POLITICAL HOME FOR RELIGIOUS VOTERS HAS SHIFTED
Yahoo! News ^ | 12/17/03 | David M. Shribman

KEY WEST, Fla. -- This country is divided along lines over how we
live, love, tax, vote -- and pray. And now that we're about to enter a
political year in which we will help decide how we will live, love and
tax, there's increasing attention on how we pray.

Three years ago, when the country was divided narrowly over whether to
elect Gov. George W. Bush of Texas or Vice President Albert Gore Jr.
of Tennessee, one of the biggest gaps was over religion. In the 2000
election, Bush swept more religiously observant voters by large
percentages -- and in the case of white evangelical Protestants, by a
margin of more than 5-to-1.

This would matter in any nation at any era; much of British and French
history, for example, is the story of religious struggle, and the role
that religion has played in the politics of the Middle and Far East,
in Africa and in Latin America is well known. But though we commonly
argue that we live in a secular age, the United States today is
engaged in a bitter national-security struggle with strong religious
overtones -- even as the nation itself is moving toward stronger
religious belief.

Today 81 percent of Americans agree to some extent that prayer is an
important part of their daily lives, an increase of 5 percentage
points in the past 16 years, according to a national survey undertaken
by the Pew Research Center. But a more important finding may be that
51 percent COMPLETELY agree that prayer is an important part of their
daily lives -- an increase of 10 percentage points in that period.
Some 87 percent of the public says it never doubts the existence of
God.

This has critical social and cultural implications. In the past decade
and a half, political and religious viewpoints have become
increasingly interconnected and increasingly important. Indeed, the
connections between political conservatism and religiosity have grown
ever more robust in recent years. A telling finding: The Democrats had
an 18 percentage-point advantage among white Catholics who said in the
late 1980s that they attended Mass daily; today the Republicans have a
2-point advantage over voters who say the same thing.

The flight of white evangelical Protestants and religious Catholics
from the Democrats to the Republicans is one of the signal political
events of our time, but it is not occurring in a vacuum. Supreme Court
decisions on issues such as school prayer and abortion contributed to
the politicization of religion, helping to transform the role
religious Americans play in American politics.

That impulse prompted the Rev. Pat Robertson to run for president in
1988. The television evangelist came in second in the Iowa caucuses,
outpolling President Bush's father, but faded soon thereafter. Today
Robertson is regarded as having been more on a fool's errand than on
God's errand, but he still is credited with bringing droves of
outsiders into the political process and nudging into the GOP some
evangelicals who had been Democrats since the Franklin Roosevelt era.

The result was one of the great transformations in American politics.
In the past, evangelical voters were more Democratic and less active
than the rest of the population. Today they are less Democratic and
more activist. "Evangelicals now worry less about theological
liberalism and more about multi-culturalism, post-modernism and the
general secularization of public life," Mark Noll, a professor of
Christian thought in the history department of Wheaton College in
Illinois, told a conference on religion and politics underwritten here
by the Pew Foundation.

All of this provides a subtle but important advantage for the
president as he prepares for re-election. Despite the great advantage
evangelical voters provided to Bush in 2000, the White House believes
that many religious conservatives stayed home from the polls three
years ago, in large measure because they were distressed over
late-breaking reports about Bush's arrest in Maine for drunk driving
at age 30 in 1976. At the same time, GOP strategists are hoping,
perhaps in vain, for small breakthroughs among black evangelical
voters they believe are attracted to the president's faith-based
initiative.

Now we approach a national election in which the issue of gay marriage
is almost certain to be a major issue. The Democratic front-runner,
former Gov. Howard Dean, signed into law Vermont's statute recognizing
civil unions. This is an issue that gay activists and religious
conservatives alike are eager to engage, though for different reasons.

This issue is likely to provide one of the most dramatic flashpoints
of the 2004 election. But it may be best understood in terms of
religion.

About one-fifth of Americans take a literalist view of the Bible,
believing it is the inspired word of God. Another fifth of Americans
regard it as an ancient book of legends, history and principles
recorded by men. The Survey on American Political Culture taken by the
Gallup Organization shows that 87 percent of those with a literalist
view of the Bible oppose granting the right to marry to homosexual
couples. Only 33 percent of those who believe the Bible is an ancient
book written by men agree. (Talk about polarization!)

This issue is the fire next time -- and religion is the key to
understanding its implications in American politics.

POLITICAL HOME FOR RELIGIOUS VOTERS HAS SHIFTED
Yahoo! News ^ | 12/17/03 | David M. Shribman

KEY WEST, Fla. -- This country is divided along lines over how we
live, love, tax, vote

-- and pray. And now that we're about to enter a
political year in which we will help decide how we will live, love and
tax, there's increasing attention on how we pray.

Three years ago, when the country was divided narrowly over whether to
elect Gov. George W. Bush of Texas or Vice President Albert Gore Jr.
of Tennessee, one of the biggest gaps was over religion. In the 2000
election, Bush swept more religiously observant voters by large
percentages -- and in the case of white evangelical Protestants, by a
margin of more than 5-to-1.

This would matter in any nation at any era; much of British and French
history, for example, is the story of religious struggle, and the role
that religion has played in the politics of the Middle and Far East,
in Africa and in Latin America is well known. But though we commonly
argue that we live in a secular age

, the United States today is
engaged in a bitter national-security struggle with strong religious
overtones

-- even as the nation itself is moving toward stronger
religious belief.

Today 81 percent of Americans agree to some extent that prayer is an
important part of their daily lives, an increase of 5 percentage
points in the past 16 years,

according to a national survey undertaken
by the Pew Research Center.

But a more important finding may be that
51 percent COMPLETELY agree that prayer is an important part of their
daily lives

-- an increase of 10 percentage points in that period.

Some 87 percent of the public says it never doubts the existence of
God.

This has critical social and cultural implications.

The flight of white evangelical Protestants and religious Catholics
from the Democrats to the Republicans is one of the signal political
events of our time, but it is not occurring in a vacuum.

Supreme Court
decisions on issues such as school prayer and abortion

contributed to
the politicization of religion, helping to transform the role
religious Americans play in American politics.

That impulse prompted the Rev. Pat Robertson to run for president in
1988.

Today
Robertson is regarded as having been more on a fool's errand than on
God's errand,

About one-fifth of Americans take a literalist view of the Bible,
believing it is the inspired word of God. Another fifth of Americans
regard it as an ancient book of legends, history and principles
recorded by men. The Survey on American Political Culture taken by the
Gallup Organization shows that 87 percent of those with a literalist
view of the Bible oppose granting the right to marry to homosexual
couples. Only 33 percent of those who believe the Bible is an ancient
book written by men agree. (Talk about polarization!)

This issue is the fire next time

-- and religion is the key to
understanding its implications in American politics.

POLITICAL HOME FOR RELIGIOUS VOTERS HAS SHIFTED
Yahoo! News ^ | 12/17/03 | David M. Shribman

KEY WEST, Fla. -- This country is divided along lines over how we
live, love, tax, vote -- and pray. And now that we're about to enter a
political year in which we will help decide how we will live, love and
tax, there's increasing attention on how we pray.

Three years ago, when the country was divided narrowly over whether to
elect Gov. George W. Bush of Texas or Vice President Albert Gore Jr.
of Tennessee, one of the biggest gaps was over religion. In the 2000
election, Bush swept more religiously observant voters by large
percentages -- and in the case of white evangelical Protestants, by a
margin of more than 5-to-1.