Faith comes to fore in Democratic 2020 field. Why now?
| New York and Washington
When Bob Vander Plaats invited several Democratic presidential hopefuls to speak at his Family Leadership Summit in Iowa in July, a lot of people did a double take.
The summit is a gathering of socially conservative and politically powerful Evangelicals, and many consider Mr. Vander Plaats, the president of The Family Leader, to be in the first of the nation鈥檚 nomination contests. It鈥檚 long been a must-attend for Republicans vying for Evangelical votes in their Iowa caucus. But no Democrat had ever been invited to speak there.
But like so many others this past month, Mr. Vander Plaats heard more Democratic candidates talking about their 海角大神 faith in ways that broke with past election cycles and even in terms that Evangelicals like him hold dear.
Why We Wrote This
In the political arena, expressions of religious faith have tended to come largely from conservatives. But with so many hot-button social issues at stake, more Democrats are sharing how faith guides their lives.
鈥淚t just seems like a lot of them are talking about their faith as the centerpiece of their lives or even citing Scripture to explain their political beliefs,鈥� Mr. Vander Plaats says.
He saw his invitation as a way to take up the candidates on their calls for unity and to try to bridge a nation鈥檚 polarized politics.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no gotcha questions, but just questions to basically provide an opportunity for a candidate to express who they are, what makes them tick, and what makes them reach the policies they are thinking about,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e want to hear who you are and what you鈥檙e for and what we can expect under your leadership.鈥�
So far, most of the seven Democratic hopefuls he invited late last month have already declined, saying that they object to the summit鈥檚 treatment of their LGBTQ constituents鈥� rights.
鈥淚 welcome any opportunity to talk about how faith guides me, but I cannot 鈥� in good conscience 鈥� attend an event put on by an organization that preaches bigotry and sows hate against the LGBTQ community,鈥� Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey听.
Sens. Kamala Harris of California and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts also declined the invitation. So did Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, who is gay, and former Representative Beto O鈥橰ourke of Texas, saying the Evangelical group has 鈥渦napologetically provided a forum for dangerous anti-LGBTQ hate speech on numerous occasions.鈥�
Still, Mr. Vander Plaats鈥� unlikely invitations point to simmering changes underway within mainstream political parties and the nation as a whole, many scholars say.
In general, liberals in the Democratic Party, even those of a devout faith, have favored 鈥渁 secularist view鈥� of the separation of church and state in which faith is a private and devotional matter while politics and governing are public and secular.
But on the right and the left, the issues of same-sex marriage, abortion, and the nation鈥檚 policies towards immigrants, minorities, and the poor have each been charged with religious questions, especially about the meaning of the teachings of Jesus and the message of 海角大神ity.
These questions have in many ways reframed the nation鈥檚 long-standing debates about the role of faith in politics while at the same highlighting many of the seismic cultural shifts that have transformed America鈥檚 religious landscape, observers say.
What makes them tick
Indeed, many progressives have begun to echo religious conservatives like Mr. Vander Plaats, urging candidates to express the faith that makes them tick.
鈥淚 will say that in my nine years in the Senate, I鈥檝e been struck by how many of my Democratic colleagues rely upon their faith, their personal religious values and experience, to motivate and inform their commitment to public service, and yet how few of them ever talk about that publicly,鈥� Sen. Christopher Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, tells the Monitor. 听听
鈥淚n the last couple of years it seems that the only people comfortable publicly talking about their faith tend to be on the conservative end, both theologically and politically,鈥� he adds.
He believes progressive values can鈥檛 be just secular values. 鈥淭he American people have a very wide range of theological and political views and would benefit from hearing how progressive 海角大神s see an intersection between their political views and their faith views,鈥� Senator Coons says. 鈥淪o I鈥檝e encouraged a number of my colleagues to be more forthcoming about it.鈥�
听
White Evangelicals have long marched in lockstep with Republicans. Yet at the same time some have begun to question their religious subgroup鈥檚 outsize commitment to the GOP. And when it comes to same-sex marriage, nearly half of those under 35 鈥撎齱ho are more likely to have met or befriended gay, lesbian, or transgender people听鈥撎齢ave begun to embrace a view of the Bible and a still-conservative theological perspective that nonetheless supports same-sex marriage.
