Faithful America circulated a petition this week asking the networks' political pollsters to ask voters in both parties' primaries the same religion questions. Today we delivered the petition to the polling directors at the organizations that control the poll: ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, CNN and the Associated Press.

The petition said

The presidential primary exit polls, sponsored by ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox and the AP, must stop stereotyping people of faith. We call on the media pollsters to ask all voters -- Republicans and Democrats -- the same religion questions on the exit poll surveys.

Check out the 9000 signatures and numerous comments!

Posted by Dan at 02:06 PM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (1)

From our friends at Jubilee USA:

In 2008 we have an historic opportunity to break the chains of debt and change the lives of millions. The Jubilee Act is the single most important piece of debt legislation in the past seven years and it is one of the most widely supported anti-poverty bills in Congress. Together, we can make history by passing the Jubilee Act this year!

To achieve this historic goal Jubilee USA is launching the Measure Up! Rule out Debt! campaign, calling on Congress to measure up to our national commitment to address extreme poverty by ruling out debt as a contributing factor.

The goal? To gain more co-sponsors for the Jubilee Act in the House and Senate and achieve passage before the end of the legislative session.

The action: Nationwide Senate call-in days today and tomorrow. Click here for Senate contact information and a suggested call script. This is life-or-death stuff, as clear a moral issue as there is.

Posted by Dan at 11:39 AM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (0)

Harvard naturalist, theorist, and humanist E.O. Wilson discusses his work with ants, his book The Creation, and why he writes with pen and paper. It's hard to picture, if you know him only by his scientific reputation, but E.O. Wilson confesses it freely: He loves watching preachers on television," writes the WaPo.

"Wilson is an internationally renowned biologist who has based his extraordinarily productive five-decade career at that great bastion of secular humanism, Harvard University. At 77, his work and his worldview are so thoroughly entwined with Darwinian theory that they're impossible to imagine without it. His reverence is for the wondrous creatures and intricate interconnections of the natural world, not for any supreme being."

The WaPo continues,

So what's he doing tuning in those evangelical sermons from the megachurches?

"I listen to them the way an Italian listens to opera," Wilson confesses with a lopsided grin. "I may be thinking of the texts as fiction, but I can't resist the old-time rhythm, the music and the superlative performances."

These rhythmic exhortations are the stuff of Wilson's childhood. He may have put aside the Southern Baptist faith into which he was born -- and, as a teenager, born again -- but he has retained his emotional ties to the culture surrounding it. All of which helps explain the herculean task he recently assigned himself:

He's trying to bridge the gap between science and religion in the hope of saving life on Earth.

Posted by Alex Carpenter at 05:16 AM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (1)

With 26.3% of the American population identifying as evangelical -- the largest Pew-measured faith block in the country -- the MSM often treats these "born-again Christians" as monolithic. But new data shows shifts in affiliation tied to youth and education and as Georgetown's Jacques Berlinerblau argues in the WaPo, evangelicals are broadening their issues and even becoming "Obama-curious:"

Conservative Evangelicals do not necessarily equate Obama with the anti-Christ: This is of great importance. For, I don’t expect the majority of Evangelicals to actually vote for Obama. Most will find his pro-Choice and other liberal positions far too much to bear. But this does not mean that they would subject him to the Hillary Treatment. I have always been struck by the remark of a pastor who although chagrined by Obama’s positions on abortion conceded: “I wouldn’t vote for him . . . But if we had to have a Democrat, I’d like to have a Democrat like him.”

This clip includes interviews with Jim Wallis and Diana Butler Bass.

Posted by Alex Carpenter at 01:17 PM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (0)

8,000 Faithful America members have already signed the petition asking the media pollsters to stop stereotyping people of faith! Can you help us reach 10,000 signatures by adding your name to the petition right now? Click here to sign:

Sign the petition.

We will send your names and comments directly to the polling directors at each of the media organizations that sponsor the exit polls ON THURSDAY – just days before millions more voters head to the polls.

Since faith leaders started speaking up about this problem, the media pollsters have improved the exit poll surveys when it comes to religion. They are now asking Democratic primary voters some religion questions in each state – but not all the questions asked of Republicans. When we send this petition, signed by 10,000 people, we’ll make it clear to the media pollsters that it’s time to ask all voters the same religion questions.

The petition says: "The presidential primary exit polls, sponsored by ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox and the AP, must stop stereotyping people of faith. We call on the media pollsters to ask all voters -- Republicans and Democrats -- the same religion questions on the exit poll surveys."

Click here to sign.

As you know from watching this space, the exit polls have asked Republican voters more religion questions than Democratic voters in every single primary state. In Michigan and Iowa they didn't ask Democratic voters any religion questions at all. In every state, they have exhaustively analyzed Republican evangelicals and completely ignored evangelical Democrats, even though our own research says one-third of evangelical voters are voting in Democratic primaries.

The pollsters say that there is "limited real estate" on their questionnaires, and that they "do not talk publicly about what questions are on our surveys."

That's ridiculous. They've made plenty of room on their Republican surveys for religion questions. They can do the same for their Democratic surveys. All people of faith should have the same chance to be represented.
It's time for thousands of us to call for balanced questioning in presidential exit polls. Click here to sign your name:

Sign the petition.

If we are silent, the media pollsters will continue to reinforce false stereotypes about religious voters. The wedge-issue "values voter" will be the face of faith in politics AGAIN. We must refuse to be pigeonholed.
The exit polls are especially egregious when it comes to polling about evangelicals. The broadening of the evangelical issue agenda to include issues like poverty and the environment has been a major news story all year. But the exit polls have asked not asked Democratic voters in a single state -- while asking Republicans in every state -- if they are evangelical.

