Godless Liberals? Faith at the Democratic National Convention - The Convocation Unscripted [S1E8]
In this episode, we talk about the role of religion at the Democratic National Convention, and how it contrasted with the Republican National Convention.
First, a quick update: You may notice a facelift in The Convocation Unscripted art below. We’re preparing to expand from YouTube to a fully distributed audio podcast, coming very soon. Stay tuned!
In the meantime, here are the highlights from this episode—our 8th!
Christian Right leaders still regularly accuse Democrats of being godless liberals, or some similar phrase. Trump has claimed that no true Christian should be able to vote for a Democrat. But as Kristin Du Mez, who was on the ground at the Democratic National Convention, reports, Christianity and other religions are alive and well among not only the rank and file but the high profile speakers in Chicago this week. Similarly, Jemar Tisby talks about his experience as part of the “Evangelicals for Harris” group, which has been the target of attacks by the Christian Right merely because of its existence. Robert P. Jones also brought in the numbers, emphasizing—despite the Republican stereotypes--that 70% of Democrats identify with some religious tradition. As Jones notes, when Republican activists say the Democratic Party is devoid of Christians, what they really mean is that they are lacking white evangelical Protestant Christians (who only make up 4% of Democrats vs. 30% of Republicans). Jemar, Kristin, and Robby rounded out the show by talking about the different way religion functioned at the Republican vs. Democratic national conventions—weaponized at the former to draw us/them boundaries versus an inclusive image at the latter, emphasizing America as a place where all belong.
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I want to share a little about myself before I comment on how listening to this post made me feel. I am an 83 year old white female who was born and raised in Montgomery, AL. I attended the Church of Christ with my parents. When I was in high school, I started reading about other faiths mostly because I had studied 5 years of Latin. In my senior year we had a male teacher who became very upset with me when I talked about an interesting discussion we had had in our my Virgil class. He went on a rampage about humanism in the public schools. I was very embarrassed and decided at that moment that I would leave the Church of Christ when I left home to go to college. As fate would have it, the guy I fell in love with had also been raised in the Church of Christ and he wanted to leave it too. Finally we both joined the Episcopal church. We were both very interested in politics and were lifelong Democrats during the time that other whites in Alabama were leaving the Democratic Party to become Republicans thanks to the Supreme Court Court’s decision in 1954 about school integration. I considered
myself a moderate but in Alabama I was considered by my Republican friends to be a liberal. I have been a Christian all of my life and I am sick and tired of hearing Republicans say that you can’t be a Christian and a Democrat. I have always loved history. I was extremely upset and depressed by Trump’s election because it reminded me of what happened in Germany when Hitler rose to power. I felt like a blue dot in a sea of red in Alabama.
continued— after I retired I moved to Tallahassee to live next door to my daughter who is a professor at FSU. I was shocked to find out that Florida is worse than Alabama, but I have more friends here who are Democrats than I did in Alabama. We are still in the minority, however. I watched every night of the Democratic Convention. It was like a breath of fresh air and hope for the future. I supported Biden and would have voted for him. I am proud of him for putting the country ahead of the party and I would have voted for whoever the nominee was because this is such an important election. I want to preserve our democracy. I am proud to support the Harris/ Waltz ticket and I will work to support it. I am proud to be a Christian and an American 💙