With out being able to read the entire article this is quoted from it's impossible to know where the authors of the quote were going with it. One of the authors of the quote is the founder of Beliefnet -- a website that discusses ALL religions with a very open mind. I subscribe to their Daily Buddhist Meditation emails.
Some of what this quote is describing was discussed during the election cycle and there were in fact various religious groups that were actively "for Kerry" groups, such as Catholics for Kerry.
"A deep-blue religious left is almost exactly the same size as the religious right but receives much less attention."
I've seen demographic comparisons that show similar numbers on both sides of the spectrum, for "religious" voters. Democrats and liberals do not tend to "wear their faith on thier sleeve" as JK pointed out during the campaign about himself. Because Democrats and liberals don't attempt to force their religious views on others, as the religious right does, there is much less attention paid to the religious left.
"John Kerry is perhaps one representative of this group, which draws members from many Christian denominations and is a product of the same theological restructuring that created the heartland culture warriors."
There are many Christian faiths melded into the religious left, as opposed to a more limited selection of Christian faiths on the religious right. I would also add that perhaps more members of other faiths are Democrats - Buddhists, Hindus, Judaism - to name a few.
"Members of the religious left espouse a progressive theology (agreeing, for instance, that “all the world’s great religions are equally true”) and are very liberal on cultural issues such as abortion and gay marriage."
Again I see this as a truth and not a drawback. The religious right pushes the notion that their
faith(s) is the only faith. Where as the religious left understand that the foundations and principles of each of the world's great religions are basically the same and each hold similar truths. Great theological scholars get this.
"About a quarter attend church weekly."
I remember a study during the election cycle that pointed out that less religious Democrats tend to go to church that religious Republicans.
"The religious left is somewhat liberal on economic policy and decidedly to the left on foreign policy."
Thank God(dess) that the religous left is more liberal on economics and foreign policy. Someone has to be and truth is Jesus was a liberal, so was Buddha.
"Its stances on both moral values and the Iraq War — but especially the latter — have pushed it further into the Democratic camp. Seventy percent backed Kerry in 2004; 51 percent had backed Gore in 2000."
I've seen studies that show that JK had the largest Catholic turnout and I believe Jewish turnout as well. Again this is a good thing. Was it as large as the religous right turnout. I'm not sure, but Democrats don't exploit the religious left the way Reliblicans exploit the religious right. It's a recognizable force of voters, that could be better mobilized if done with out the same type of exploitation that the religious right uses.
"The religious left was the largest — and the fastest-growing — single tribe in the Kerry coalition."
The word tribe is derived from the Latin "tribus" meaning "a division of the Roman people." -
http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/tribeIn today's word a "tribe" would denote "a group of persons having a common character, occupation, or interest."
Although the religious left is made of members of a more diverse selection of faiths and spiritual thought forms, the religious left has the common character of being liberal thinkers.
The religious right has long waged a war against the more liberal faiths particularly since the 60's and the "Age of Aquarius". Note that during the Clinton era we saw far more "new age" authors on the NY Times nonfiction bestseller list than we do now. These days the it's all "End Times" theory authors who dominate the NY Times nonfiction bestsellers list. During the Clinton administration, the liberal, "new age" thinkers dominated the best sellers list with authors like Marianne Williamson, James Redfield, Deepak Chopra, Thomas Moore, Neal Donald Walsch, Sam Keen, etc.
The original link -
http://www.getreligion.org/?p=1427 notes that different "tribes" go to different movies and uses Brokeback Mountain as expample and quotes the paragraph from an Atalantic Monthly piece. I see references to the religious "culture wars" but I don't see where it says that because the religious left stands for certain principles it's a cult.
Windsurfer Magazine had a great interview with JK in 03 I think. He talks about spirituality in that interview and does so with the open mind of a liberal thinker. JK also gets that we need to embrace all faiths and although we are a secular nation, the religious and spiritual views of voters do matter when they go to the polls.
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