And while that is far from the case for Mr. Vander Plaats, he has a deeply personal reason to invite Democrats to speak at the Family Leadership Summit: namely, to honor the legacy of Donna Red Wing, the late leader of One Iowa, the state鈥檚 largest LGBTQ organization.
Their relationship started with a series of conversations over coffee, Mr. Vander Plaats says, and bloomed into a deep if unlikely friendship. 鈥淓ven though we had deep disagreements on some foundational issues as it related to marriage or God鈥檚 desire for sexuality, we also found out we had a lot of common ground,鈥� he says.
鈥淎s I鈥檝e told many, I would have done just about anything for Donna and that I truly loved Donna,鈥� he says. After she passed away over a year ago, her family asked him to give at a Universalist Unitarian Church.
A polarizing presidency听
Still, the polarizing presidency of Donald Trump and the full-throated support he continues to receive from white Evangelicals has led religious progressives to press Democratic candidates to articulate their deepest moral and religious underpinnings.
鈥淲hat I see happening with some of the candidates is that they are being pushed by the movement,鈥� says the Rev. Dr. William Barber II of Greenleaf 海角大神 Church in Goldsboro, North Carolina, whose has made him a national civil-rights figure.
He says Democrats are responding to voters who are using their faith to proclaim 鈥渁 national call for a moral revival.鈥�
Indeed, like many black Protestants, Dr. Barber鈥檚 preaching and political activism spring from many of the historical elements of the Evangelical tradition. And unlike some of those in the traditions of mainline liberalism, he maintains an orthodox view of many of the traditional pillars of the 海角大神 faith.
鈥淲hat we鈥檙e beginning to see, and what we鈥檙e glad to see, is not so much the emergence of a 鈥榬eligious left鈥� or a 鈥榩rogressive 海角大神ity.鈥� That is really not a way to talk about 海角大神ity. That鈥檚 not biblical, and that鈥檚 not theological,鈥� he says.听
鈥楢 human perspective鈥�
Senator Booker is one of the 2020 candidates who references Dr. Barber鈥檚 moral leadership. He鈥檚 that Democrats shouldn鈥檛 cede faith-based persuasion to Republicans and has drawn notice for weaving stories of his faith into campaign speeches.
鈥淏ut I don鈥檛 come about this from a party perspective,鈥� Senator Booker tells the Monitor. 鈥淚 come to it from a human perspective. And for me it鈥檚 very important that people understand what the core of my value system is. I鈥檓 a big believer that you should speak your truth and religion has deeply 鈥� my faith is at the center of my life.鈥澨�
鈥淪o it鈥檚 something I think that all people should talk about,鈥� says Senator Booker. 鈥淎nd again, I say it very openly in my remarks often: I鈥檇 rather hang out with a nice atheist than a mean 海角大神 any day of the week. And some of the most soulful people with the strongest moral compasses are people who don鈥檛 subscribe to a religion. But as for me, my faith is sort of the foundation upon which I stand and the motivating force in so much of what I do.鈥�
鈥淚鈥檓 a big believer that faith without works is dead,鈥� he continues, citing a famous verse from the book of James in the New Testament. 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 not necessarily even what you say. It鈥檚 what you do that speaks.鈥�
A civil rights movement
That certainly applies to Dr. Barber, who models his activism on the civil disobedience traditions of the civil rights movement. His new Poor People鈥檚 Campaign picks up where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. had been working before his assassination in 1968.
But there has been a more aggressive religious tenor to Dr. Barber鈥檚 civil rights activism, many observers note. As he offers a 鈥減rophetic moral critique鈥� of the political views of his religiously conservative counterparts, he has begun to challenge their 海角大神 orthodoxy in no uncertain terms.
