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Squeezing every drop of religion from the FleetCenter
Yesterday, Weblog mentioned Beliefnet's convention blog as a fine place to monitor religion news coming out of the Democratic National Convention in Boston. And it is. But if you like that, you'll love Amy Sullivan's blogging over at Washington Monthly. Sullivan is the Democratic pundit who has spent much of the last few years urging her party to understand that religion is a big deal to many Americans—including those swing voters. One of her best features this week is explicating the religious phrases from the podium: For example, in yesterday's widely praised speech by Barack Obama, she notes the use of the phrases "We worship an awesome God," "I am my brother's keeper," and "Belief in things not seen." Then she notes a phrase that's not really religious, but should be:

Obama went off text near the end to riff on the Democrats' momentum, referring to "a wind at our backs" and then upping that to "a righteous wind at our backs." It's not biblical [though it is probably a reference to a religious Gaelic benediction—Weblog], but it sounds cool, so I'll give him points for sounding spiritual and whipping people up without Bible-thumping. And that, really, is my point in highlighting all of these references from various speakers. Professions of personal piety often ring false with voters and are inappropriate unless the candidate intends to tell us how that relates to their ability to serve as public officials. Using powerful religious rhetoric to establish connections between secular political concerns and faith-based beliefs and priorities, however, is simply an effective strategy that helps Democrats more than it hurts them.

Still, notes Sullivan, looking for religion at the convention is a bit difficult:

Faith and values have become buzzwords of the Kerry-Edwards campaign as of late, but until about 10 p.m. on Monday night, you didn't hear a peep about them. Not from Gore -- whose lone foray into religion-speak in 2000 was to comment somewhat stiffly that he often asks himself, "What Would Jesus Do?" Not from the myriad of small-potato speakers. And, surprisingly, not from Jimmy Carter, who has committed much of his post-presidency attention to faith-based initiatives like Habitat for Humanity.

It wasn't until the speech of the Rev. David Alston, Baptist minister and former crewmate of John Kerry, that religion made its first positive appearance. And what an appearance. "I stand here before you only because almighty God saw our boat safely through those rivers of death and destruction, by giving us a brave, wise, and decisive leader named John Kerry," said Alston, who also quoted Psalm 27. "With every religious reference," Sullivan reported, "the crowd roared a little more."

And then Clinton took over, drawing parallels between Kerry and Isaiah. Dallas Theological Seminary's Darrell Bock e-mailed Beliefnet editor Steven Waldman, explaining that it's not that big of a stretch. "Isaiah volunteered even though it was a 'difficult, even unpopular, circumstance,' making it a pretty good analogy to Vietnam," Waldman summarizes.

Waldman also notes that yesterday's religion-and-politics panel conflicted with a Democrats for Life rally. Not a brilliant scheduling move for either group. Both were apparently worth attending.

At the panel, former Clinton Chief of Staff John Podesta warned Democrats, "We're losing our moral voice." Waldman reports that Podesta

suggested that Kerry take one page from John Kennedy, who made his big don't-worry-about-me-being-Catholic speech to a group of Protestant pastors. Kerry should go to a Catholic or evangelical institution to lay out how his faith informs his policies. "The setting is important. The photos are important. But most important is showing whether his policies come from intellectual analysis only or whether they come from a set of moral concerns."

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July (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48