Faith in Public Life and the Center for American Progress Action Fund commissioned a poll in two Super Tuesday states, Missouri and Tennessee, to demonstrate what the pollsters are missing. Their poll, released last week, showed:
• One-third of all white evangelical voters in both states participated in the Democratic primaries.
• There were 160,000 evangelical Democratic voters in Missouri and 180,000 evangelical Democratic voters in Tennessee. In both states, that's as many or more than all African-American voters, all voters over 65, or all voters who said the Iraq war is the most important issue facing the country.
• Majorities of evangelical voters in both states support a broader issue agenda that goes beyond abortion and same-sex marriage to include ending poverty, protecting the environment, and tackling HIV/AIDS.

If enough of us sign, we can make it plain to the networks' pollsters: no party can own any faith. Click here to sign your name:

Sign the petition.

Or if you have already signed, click her to forward the petition to your friends:

Forward to friends.

We need less than 2,000 more people to sign to reach 10,000 signatures!

Posted by Katie at 08:44 AM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (0)

Photos of Barack Obama in traditional Somalian dress, including a turban, appeared on the Drudge Report this morning, and reporters and bloggers have justifiably spent the afternoon investigating Drudge's claim that it came from a Clinton staffer and parsing the campaign's response. A couple of points aside from that bear emphasis:

As reported by Raw Story, the photos had already appeared in a supermarket tabloid (under the headline "Obama's shocking al Qaeda Link") and right-wing message board Freerepublic.com, which also featured a photoshopped and oh-so-clever "Sen. Osama Obama" pic in the comments.

As was eloquently put in a Chicago Tribune op-ed on Sunday:

Let's face it, those who hatched the Muslim Obama rumors would not have bothered had it not been for a political and cultural environment in which demonizing and marginalizing Muslims generally goes by uncontested.

Regardless of who's behind this, it's silly to argue that it doesn't play on bigotry and fear, and it bears mention that this ugly stunt says as much about America as it does about any given mudslinger.

Posted by Dan at 05:14 PM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (2)

John W. Whitehead, founding member of the Council for National Policy, now echoes Frank Schaeffer and David Kuo in noting how the GOP appropriated Christianity for its own agenda. I found this vlog interesting because he speaks to an emerging pattern of conservative evangelical dissatisfaction with the collaborationist politics of the past. While some advocate a new compassionate internationalism, some preach local creation care, others, like Whitehead, articulate a chastened, outsider approach to evangelicalism in public life.

Whitehead writes:

Inevitably, speaking truth to power will mean standing outside the political establishment and criticizing the political Herods of this world, i.e., the government and its policies. When it comes right down to it, the most appropriate role of religion in politics lies in its ability to define moral issues and speak truth to power. The voice of moral authority, enabled and enhanced by its spiritual roots and raised without dependence upon the legitimacy of the state, will always be the highest expression of true freedom.

Posted by Alex Carpenter at 02:27 AM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (0)

In a column published last Friday on the Rothenberg Political Report, political editor Nathan Gonzales took aim at a poll we commissioned in two Super Tuesday states to demonstrate the need for exit poll surveys to ask all voters, not just Republicans, if they are evangelical. Gonzales claims that the poll failed to demonstrate a shift among evangelicals away from the Republican Party. This misses the point of our poll. We, along with the Center for American Progress Action Fund, commissioned the poll to demonstrate the political diversity of evangelical Christians, which the exit polls have chosen to ignore. Our poll accomplished four important things:

• It showed that evangelicals are voting in significant numbers in both parties’ primaries.
• It showed that evangelicals are broadening their issue priorities beyond the narrow culture war agenda.
• It showed the need for more thorough polling of evangelicals.
• It provided a meaningful baseline for future comparisons.

This is not the first time the Rothenberg Report has attempted to write off evangelicals as a locked down ideologically monolithic voting bloc. In a March 2007 column, Stuart Rothenberg advised Democrats not to "waste a lot of time trying to attract evangelical voters to their party," pointing out that Democratic evangelical gains were small in the 2006 elections despite evangelical outreach efforts. Unfortunately, Rothenberg ignored what John Green at the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life took the time to notice: "Although Democrats as a whole made only moderate gains with most faith communities during the '06 election, that picture changes when you focus in on specific races where Democrats made a concerted effort to reach out to the faith community. In these races, Democrats...made impressive gains among evangelicals."

Last week, the Rothenberg Report took liberties in their analysis of the poll we commissioned in two Super Tuesday states to demonstrate the political diversity of evangelicals and the need for the presidential primary exit polls to ask all voters, not just Republicans, if they are evangelical.

The most blatant example of the Rothenberg Report’s unwillingness to fairly analyze the data was Nathan Gonzales’ dismissal of one of our central findings about the broadening evangelical agenda. We found that in both MO and TN, a majority of evangelicals (62 percent to 33 percent in MO; 56 percent to 35 percent in TN) from both parties want a broader evangelical agenda that goes beyond abortion and same-sex marriage. Gonzales dismissed these findings and others by accusing us of leading question-wording and by impugning the small sample size of the survey.

Gonzales charged that our "question's wording virtually guaranteed the desired result since a small number of people are against 'ending poverty.'" This misleading characterization selectively quotes our poll question (which is publicly available in the interest of transparency) and ignores the current debate within evangelicalism over the evangelical issue agenda.

Our poll did not just ask about poverty, it asked: "Recently, some evangelicals have embraced a broader issue agenda that goes beyond abortion and gay marriage to include ending poverty, protecting the environment, and tackling HIV/AIDS. But other evangelicals have argued for sticking to the more limited agenda of opposing abortion and same-sex marriage. Which do you agree with most..."