鈥淲e are challenging those who would go in with the president and pray over him and consecrate him and give him cover so he can prey on people who are the most vulnerable,鈥� says Dr. Barber. 鈥淲e鈥檙e challenging this kind of hypocritical faith that says, 鈥榃ell, we鈥檒l overlook everything Trump does so long as he鈥檚 against abortion.鈥欌��
鈥淲hat we鈥檙e looking at is what kind of public policy violence is being covered up by this extreme and sometimes heretical presentation of the Gospel that refuses to critique injustice,鈥� he continues. 鈥淎n orthodox view of Jesus sees how, even in his first sermon, he lifted up the poor, the broken, and the unaccepted. So if a person鈥檚 spirituality does not produce a quarrel with the sins of injustice, then one鈥檚 spirituality, or claim of spirituality, is at least suspect.鈥�
But as progressives claim the mantle of orthodoxy and the true meaning of Jesus鈥� message, scholars like Bill Leonard, professor emeritus at the School of Divinity at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, sees what might be an alternative 鈥渞eligio-spiritual vision.鈥�
This has been especially true of Mayor Buttigieg, who last month affirmed that 鈥渢he left is rightly committed to a separation of church and state鈥� with USA Today. 鈥淏ut we need to not be afraid to invoke arguments that are convincing on why 海角大神 faith is going to point you in a progressive direction.鈥�
Many took note of how he grounds his marriage to his husband, Chasten Glezman, a junior high school teacher, in his 海角大神 faith. 鈥淢y marriage to Chasten has made me a better man. And yes ... it has moved me closer to God,鈥� he recently told , which helps LGBTQ candidates win office.
Yet at the same time Mayor Buttigieg has urged those who support LGBTQ rights not to 鈥渄rag鈥� those who don鈥檛 over to their point of view. 鈥淚f someone feels harassed and put upon by us, at the very moment we鈥檙e demanding tolerance and acceptance, one consequence is that we can leave them with nowhere to go but the religious right.鈥�
A values campaign
Scholars like Mara Suttmann-Lea, professor of government at Connecticut College in New London, says Mayor Buttigieg has focused on such humility to bolster an explicit values campaign. 鈥淎s he wrote in his book, he wants to move beyond a superficial political strategy that is based on capturing constituency groups, and that has helped him brand himself as a leader whose values are able to connect across a very diverse coalition,鈥� she says.
Professor Leonard agrees. 鈥淧art of Mayor Pete鈥檚 approach 鈥� indeed, his 鈥榳itness鈥� 鈥� is his willingness to talk not only about his sexuality but to claim a spiritual 鈥榗enter鈥� that informs his entire personhood,鈥� he says.
And it could be a particular millennial approach to faith, a 鈥渟pirituality movement of the times,鈥� he continues. 鈥淗e finds his spirituality in the progressive Episcopal communion, not as doctrinal mandate but as 鈥榗entering鈥� relationships, horizontal and vertical,鈥� Professor Leonard says. 鈥淗e articulates that spirituality not as moral diatribe against the 鈥榟eretics鈥� but as a force in his own life. He鈥檚 also not afraid to own that spiritual side of himself, not as sectarian but as a connection to the larger and even more diverse ecumenical and interfaith constituency.鈥�
But can religious progressives find common cause with conservative Evangelicals like Mr. Vander Plaats? In his view, marriage is between one man and one woman, and homosexuality is a sin; he also differs on how 海角大神s should heed Jesus鈥� teachings on the poor.
鈥淭here can still be differences in policy,鈥� Mr. Vander Plaats says. 鈥淧eople can say, no, the government should provide assistance for the poor, the government should step up and do this. But there is another side that says government should ... make sure that we continue to be the most generous country in the world for the poor鈥� by promoting free enterprise.
鈥淎nd the best thing we can do is offer them a job, and the other thing we can do is to encourage the church and people of faith to have the means and the tools to reach out, because they鈥檇 be way better at that than any government program.鈥�
He鈥檚 still hoping some of the Democrats will change their minds and decide to attend his summit in Iowa in July.
鈥淚t鈥檚 no secret that we live in divisive and polarizing times,鈥� he wrote over the weekend in an op-ed for the Des Moines Register. 鈥淢y fear is we are embracing hatred versus understanding when we encounter disagreement. We are witnessing and growing numb to the senseless acts of violence in synagogues, churches, and nightclubs. There has to be a better way,鈥�
鈥淥ne way is to model what civility looks like,鈥� Mr. Vander Plaats continued. 鈥淭hus, I encourage the leading Democratic hopefuls to accept my sincere offer for an honest, transparent, and civil conversation in a safe environment. While we may not leave agreeing and supporting one another, we鈥檒l leave better and we鈥檒l model a better way.鈥�
