DENVER — Democrats gathered here this week for their party’s national convention believe they are on their way to solving their religion problem by offering prayers at the open and close of each daily session and by holding what they call “interfaith caucuses.”
Their goal, put bluntly, is to siphon off enough “values voters” from the Republican Party to help carry the election for Sen. Barack Obama. They are likely to fall well short of the mark, however.
“Values voters” is a term coined by the media following the unanimous sweep of 11-for-11 state marriage amendments on Election Day in 2004, particularly the one in Ohio, which helped to tip that strategic state for President Bush. What those values voters stand for is the value of the traditional definition of marriage and the pro-life cause — two things the national Democratic Party is all but uninterested in, despite this week’s gloss of prayer and God-talk.
Values voters are, by and large, evangelicals, as well as orthodox believers in mainline Protestant churches, and a growing number of Catholics. They are people who are long past the point of listening to a politician who says, “I am personally opposed to abortion, but I can’t impose my views on everyone.”
They are people likely to be found in the congregation of Orchard Road Christian Center in Denver. That church has joined with several dozen others in Denver this week for a faith outreach at a city park near the Pepsi Center, the site of the convention. The purpose of the outreach is hardly bombastic: It is simply to pray for the party and its leaders, so they might, in the words of Micah 6:8, act justly, love mercy and walk humbly.
But its organizers weren’t asked to be part of the party’s much-advertised interfaith service held Sunday just prior to the convention’s opening. (Come to think of it, neither was Focus on the Family). The pastor of Orchard Road Christian Center, Reece Bowling, would liked to have attended, but wasn’t able to find anyone at party headquarters who even knew how one could get an invitation.
Just as well, perhaps. The event featured many religions, as well as readings from the Quran and the Sutra Nipata, alongside the Old and New Testaments. Not exactly seeker-sensitive stuff for most of the country’s values voters.
One wonders just how many of these people the Democratic Party even wants. One of its well-recognized consultants on outreach to religious people is Burns Strider, who formerly advised Hillary Clinton’s campaign. He has said, “If we create or become a mirror image of the religious right, we have failed. If we have increased the number of chairs around the table, we have succeeded.”
In other words, the party wants the voters, but not the values.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
On today's Turn Signal, Kim Trobee tells you what to expect from the Democratic National Convention.
Learn where vice presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden stands on pro-family issues.
