coming to terms with religions public role is one of liberalisms most fearsome problems: how to make their case to religious America? So far, it has been a failure, which is one reason for the hostility of the left to groups such as evangelicals, even though these folks were brought onto the political scene by a liberal, Jimmy Carter.
a. Gone are is religious wing of liberalism, the prophetic voice of Reinhold Niebuhr, Dorothy Day, Michael Harrington, and, of course, Martin Luther King Jr.
2. Even while the Democrats scored signal victories in the 2006 election, exit polls showed that some 60% of those who say they attend religious services more than once a week voted Republican, a figure that is consistent with the 2002 and 2004 elections. "....2012 (50% to 48%)1. Obamas margin of victory was much smaller than in 2008 when he defeated John McCain by a 53% to 46% margin, and he lost ground among white evangelical Protestants and white Catholics. But the basic religious contours of the 2012 electorate resemble recent elections traditionally Republican groups such as white evangelicals and weekly churchgoers strongly backed Romney..." 2012 Exit Polls: How the Faithful Voted - Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life
3. "The Democratic Party is seen as friendly to religion by 26 percent, while 43 percent say the same about the GOP. Thats a 9 percentage point drop for Republicans since 2008, and 12 points lower for Democrats.." Barack : Kevin Trudeau Show
a. Citizens tell pollsters they attend religious services at least once a week and nearly three-quarters say they pray at least once a day. http://www.americanprogress.org/kf/familyvaluesreport.pdf
4. While the number of Americans who have become alienated from organized religion may be increasing, stillTuesdays Gallup survey shows that 77 percent of Americans still claim a religion, despite the trends toward unbranded religion. It also indicates Americans tend to get more religious with age, and speculates that our aging population might also spell an increase in reported religiosity. Gallup Survey Finds a Majority of Americans Still Religious - The Daily Beast
a. About 80% belong to a Christian faith, 79% believe in the virgin birth, 78% say Jesus physically rose from the dead, and 48% claim to have had a born again experience. Gordon S. Wood, American Religion: The Great Retreat
b. Compared to Europeans, over 60% of Americans state that belief in God is necessary in order to be moral and have good values. This is about twice the number of Germans and six times the number of French.
Asmus, Everts, and Isernia, Across the Atlantic.
c. Substantially more people in America believe in angels than they do in evolution. Barack Obama. Blog ? Barack Obama
4. Following the 1960s the left made the politically suicidal choice of cultural radicalism, which succeeded, over political and economic radicalism, which failed.
a. Quoting Peter Steinfels, Dionne noted, "American liberalism has shifted its passion from issues of economic deprivation and concentration of power to issues of gender, sexuality, and personal choice.... Once trade unionism, regulation of the market, and various welfare measures were the litmus tests of secular liberalism. Later, desegregation and racial justice were the litmus tests. Today the litmus test is abortion." With God on Our Side? | The Nation
Thus, the rise of the religious right.
5. And how have liberals built bridges with religious Americans?
a. For instance, when Justin Timberlake ripped off Janet Jacksons top at the Super Bowl performance, liberals tended to mock conservative hysteria over a single barely exposed breast. I did so myself .You dont need to be a Christian conservative to object to the kinds of cultural messages regularly communicated to children and teens by American entertainment culture .would it be so difficult to pay more attention to the outrages against what used to be called common decency
Eric Alterman, Why Were Liberals, p. 239-240
b. Shock jocks Opie and Anthony were suspended for reporting an alleged sex act in St. Patricks Cathedral, and then joked about an anal rape of Secretary of State Condolezza Rice and other unspeakable acts on Laura Bush. XM Suspends Opie And Anthony Over Sexual Comments About Rice, Laura Bush
c. The disrespect for women, and humanity in general in gangsta rap, need not be censored, but should require condemnation by liberals, every bit as much as any perceived racism, sexism, homophobia.
d. American progressive reform has never advanced without a moral awakening with notions about what the Lord would have us do.
Michael Kazin, http://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/?article=159
e. why for instance, do liberals fail to protest when clothing companies selling to teens plaster the subways with posters for the State Property line, which distinguishes itself from other brands by featuring hidden pockets and gun holsters, as if to teach teens to admire jailed drug-dealing thugs and murders?
Alterman, Ibid.
6. John Stuart Mill wrote in On Liberty of the use of moral disapprobation in the proper sense of the term as a useful check on antisocial behavior.
7. At a valuable conference on liberals and religion organized by Columbia
University's American studies program in mid-February, E.J. Dionne, a
liberal and a devout Catholic, conceded that conservatives have a number
of natural advantages when seeking to marry religious devotion to
politics. They own the word "tradition," for one.
And as Russell Kirk
pointed out in his 1953 book The Conservative Mind, the canons of
conservatism tend naturally to appeal to the faithful: Conservatives, he
wrote, believe in "a transcendent order, or body of natural law, which
rules society as well as conscience." Their attachment to "custom,
convention and old prescription" provides a check on "man's anarchic
impulse and upon the innovator's lust for power."
Liberalism, on the other
hand, arose in revolt against many of these same customs and conventions,
particularly the oppressive power of the church.
Canadian Coalition Against the Death Penalty - With God on Our Side?
".....You dont need to be a Christian conservative to object to the kinds of cultural messages regularly communicated to children..."
You can hardly find a more Liberal individual than Eric Alterman.
What future do you wish for your children?
Pick your side.....where you stand.
Guns are pretty messy....
