No, I'm sorry (NOT), but Dems do NOT need to reach out to Evangelicals!1

[UTUSN]

We're for free speech, free religion, free-whatEVER.



I'll add-on according to the flaming.

[MidwestTransplant]

1. Not every evangelical is a R Winger.

[UTUSN]

4. Did *I* say THAT?!1 n/t

[Sarah Ibarruri]

5. No, but separation of church and state means we should leave churching out of politics nt

[xchrom]

2. i agree -- but this will get flamed.

remember we're supposed to 'talk' to the homophobes now -- like that'll change 'em.

[Stinky The Clown]

18. Who says we should talk to them?

Talking to fence posts would be more productive.

[JerseygirlCT]

3. First, not all evangelicals are the sort of rw nuts you're probably thinking

about.

Second, why in the world should we not be reaching out to everyone? That doesn't mean pandering to anyone. It simply means that we believe in our values enough to work to make them understood by everyone - and that we're so persuaded of our way of seeing things that we're sure we can persuade others to see it that way, too.

[Bill McBlueState]

6. we can reach out to evangelicals

without taking a position on their religious beliefs.

Ignore their religious beliefs, as long as they don't conflict with the law, and focus on why everyone is better off with Democrats in charge.

[Juche]

7. There are progressive christians

There is a young generation of christians who lean progressive. they want to fight poverty, HIV, starvation and injustice. They don't care about persecuting gays, mexicans or women the way current evangelicals do.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=4269824&page=1

The reality is conservative democrats already share some of these prejudices, but they are still part of the dem party.

[Mojambo]

8. I wouldn't mind it so much if they also came and talked to atheist and humanist groups.

But they don't.

[UTUSN]

9. To #s 3, 6, 7, & 8 - I am an old ex Hippie. I am SPIRITUAL, not RELIGION-hidebound

Do NOT assume I don't know SHIT, O.K.?!1


"Evangelicals" has a certain CONNOTATION in our language, O.K.?!1 That being, WINGNUT, HIDEBOUND, six-thousand-creation SHIT!1 --------O.K.?!1


I allow THEM more freedom than they allow ME!1 ----------O.K.?!1


Don't lecture, sermonize ME!1

[Mojambo]

10. Maybe try to the decaf next time.

Nobody is lecturing you, particularly not number 8.

Settle down!

;-)

[UTUSN]

11. Just to SEAL this OFF:

[BlooInBloo]

12. Maybe in your magic pony country...

... But in reality we live in a country of fucking idiots. To be elected here, you have to pander to them.

[gratuitous]

13. Is it pandering, or is it framing?

Concern for the poor, the down-trodden, the outcast, of being in the world (think rapacious capitalism) but not of the world (our economy doesn't have to depend on exploitation of the most vulnerable) has a very long history and there is a biblical basis for all of that, from the earliest writings in Genesis through the last epistles of Paul, John, and James. Is it "pandering" to explain these issues in those terms so that they can be understood? The right wing certainly hasn't caviled at its own selective reading of favorite biblical passages to support its misguided policies. The central message of the gospel (and this will come as a shock not just to the Ralph Reeds, but some of our very own DUers) is not "every man for himself," or "I got mine and screw you."

[BlooInBloo]

14. It's just a lie that concern for the poor requires religion.....

... Especially when religion has been the greatest force in human history keeping people poor.

[gratuitous]

16. No, but if you're talking to religious people

It might behoove you to speak in language they understand.

Or, we can keep watching a large voting block vote Republican and losing elections. Yeah, that sounds like a brilliant strategy, now that I type it out. Never mind my previous post or the sentence above. Carry on.

[Bluebear]

15. It's pandering when a Dem. candidate puts a "God delivered me from homosexuality!" sermon onstage.

[krabigirl]

17. Exactly.