Gonzales is certainly right that had we asked only about poverty, the question would have been little more than a push-poll question. But Gonzales has done enough analysis of evangelicals to know that environmental protection and HIV/AIDS, which he inexplicably omits from his quote, have been divisive issues in evangelical circles. (For example, Religious Right leaders have harshly criticized Rick Warren for embracing the issue of HIV/AIDS and attempted to oust Richard Cizik from his position at the National Association of Evangelicals for his work on climate change.)

And Gonzales ignored that the double-digit margins (29 points in MO and 21 points in TN) by which evangelicals support this broader agenda far exceed the margins of error, even with a modest sample size. Our results on this question were based on 293 (78 Democrats, 215 Republicans) evangelical respondents in MO and 399 (117 Democrats, 282 Republicans) evangelical respondents in TN. The margins of error for these subsets were 6 percent in MO and 5 percent in TN.

Another of Gonzales's gripes was that we should not have made any comparison of 2004 general election data and our 2008 primary poll. We acknowledged in on our press teleconference that this comparison was not apples-to-apples and because it compares general election to primary data. Given that primary exit polls have not asked the questions necessary to construct a true benchmark, suggestive data is necessary to provide context, even if it is not ideal. Moving forward, our Tennessee and Missouri polls can provide a future basis for comparison. You might call it the first apple.

Gonzales also criticizes the Washington Post for publishing our finding that Sen. Hillary Clinton defeated Sen. Barack Obama among white evangelical voters, and makes a blanket declaration that "the sub-samples [of white evangelical Democrats] were so small (n=76 in Missouri and n=116 in Tennessee) that any conclusions are not statistically reliable." Although the samples of white evangelicals were small (actually 78 in MO and 117 in TN), the poll did produce results that exceeded the necessarily wider margins of error. (The white evangelical Democratic sub-sample in MO had an 11 percent margin of error and this TN sub-sample had a 9 percent margin of error.) While the tight Clinton-Obama race in MO (54 percent to 37 percent among white evangelicals) was too close to draw statistically significant conclusions with this sample size, our finding of Clinton’s decisive win in TN among white evangelicals (78 percent to 12 percent) far exceeded the 9 percent margin of error. The Washington Post correctly reported these findings.

As an organization that believes no party can own any faith and that no group of people should be dismissed or ignored on the basis of religion, we are pleased to have sought out this instructive data that the exit polls have thus far refused to provide, and we stand by our work. The full wording of questions and topline results are publicly available from Faith in Public Life.

Posted by Katie at 02:11 PM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (0)

Mountaintop removal / valley fill coal mining (MTR) has been called strip mining on steroids. One author says the process should be more accurately named: mountain range removal. Mountaintop removal /valley fill mining annihilates ecosystems, transforming some of the most biologically diverse temperate forests in the world into biologically barren moonscapes.

Get the facts and scriptural justification from Christians for the Mountains.

Posted by Alex Carpenter at 04:28 AM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (1)

We thought we had seen it all from the Culture Warriors, then came the allusions to genocide.

BREAKING: FRC Uncovers Evil Democratic Mass-Murder Plot! Tony Perkins is urging his supporters to help stop the reauthorization of PEPFAR, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, because of amendments which would eliminate the abstinence only education earmarks as well as give clinics more flexibility in administering family planning services. Abortion providers would still not be eligible for funds. This fact, however, did not stop Tony Perkins from asserting, "Berman and the Democratic leadership are plotting to turn the program into something that would help eliminate Africa's next generation." So, you heard it here folks. The Democrats are trying to wipe out Africa...with AIDS relief?

Coming to you from Tallahassee, it's Inherit the Wind: Live! The latest battle in the "monkey wars" took place in Florida where the state school board approved science standards mandating teaching the theory of evolution. You may be thinking, "wait, shouldn't we have solved this by now? Haven't we been debating this for like, 100 years?" You would be pretty much right. Since the infamous Scopes Monkey Trial in 1925, schools have been grappling with how to present evolution in the classroom. Fortunately, teachers no longer face criminal charges for talking about evolution. Unfortunately, many of them still face intense social pressure from conservatives...and I don't think Spencer Tracy would star in that movie.

Department of Sadly, this is not a Joke (again) Culture War Watch celebrates Congress' recent action to ban water boarding...but mourns the fact that 1) we had to pass such a ban in the first place and 2) the ban will most likely be vetoed by President Bush.

The Scorecard: Unfortunately, the Culture Warriors seem to have the upper hand this week. Let's hope next week the Common Do-Gooders can mount a comeback!

Posted by Beth Dahlman at 05:15 PM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (1)

Today C-SPAN announced the winners of its StudentCam contest. The Grand Prize winning video is “Leaving Religion at the Door,” by Scott Mitchell and Nick Poss, 11th graders at Jenks High School in Jenks, Oklahoma. Their film explores the role of religion in decisions about presidential candidates in 2008. A cash prize of $5,000 accompanies the award. Their winning video will air on C-SPAN on Sunday, April 27th followed by an interview with the students.

Leaving Religion at the Door?: Faith & Politics in Decision 2008

C-SPAN StudentCam is an annual documentary competition that encourages students to think seriously about issues that affect our communities and our nation. C-SPAN StudentCam invites students to identify a current political topic of interest and produce a short (up to ten minute) video documentary which creatively explores an issue while integrating C-SPAN programming.

Posted by Alex Carpenter at 01:07 AM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (1)

It's a big day at Faith In Public Life, where we're relaunching Faithful America, an online community of people of faith dedicated to promoting the common good and reclaiming the values debate. We'll be sending out email alerts at critical moments calling for action that'll really make a difference on issues that matter to people of faith.

