On the Lack of Democratic Outreach to Atheists

[rug]

August 4, 2016
Posted by Jack Vance

Here is how David Gibson (Religion News Service) opened his recent post, The divided soul of the Democratic Party:

To judge by public perceptions, and more than a few pundits, the Democratic Party is the default home of secularists and atheists, with practicing believers shunted to a side room only to be trotted out when a political event needs a gloss of godliness. But walking around the Democratic National Convention taking place this week and talking to delegates and activists reveals a much different picture, with people of faith — almost every faith — eager to testify to their beliefs and how they in fact bolster their political choice for a party some view as inimical to religion.

I think he's correct. Despite public perceptions, which are bolstered by polling data showing that atheists, secularists, and freethinkers are more likely to lean to the left politically, there appeared to be plenty of faith on display at the Democratic convention.

Gibson notes that this has not always been the case and suggests that the Democratic party launched a concerted effort to appeal to "faith-based voters" following the loss of John Kerry in 2004. He explains that this was an important part of the 2008 and 2012 Obama campaign strategy. Throughout the Obama administration, it does seem like we have seen a continuation of many Bush-era policies aimed at appeasing religious believers and weakening separation of church and state.

Gibson argues efforts by the Democrats to reach out to faith-based voters seem to have ended recently and cites a Pew survey finding a drop in the number of people who regard the Democratic Party as "friendly toward religion." I came away from the recent Democratic convention with a very different impression. It seemed to me that outreach toward religious voters was back in a big way. And honestly, I'm not at all convinced that it ever went away.

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[True Dough]

1. You don't hear talk of evangelicals with the Dems like you do with the GOP

Just one observation. However, Tim Kaine's religious background was played up to appeal to Christians, IMO.

I would categorize myself as an atheist/securlarist, BTW. I invite anyone who responds to this thread to indicate whether they fall into that camp, if they're comfortable acknowledging it. Just curious about the mix of people on this forum in that regard. It seems many fit the bill.

[Angry Dragon]

3. agnostic

[Becky Louden]

2. I'm an atheist and a liberal

and I don't mind that Hillary talks about her faith as long as she isn't pandering to the crazy for jesus people-which I cannot see her doing. Tim Kaine is religious and he is the right kind of religious, for me anyway. He has always been about helping those less fortunate.

[whatthehey]

4. If most A are B, it is not necessarily true that most B are A

Hindus and Buddhists are D in about the same ratio as atheists, but nobody pretends to be surprised when the DNC is not awash in saffron robes. Why are they surprised that an overwhelmingly Christian country has a range of political opinion among them sufficient to be recognizable at any large party convention, admittedly massively RW biased of course. Any political party not paying at least lip service to an overwhelming majority of the electorate is not worth a whole lot.