The Young Faithful Leads Democrats to Church

Year after year, more than 40% of Americans say they attended church at least once a week. Americans attend church more regularly and interpret the Bible more literally than even their neighbors to the north, according to a Gallup Poll. This follows other polls by the organization that religious observance in the United States is greater than most of the world powers. It seems as if the Democratic Party has began to realize the importance of these voters, and have begun to reach out to them. It is lead by party organizations like the DNC’s Faith in Action program, the House Democrats’ Faith Working Group, and the Senate Democrats A Word to the Faithful website. Their efforts are combined with grassroots efforts from groups like Matthew 25 and even a new movement that I am apart of in the Young Democrats of America to create a Faith Caucus (www.youngfaithdems.org) that will work alongside the College Democrats of America’s Faith Caucus. Democrats and even more those in the Obama campaign have understood from talking to young people of faith that the GOP grip on this group is loosening, and we have an opening.

Last week I met with a kid named Jonathan in North Carolina. This 6′4, blond hair, blue eyed, clean cut native of the bible belt belongs to what some are calling a “growing minority” of young evangelicals. They believe deeply in God and their church, but have grown tired of the narrow political agenda of some in opposition to abortion and gay marriage. However, if you talk to Jonathan, he will identify a new list of items he and friends want to be active on. They include erasing poverty, fighting HIV/AIDS, the genocide in Darfur, and even global warming. When you ask Jonathan what party he is a member of, his response is a very unexcited, “Republican”. When you seek more insight into his delay, it comes from his confusion over who to support in November. “I am a Republican and have been one all my life. My parents are Republicans, and I think even their parents have been Republicans. It is what I know. Am I voting Republican in November? I just don’t know.” Jonathan’s view isn’t uncommon in many areas of the GOP strongest voting blocs.

According to an August 2007 poll by the Pew Forum and the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, 69% of Americans agree that it is important for a president to have strong religious beliefs. However what has stopped Democrats in the past from wining this group is that a recent poll says 52% of Americans view the Republican party as friendly to religion and only 40% say the same for our party. 10% see the GOP as unfriendly to their faith with 13% saying the same of our party. I look at these numbers with promise. Promise because the problem isn’t as big as it once was. The group with the largest promise for our party is young people.

Just recently Pew put out another survey that showed a 15% point drop in support among white evangelicals aged 18-29 with the GOP over the past two years. What is causing this drop? Well for Jonathan it was issues he determines to be “social economic fairness” or policies to ensure a fairer economy and tackle issues of poverty. However some defections to the GOP have come because of their consistent policies on Iraq while others say they believe that it is the duty of government to respect God’s creation (the planet) and favor stricter laws that often times aren’t in line with the Republican platform.

So once again, as goes the young people of this nation, so goes the country. Today, those young people are turning away from a party that urged us to hate each other, and find out what makes us different, to a party that says lets work together, lift everyone up, and find what we have in common. Democrats today are doing just that, and we are doing it by finally reaching out to voters we’ve often ignored.

Tha-Kid JK

tha-kid@revkitchen.com