Today we launched our first campaign, a petition to the media pollsters asking them to stop pigeonholing people of faith in the presidential primary exit polls. The response so far has been impressive. It's only been live for a few hours and we're already aproaching 3,000 signatures!

In the weeks and months ahead we'll be launching campaigns on issues such as poverty, the environment and human rights. If you're not a member of Faithful America and want to join, click here to sign up. Hope you'll join us!

Posted by Dan at 02:09 PM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (1)

This is not a rhetorical question -- when in the history of representative democracy has a legislative body passed a measure prohibiting torture, only to have it vetoed by a chief executive? Has there ever been such an open and official approval of torture in a democratic society?

If the answer is yes, let's not join the ranks of whoever's crossed that rubicon of shame. If the answer is no, let's keep it that way. From NRCAT:

We ask you to call the White House at 202-456-1111, or to email the President at comments@whitehouse.gov to express your support for H.R. 2082 (the Intelligence Authorization bill). Tell the President that we cannot win the war on terror by abandoning the values that made us great, and that he can help return us to those values by signing H.R. 2082.

The Washington Post's Dan Froomkin asks some other pertinent questions that demand answers:

Who are we as a nation? Are we who we used to be? Did one terrorist attack really change all that? Can it be changed back?

If you believe in atonement and redemption, the answer to Dan's last question has to be a firm yes, but the answers to his other three are far more troubling.

On an upnote, if your Congressional representatives voted the right way, it'd be nice to drop them a note of a appreciation.

Posted by Dan at 02:20 PM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (0)

Happy Valentine's Day Culture War Watchers!

While recovering from your chocolate coma you can check out what's going on this week in the no-love-lost battle between the Common Do-Gooders and the Culture Warriors.

NEW SURVEY: 100% of Culture War Watch Bloggers want Major Medias Outlets to Fix Their Exit Polls Readers of this blog will know that the exit polling during the primaries has consistently stereotyped Evangelical voters as the sole political property of the Republican party. This really bothers Culture War Watch. Thankfully, Faith in Public Life teamed up the the Center for American Progress Action Fund and took matters into our own hands. Our polls in Missouri and Tennessee demonstrated that there was indeed a sizable contingent of Evangelicals, and people of all faiths, voting for both Democratic and Republican candidates. The story is making its way around in state and national media. Apparently, reporters find complete information useful while writing stories. Who'd have thunk?

Richard Land...liberal? Culture War Watch is ever so pleased to see that Dr. Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention is encouraging Americans to "rely on their values — and not their pocketbook — when choosing their elected representatives." What a great commitment to move beyond narrow self-interest to investment in the common good...like protecting the environment and ending poverty and... Oh wait...that doesn't seem to be at all what he meant. Nevermind.

Dept. of Sadly, this is Not a Joke: Bill Keller fashion plate and administrator of votingforsatan.com is claiming credit for Mitt Romney's recent departure from the presidential race. His "a vote for Romney is a vote for Satan" site launched shortly before Gov. Romney called it quits. To sane people, this would seem like a coincidence, but to Keller this is victory. (Keller, you see, is logic-challenged. The votingforsatan.com site claims it is "in no way meant to tell people who to or who not to vote for." Leading one to conclude either 1) if Satan was indeed to form some kind of "Satan/Beelzebub '08" third party campaign Keller would not discourage people from voting for him or 2) Keller is nuts). Anyway, votingforsatan.com now proudly proclaims, "Bill Keller being credited by many for helping to end
Romney's bid for the White House." Quite a trick, especially when he wasn't trying to tell anyone who to vote for. Keller, however, doesn't give examples of who any of these "many" might be. Culture War Watch has no idea why...

The Scorecard: With old culture warriors like Keller grasping at straws to stay relevant, this week goes to the Common Do-Gooders. Polls show them sweeping every demographic.

Posted by Beth Dahlman at 04:10 PM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (0)

The other night I went to an election-returns watch party at a pub near my house (this is what dorks do in DC), and some time after CNN called Maryland for Barack Obama a well-dressed stranger came up to me and asked who I thought had more baggage in the general election -- Obama or Clinton (this is what big dorks do in DC).

Not so confident in my own handicapping abilities -- and figuring the inquisitive gentleman had an argument he was just dying to make -- I said "I don't know, what do you think?"

A mistake, but a revealing one.

"Obama, easily! I mean, he's a MUSLIM," the young man said. My brow raised like a kite. I was unsure which tack to take first: the bigotry angle, or the accuracy angle. I went with the latter. (It turned out that my ignorant itinerant thought it horrible that being a Muslim was a liability, which was a relief.)

I had little trouble convincing the guy that Obama is a member of the UCC, but he held fast to "well, he's definitely a former Muslim. I mean, he went to a Wahabbi madrassa in Indonesia, and his dad was a radical, like almost al Qaeda radical. He will get ripped apart for that!"

Good flipping grief.

A couple months back, I wrote about what I call the matrix of deceit, the swirling combination of false reports on Fox News, misleading headlines, "accidentally" calling him "Osama" (Romney did twice in one speech), viral emails, and good old fashioned word-of-mouth creating a dishonest, bigotry-stoking buzz. I knew it was out there, and I knew people believed it, but seeing is more than believing. It amazed me that the rumor could turn even an unbigoted observer against him.

Posted by Dan at 12:16 PM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (0)

Talking Points Memo's TPMcafe is hosting a great book club on EJ Dionne's "Souled Out: Reclaiming Faith and Politics After the Religious Right." If you're looking for an insightful discussion of the state of religion in American politics (and I have a hunch that you do), it's well worth a read.

