On Faith: Democrats and secularism | Perspective | rutlandherald.com – Rutland Herald

If you look into the religious demographics of who voted for Trump in 2020, youll find that 75% to 80% of white Christian Protestant evangelicals voted for Trump and, something we hear less about, almost 50% of Catholics voted for Trump. As per the most recent figures, about 25% of adult Americans are evangelicals and about 25% are Catholic.

The above figures mean that a full 50% of the American electorate are either evangelical or Catholic. Another 15% of the electorate are members of the so-called main line Christian denominations Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Lutheran, United Church of Christ, etc. Another 15% are other Christian denominations. This means that 80% of the American electorate is Christian. Only 4% are agnostic or atheist. (Pew Research Center figures and graphs are available online.)

So Democrat leaders, you have a serious problem. The fact is that 80% of American voters profess themselves Christian and yet, for the last good number of years, Democrat politicians are so mum about anything religious that the public receives the impression the Democratic Party is downright anti-religious. But that is not the reality.

Back in June 30, 2019, Democratic Sen. Chris Coons, of Delaware, wrote an important piece in The Atlantic, Democrats Need to Talk About Their Faith. His main point is that he himself and many other Democrats have been too silent about their faith for too long. He points out choosing not to talk about our faith as Democrats ignores the clear fact that America is still an overwhelmingly religious country, and that the Democratic Party, too, remains a coalition largely made up of people of faith.

Coons quickly points out there is a right and a wrong way to proceed; We must be careful to never weaponize or politicize faith, religion or scripture, nor should we claim some sort of divine endorsement for our policies. And he adds, Americans of all faiths or no faith at all should feel equally welcomed in our coalition.

The above paragraph is almost exactly the opposite from how the Christian Right has exploited religion politically for the past 30 years. And, just as bad, the Democratic Party has let the Right get away with it to the extreme detriment of our country and of democracy itself.

In these United States, a valid response to Republicans using religion as a weapon cannot be simply for Democrats to politely look the other way and not call it out. That is to say, to use a response that simply excludes anything religious from public and political discourse. Such response is no response at all literally. It doesnt work. What has happened, with a vengeance, is that only one form of religion (the extreme Christian Right) has been allowed to occupy center stage and have a massive influence over voters. The other half of religion in America, through inaction, has let itself have no voice.

This has resulted in the tragically absurd situation we are experiencing right now: A widely held perception in this election has been that if you wanted to be a good Christian voter, you had to vote for Trump even if you held your nose while doing so.

It is a sad commentary on the state of religion in America that a man as immoral, unethical and irreligious as Trump has shown himself to be, has been able to obtain close to a majority of the popular vote and almost three-quarters of the religious vote. Furthermore, we now know, as he admitted to his inner staff, he was playing his evangelical supporters for suckers, saying: Can you believe that people believe that bullshit, as reported in various sources in September of this year.

How has this happened? It has been allowed to happen by the shameful and deafening silence of Democrats on the subject of faith and Christianity. Separation of church and state does not mean one should never talk publicly about faith or religion. It means, precisely and concisely, as per the First Amendment of the Constitution: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. In fact, the very next phrase in this amendment begins with, or abridging the freedom of speech. Speaking about faith and professing a religion are protected rights rights we should use, not push back into a corner.

Somehow, during the past generation, Democrats seem to have taken the First Amendment to be an ironclad demand for fostering secularism above almost all else. For anyone who might not be completely familiar with this term, secularism is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as indifference to or rejection, or exclusion of religion and religious considerations. The Democrats interpretation of the First Amendment in this way is highly questionable. And it is an interpretation that is unhealthy for a political party in the United States.

How has Trump gotten away with so much and retained so much of the religious vote? The most important part of the answer is: A vote for Trump was a vote against secularism even though most Trump voters themselves might not phrase it exactly that way. Very simply, a huge percentage of Americans do not want a country that is committed to the philosophy (or should I say denomination) of secularism. In this country, that wont fly. The Democratic Party will crash and burn if it doesnt realize this mistake. America is not like Europe in this regard.

I am a solid Democrat, but I am very displeased with the cowardly retreat of Democratic politicians from stating: 1) how their faith inspires them personally and 2) how our faith (Christianity, as well as other faiths) urges us toward a government that places the common good and attention to the less fortunate front and center. This means, among other things, unfailingly to place human persons above corporate persons, people over corporations we have to start right there.

This means that we remember it was religious leaders who first pushed for the abolition of slavery and then pushed for civil rights in America. It was religious leaders like Dorothy Day who pushed hard for a living wage for American workers. It was the church that gave birth to hospitals and universities, and the Catholic Church is still the largest operator of hospitals in the world. It was religious leaders in Europe (Christian and Jewish) who first stood up against Hitler. It was religious leaders in South America who pushed for a movement called liberation theology and the preferential option for the poor. The list goes on and on. As the saying goes, faith moves mountains.

If nothing else happens in the next four years because of gridlock in Congress, the Democratic Party still has the opportunity to convince the American electorate that its not the Party of secularism and atheism. If it doesnt do that, it might well not hold onto the White House or the House of Representatives.

President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris, you are practicing Christians, and you have mentioned this to some degree during your campaign, but please remember you dont have to lock your faith away in a closet as a forbidden topic when you step into office. Thats not how you live your lives and it shouldnt be how you run your political lives. Further, use your bully pulpit to encourage fellow Democrats to do the same: open up and proclaim, regularly, how your faith inspires you and should inspire all of us to make America into a kinder, gentler nation.

We Democrats cannot allow the Republican Party to be perceived any longer as the only party in America that is friendly to religion. If we let that go on, we are letting down our faith, letting down our party and letting down our country. As Biden has said, the soul of the nation is at stake. Indeed, that is the truth.

John Nassivera is a former professor who retains affiliation with Columbia Universitys Society of Fellows in the Humanities. He lives in Vermont and part time in Mexico.

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On Faith: Democrats and secularism | Perspective | rutlandherald.com - Rutland Herald