Dems don't understand religion
When all is said and done, the Democratic Party understands neither religion nor its proper, traditional, and constitutional role in our common public life.
Arguably much of the Religious Right doesn't, either. But at least it sees that abortion, for example, is no more an exclusively "religious" issue than slavery, capital punishment, pacifism, concern for social justice, or any of the other philosophical concerns which have arisen from religious convictions over the years.
"God says so" as an argument for any of these is dumb and self-defeating in the public square, not dangerous. The very pluralism of our society's convictions about God and religious epistemology prevent "for the Bible tells me so" from being an effective argument. But when argued on pragmatic grounds, as public policy rather than as theology, such concerns have always had a place in the American political arena- and rightly so.
Arguably much of the Religious Right doesn't, either. But at least it sees that abortion, for example, is no more an exclusively "religious" issue than slavery, capital punishment, pacifism, concern for social justice, or any of the other philosophical concerns which have arisen from religious convictions over the years.
"God says so" as an argument for any of these is dumb and self-defeating in the public square, not dangerous. The very pluralism of our society's convictions about God and religious epistemology prevent "for the Bible tells me so" from being an effective argument. But when argued on pragmatic grounds, as public policy rather than as theology, such concerns have always had a place in the American political arena- and rightly so.
Comments