EJ's introductory post captures the moment in religion and politics:

Souled Out insists that religious faith does not lead ineluctably to conservative political convictions. It argues that the era of the religious Right is over. Its collapse is part of a larger decline of a certain style of ideological conservatism that reached high points in 1980 and 1994 but suffered a series of decisive--and I believe fatal--setbacks during George W. Bush’s second term.

Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good director Alexia Kelley introduces an aptly named counterweight to the Religious Right culture warrior:

We could call these religious Americans -- the new “Gospel Voters” – people of faith guided by biblical admonitions to side with the weak over the strong and to love our neighbors as ourselves. These voters are increasingly outspoken about the scandalous gap between rich and poor (the largest since 1929), the shame of 47 million Americans without health care and an unjust war in Iraq that is a humanitarian disaster.

Brian McLaren uses cultural and historical context to chart the way forward:

Both conservatives and progressives, Dionne concludes, “need each other more than they know,” and therefore should respect one another in dynamic solidarity – not turn on one another in the rhetoric of culture wars. Evangelical Christians could have opted for this solidarity and balance nearly thirty years ago, but we didn’t. Perhaps it’s not too late. Perhaps beyond religious right and secular (or religious) left, there is a new synthesis of dynamic solidarity waiting to be created.

The discussion is well worth reading as it continues throughout the week.

Posted by Dan at 11:44 AM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (1)

Today numerous public figures gave thoughtful remembrances of Rep. Tom Lantos, the Holocaust survivor and defender of religious freedom and human rights who passed away last night.

Nancy Pelosi:
“As the only Holocaust survivor ever elected to Congress, Tom Lantos devoted his life to shining a bright light on dark corners of oppression. He used his chairmanship of the Foreign Affairs Committee to empower the powerless and give voice to the voiceless throughout the world."

Paul Zeitz, executive director, Global AIDS Alliance:
"Chairman Lantos was an indispensable leader in the field of global AIDS and poverty. The fight against HIV/AIDS has lost a real hero. His leadership will be sorely missed."

Michael Savage:
"I think he was one of the most -- he was a scoundrel. And I'll tell you why I detested Tom Lantos. The man survived the Holocaust of World War II and used it as a weapon the rest of his life."

Beneath contempt.

Posted by Dan at 04:45 PM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (0)

Al Gore, who studied religion at Vanderbilt, talks on Current TV about why religion and government should be separate, particularly in schools.

Posted by Alex Carpenter at 03:34 PM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (2)

In the 2008 election, media organizations and pollsters are relying on an outdated script by treating evangelicals as a monolithic voting bloc. The exit polls (sponsored by the major networks, CNN, Fox, and the Associated Press) provide the data for nearly all post-election analysis. Yet, thus far, exit polls have only asked Republican primary voters whether they considered themselves “born-again or evangelical Christian.”

A new post-election poll in Missouri and Tennessee (link to polling memo), commissioned by Faith in Public Life and the Center for American Progress Action Fund conducted by Zogby International, demonstrates the diversity of evangelical voters and the need for more thorough polling and careful analysis. Large numbers of white evangelicals participated in the Republican and Democratic primaries; majorities of both Democratic and Republican evangelical voters want a broader agenda that goes beyond abortion and same-sex marriage, and like other voters, white evangelicals ranked jobs and economy as the most important issue area in deciding how to vote.

[Click here to listen to the press teleconference about the poll.]

One in three white evangelical voters in Missouri and Tennessee participated in Democratic primaries. Comparatively, only one in four white evangelical voters in Missouri and Tennessee supported Senator John Kerry in the 2004 general election.

While this year’s exit polls in both states identified all Republican white evangelical voters, the Missouri exit polls failed to identify 160,000 white evangelical Democratic voters, and the Tennessee exit polls failed to identify 182,000 white evangelical Democratic voters. In both states, this group of overlooked white evangelicals represents a figure equal to or greater than all African American voters, all voters over 65, or all voters who said the Iraq war is the most important issue facing the country, according to the state exit polls. (Nineteen percent of all Democratic voters in Missouri and 29 percent of all Democratic voters in Tennessee were white evangelical.)

Majorities of both Democratic and Republican evangelical voters want a broader issue agenda that goes beyond abortion and same-sex marriage to include ending poverty, protecting the environment, and tackling HIV/AIDS – rather than sticking to the more limited agenda of opposing abortion and same-sex marriage. Majorities of white evangelicals in both states support a broader agenda by more than 20 percentage points.

Sixty-two percent of white evangelical voters in Missouri embrace a broader agenda (75 percent of Democratic voters and 56 percent of Republican voters). In Tennessee, 56 percent of white evangelical voters embrace a broader agenda (60 percent of Democratic voters and 54 percent of Republican voters).

In both states, white evangelicals who ranked jobs and economy as the most important issue area in deciding how to vote far outnumbered those who considered abortion and same-sex marriage most important. In Missouri, 30 percent of all white evangelicals ranked jobs and economy the most important issue, while 14 percent considered abortion and same-sex marriage the most important (12 percent chose Iraq, 11 percent health care, 7 percent immigration, 6 percent terrorism, 4 percent taxes and 4 percent education). In Tennessee, 34 percent of all white evangelicals ranked jobs and economy the most important issue, while 19 percent considered abortion and same-sex marriage the most important (8 percent chose Iraq, 8 percent health care, 6 percent education, 6 percent immigration, 5 percent terrorism, 4 percent taxes).

Candidate preference
Senator Hillary Clinton’s support from white evangelicals surpassed that of Senator Barack Obama’s in Missouri 54 percent to 37 percent and in Tennessee 78 percent to 12 percent.

As widely reported in the media because the exit polls in every state have asked Republican primary voters whether they considered themselves evangelical, Governor Mike Huckabee did well among white evangelical voters in Missouri, Tennessee, and other states – though he did not capture a majority of white evangelical voters in either.

Posted by Dan at 10:49 AM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (1)

Gov. Huckabee goes on Right-winger Denis Prager's show Americans of Faith and complains about how the media keeps talking about him primarily in terms of faith. After emphasizing his gubernatorial experience, he goes on to explain his recent words about it being easier to change the Constitution than the Bible. To give him credit he does talk about how churches can deal with social ills and discusses his record of compassionate conservatism.

Posted by Alex Carpenter at 04:51 AM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (0)

I see that James Dobson has thrown his focus onto Huckabee, not a surprise given Dobson's bi-issue tendencies.

But a Huff-post yesterday by Christian conservative Frank Schaeffer has added evidence that the Religious Right is splitting between the power-broker politics of the old guard and an emerging generation of evangelicals who are putting the human back into the race.

Here, Schaeffer writes why he is pro-life and pro-Obama.

Evangelicals weren't politicized until after my late father and evangelical leader Francis Schaeffer, Dr. Koop (Reagan's soon-to-be Surgeon General) and I stirred them up over the issue of abortion in the mid-1970s. Our Whatever Happened to the Human Race? book, movie series and seminars brought the evangelicals into the pro-life movement.

(Dad's political influence persists. Last week one of my father's followers -- Mike Huckabee -- was interviewed by Katie Couric, along with all the other presidential candidates. Couric asked the candidates if they were to be sent to a desert island and could only take one book besides the Bible, what would that that book be? Huckabee answered that he'd take my father's book Whatever Happened To The Human Race?)

[Snip]

Conversely the "pro-life" ethic of George W. Bush manifested itself in a series of squandered opportunities to call us to our better natures. After 9/11, Bush told most Americans to go shopping while saddling the few who volunteered for military service with endless tours of duty (something I know a little about since my son was a Marine and deployed several times). The Bush doctrine of life was expressed by starting an unnecessary war in Iraq that has killed thousands of Americans and wounded tens of thousands more.

[Snip]

Regardless of the official position of the Supreme Court on abortion, a country in which all Americans are offered some sort of dignity and hopeful future would be a place conducive to the kind of optimism each of us must hold in our hearts if we are to welcome children into this world. But if our highest aspiration is to be a consumer with no thought or care for our neighbor, we will remain a culture in which abortion is not only inevitable but logical.

What we need in America is a spiritual rebirth, a turning away from the false value of consumerism and utilitarianism that have trumped every aspect of human life. To implement this vision we need leaders that inspire but to do so they have to be what they say they are. It's not about policy it's about character.

Posted by Alex Carpenter at 03:44 PM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (2)

Our friends at the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy are making progress in their fight against predatory lending practices in Virginia. Here's an update I received, this week, from Ann Rasmussen, VICPP’s Policy Director:

Despite strong opposition from the payday lending industry...a bill was passed with strong reform measures that we believe will help break the cycle of debt caused by payday lending. Central to this proposal are 1) a limit of one loan at a time industry-wide (so people can't hop from lender to lender taking out numerous loans), 2) a limit of 5 loans a year, and 3) a longer loan term that is two times the pay cycle of the borrower. This compromise reform is not as simple and easy as a straight 36% cap, but the measures are real reform that protect against the current lending practice of encouraging repeat borrowing that traps people into debt.

This bill could offer real, positive change if passed by the legislature. Calling all FPL readers in Virginia - now is the time to join VICPP's Faithful Pledge Campaign!

Posted by Leigh Ann at 11:54 AM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (0)

In a move that should shock no one (save perhaps for its immediacy), James Dobson has endorsed Mike Huckabee for president.

How quickly they come around when it all falls down. It wasn't so long ago that Dobson and the Arlington Group cartel fretted about Huckabee's electability and patiently waited for Mitt Romney or Fred Thompson to gain viability with the base. With both now on the sidelines, JDobs was forced to choose between a heretical senator and an unviable governor, and chose the latter.

What this portends for the rest of the religious right is anybody's guess, but for the electorate at large, it probably doesn't matter.

(h/t to Christianity Today.)

Posted by Dan at 12:03 AM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (3)

The Many Faces of American Muslims with Paul Barrett, Reporter at BusinessWeek and former editor at The Wall Street Journal.

In the wake of 9/11, Muslims in America are often caught in a religious subculture torn between moderation and extremism. Not only are they confronted with the task of reconciling faith with a permissive society, but they also face challenges to overcome stereotyping. The six million Muslims in the United States see themselves as anything but monolithic with significant differences in background and ideology. In American Islam: The Struggle for the Soul of a Religion, Paul Barrett interacts with Muslims in their homes, mosques, and private gatherings to introduce a population of striking variety. As thousands of American Muslims have been investigated and interrogated since 9/11—and as Islam has come under heavy attack worldwide—a better understand.

In her Salon review, Laura Miller writes: "Author Paul Barrett deftly upends the stereotypes that Westerners harbor about Muslims -- and shows why militant Islamism is less likely to take root here than in other countries."

Posted by Alex Carpenter at 11:45 PM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (0)

John DiIulio was Bush's director of the White House Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives. He explores the role of community serving programs in this address to at the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley.

Dilulio and David Kuo recently wrote an op-ed in the Times about the Bush administration's failure to substantively execute on Bush's promise to help the faith sector. They write:

Every nonpartisan study has concluded that the initiative has not delivered the grants, vouchers, tax incentives and other support for faith-based organizations that the president originally promised.

In a book published last year, Michael Gerson, Mr. Bush’s former speechwriter, concludes: “The faith-based initiative was not tried and found wanting. It was tried and found difficult — then tried with less and less energy.”

It appears that despite the concerns of church/state high wallers, this program turned out to be more about manipulating the faith vote than stripping away the separation of church and state. In the op-ed, both men argue for the continuation of the program, no matter who is elected in Nov. After watching the video, what do you think?

Posted by Alex Carpenter at 03:39 PM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (1)

Hot on the heels of CIA director Michael V. Hayden's admission that CIA interrogators waterboarded three detainees between 2002 and 2003, the Bush administration says they can do it again.

But in remarks that were greeted with disbelief by some members of Congress and human rights groups, White House spokesman Tony Fratto said that waterboarding was a legal technique that could be employed again "under certain circumstances."

Fratto said the nation's top intelligence officials "didn't rule anything out" during congressional testimony Tuesday on CIA interrogation methods, and he indicated that Bush might consider reauthorizing waterboarding or other harsh techniques in extreme cases, such as when there is "belief that an attack might be imminent."

To recap: a slowly administered drowning, invented by inquisitors, used by the Khmer Rouge, previously prosecuted by the US government as torture, is "a legal technique that could be employed again 'under certain circumstances.'" In other words, when push comes to shove, America tortures. Not like you didn't already know, but it's still noteworthy to hear them confess this moral calamity.

The National Religions Campaign Against Torture provides an extensive list of ways to get involved in the movement to ban torture by the US government (for real this time).

NRCAT's web site offers a cogent explanation for their motivation:

Why Are People of Faith Working to End U.S.-Sponsored Torture?

Tens of thousands of people of diverse faith traditions, including evangelical Christians, mainline Protestants, Roman Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Quakers, Unitarians, Muslims, Jews, and Sikhs, as well as representatives of over 130 religious organizations, are working together to end U.S.-sponsored torture. Notwithstanding points of theological difference, these groups share a basic understanding and affirmation of the inherent dignity of each individual which includes:

* A conviction that all individuals are created in the image of God and therefore are endowed with a basic dignity;
* Some variant of what is commonly referred to as "The Golden Rule": That which you would not want done to yourself, do not do to another.

Each of these traditions also share ethical principles that people of faith are called to practice:

* People of faith are called to compassion - to not only care when people are degraded or hurt but to take action: to stand for, and with, those who are abused, oppressed, and among the most vulnerable.
* People of faith are called to pursue justice to assure that all people are treated fairly - as Martin Luther King once noted, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
* People of faith are called to be faithful - to be constant in their defense of each individual's dignity, humanity, and honor.
* People of faith are called to hospitality - to welcome those who are marginalized, ostracized, and perceived as Other.
* People of faith are called to make peace - to facilitate reconciliation and to create a culture of peace.

Religious institutions are called to embody these values and to engage in these tasks because of the authority they bring to issues of morality. Religious traditions emphasize ethical behavior as a demonstration of faith in action. They also provide leadership in secular society, playing an important role in influencing issues of morality at the national, state, and local levels. Furthermore, the infrastructure they provide supports the millions of people who covet justice and peace for all of God's creation.

Alexis de Tocqueville, the French historian, politicist, and observer of 19th century America, observed that "America is great because America is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great." It is important for people of faith to impress upon Americans and our leaders in Washington that America's goodness, and hence its greatness, is seriously compromised by the practice of torture, or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatments of detainees.

Posted by Dan at 02:09 PM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (2)

Unlike giving up chocolate or coffee, this Lenten observance won't complicate your Valentine's Day or make you cranky in the morning. By creating a Lenten online pledge to work and pray for an end to the War in Iraq, our friends at Catholics United have given Catholics the opportunity to deepen their spiritual practice and build the movement for peace at the same time. And unlike chocolate and coffee, war is not something you're likely to crave again once Easter rolls around.

Posted by Beth Dahlman at 01:40 PM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (0)

Here we go again. Last night, the exit polls in every single state failed to ask Democratic primary voters if they were born-again or evangelical Christians. There’s lots of news analysis this morning about how evangelicals voted in the Republican primaries and none about Democrats -- because no one has the data. This imbalance continues to reinforce the false and outdated presumption that evangelicals only vote for candidates from one party.

The National Election Pool’s only response to this (now widespread) complaint is that there is “limited real estate” on the questionnaires. Others have claimed that asking Democratic primary voters would not yield valuable or interesting data. Polling information to which we do have access casts doubt on this claim.

UPDATE: Melissa Rogers analyzes the misleading journalism that inevitably results from pigeonholing evangelical voters in exit polls.

In early January, Christianity Today found that readers preferred Obama (who came in second only to Huckabee) to Clinton by a margin of 10 percentage points in an online poll. When Relevant Magazine, the flagship publication for young evangelicals, asked readers who Jesus would vote for, they gave Obama, who bested all Republican and Democratic candidates in this poll, a 27-point edge over Clinton. Are young evangelicals in fact flocking to Obama? How does his vote count among evangelicals compare not only to Clinton’s, but to Huckabee’s, and the other Republican candidates’? It would be interesting to know, but we don’t. Because the exit polls did not collect the data.

The findings of a recent Barna study raise further intrigue. (Note that Barna measures born-again Christians differently than other pollsters. Respondents are not asked to describe themselves as "born again", but rather if they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ and believe that when they die they will go to Heaven.) Barna found that if the election were held today, and all of the remaining candidates from both parties were on the ballot, 20% of born-again Christian voters would vote for Clinton, 18% for Obama and 12% for Huckabee. No other candidate reached double figures, and 30% said they were still undecided.

Moreover, exit poll questions that have asked about the religiosity of Democrats have yielded valuable and interesting data so far. We have learned that Clinton has consistently done well among Catholics, while Obama has done well with those who attend religious services most frequently. This data helps us measure the effectiveness of each candidate’s message and outreach to different faith communities, but without knowing how the candidates are faring with evangelicals, any analysis will be incomplete.

One positive sign: Unlike in several previous primary states, on Super Tuesday the exit pollsters asked both Republican Democratic primary participants in every state their religious affiliation (Protestant/Catholic/Mormon/Jewish/Muslim/etc) and how frequently they attended religious services. That’s progress. We hope for more.

Posted by Katie at 11:40 AM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (1)

The Huffington Post's OffTheBus has an interesting post up in which forty citizen journalists interview evangelicals across the country to see if the narratives of broadening values and diminishing political clout pan out. According to their report they make contact with 90 churches and "interviews with 20 ministers and outside experts" and dispel "the notion of a heavily influential evangelical vote in Super Tuesday's 22 state contests."

Pastor Tom Lambelet of Faith Church in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, believes much of the perceived "fragmentation" can be attributed to the "broadening of issues, where I think there used to be a more narrow conservative view. Citing "the war, the environment, the poor..." Lambelet added that despite the conservative quality of his congregation, his younger members are increasingly less so. According to both the research and the interviews, it is in part this growing, more globally conscious generation that is fueling Democrats' recent success in traditionally conservative territory. In the Nevada Democratic Primary, 32 percent of Clinton supporters and 49 percent of Obama supporters indicated that they attend church more than once a week, according to MSNBC exit polls; and the Pew Forum on Religion and Politics notes that "there is some indication that Democrats are doing a little better with evangelicals" thus far. The Pew Forum noted that "this pattern seems to be particularly strong amongst young evangelical voters" - voters under 30.

[snip]

Playing off what Guth terms conservative Christians' "disappointment" with the unkept promises of the Bush presidency and dissatisfaction with the Republican field, evangelical interest in the Democratic candidates is on the rise. This year's Democratic contenders are already drawing more interest amongst evangelicals than Gore or Kerry did at this point in 2000 and 2004, with Clinton and Obama both drawing large crowds at churches across the country. Obama has proven particularly adept, says Guth, even taking his message of social action to the tremendously popular Rick Warren at the Second Annual Global Summit on AIDS and the Church in November and December of 2006. Further, Obama has taken a slight upper hand amongst evangelicals in large part due conservative Christians' continued unease regarding Clinton's marriage and relationship with former President Bill Clinton.

Read more here.

Posted by Alex Carpenter at 02:48 AM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (1)

A friend of mine just sent me this post about the Obama campaign's volunteer recruitment among religious outreach and social service providers. The text of the appeal:

Dear Friend,

After college, I worked as an organizer on the streets of the South Side of Chicago with a range of faith communities and neighborhood organizations. I had the opportunity to meet extraordinary people of faith [sic]­ single mothers, students, pastors and parishioners. In that time, which was formative to my own Christian faith, I realized that everyone has a story to tell if others simply take the time to listen.

Through your work ­ in social ministry, education, and advocacy ­ you listen to these stories every day and take action, working for the common good. In the face of many of our greatest moral challenges, from unjust war, to growing economic inequality and the global scourge of disease, you live out that Gospel mandate that calls us to be our brother’s keeper and our sister’s keeper.

It is with an abiding respect for this work that I am writing to invite you and members of your community to join my campaign for a new kind of politics in America.

As friends have noted, this is rather innovative. I'd be curious to know exactly which groups received this. I've heard that it was aimed specifically at Catholics who work in social services, but I wouldn't be surprised if it went out to a wider circle of service providers. Anyone out there received anything like this?

Posted by Dan at 04:58 PM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (1)

Republican presidential hopeful and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee speaks with Tim Russert of NBC's "Meet the Press" about faith and politics.

Posted by Alex Carpenter at 02:49 AM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (0)

It was interesting to watch a chain reaction of immigration stories this week. Monday's Chicago Tribune reported that Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago will provide sanctuary to an undocumented immigrant, just as it did for Elvira Arellano last year, and like clockwork, Glenn Beck had Adalberto pastor Walter Coleman on for a ritual of disrespect on Tuesday. Wednesday FPL caught wind of an ADL/La Raza/Southern Poverty Law Center web site documenting hate speech by, among others, Glenn Beck, and before we could even blog about it, Beck's show had a guest comparing those organizations to the KKK.

By Friday, the Dallas Morning News and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch were catching on to the web site.

All told, it was a perfect demonstration of why so many Latino voters are moving away from the GOP, which was alluded to, ironically, in Monday's Chicago Tribune.

Posted by Dan at 05:28 PM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (0)

You'd be hard pressed to find a clearer example of faith's power to inspire and sustain social movements than African Americans' long struggle for freedom and equality. From the beginning, when slaves found in faith the strength to endure (and in some cases resist) indescribable oppression, to the high water mark of the Civil Rights Movement when Christians, Muslims and Jews gave their lives to the struggle, the cause of justice has always been rooted in and animated by religious faith.

As Black History Month begins, that is an example to honor, not just by listening to "I Have A Dream," but by recognizing that the struggle is not over, and by involving ourselves in it. As long as we have separate and unequal education systems, unequal access to healthcare, and an ever-widening chasm between the haves and the have-nots -- all breaking down on racial lines -- faith should compel us to act, in our own communities and in areas of greatest need. The best way to honor our heroes is to emulate them.

Posted by Dan at 02:55 PM | Link | del.icio.us | Digg | Comments (2)