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6/01/2003 08:41:00 PM | Timothy The American Prospect on Democrats and Religion Tapped, the blog of the The American Prospect, writes: "Prospect contributor Amy Sullivan has a cover story in the latest Washington Monthly. It's a piece that every Democratic consultant and presidential candidate should read, because it explains one of the major dilemmas the party faces today: the lack of support for Democrats among religious voters." In the piece, Sullivan has this quote from columnist E.J. Dionne: "The core problem for liberals is the extent to which they are viewed as arrogant and distant from the understanding of ordinary people. Their attitude toward faith is to look down their noses." So what does Tapped do a day later? It makes fun of the spiritual beliefs of Dennis Kucinich, quoting this A.P. interview on how Kucinich is friends with Shirley McClaine. Kucinich is Roman Catholic, but also says stuff like this: ""The energy of the stars becomes us. We become the energy of the stars. Stardust and spirit unite and we begin: One with the universe." Tapped snidely ends with "Makes us wonder which Age of Aquarius Democrat Kucinich is a reincarnation of . . ." If Tapped wants to lecture liberals on how they shouldn't look down on religious faith, Maybe Tapped should take Dionne's warning about being "arrogant" and apply that when talking about progressives with sincere spiritual beliefs. So why is Tapped selectively following some popular stereotypes while trying to combat others? Maybe this is Tapped's thoughtlessness, or maybe Tapped is cynically exhorting people to understand religion only because we want these people to vote for Democrats. Yet, Bill Kristol once talked (in a New Yorker article, I think) about how many Suburban women often held spiritual (or New Age) beliefs. So I'm not sure 'Crystal moms' are really a small voting bloc. Why the difference between spirituality and faith? Of course, you can say that Kucinich seems out there for airy-fairy sprituality, and it's OK for Tapped to make fun of foofy New Age ideas. But that reasoning isn't going to wash for a hard core secularist who also thinks that all religion seems ridiculous. And a liberal who thinks religion and God do not belong in the public sphere is not going to be convinced by the incoherency of the double message sent by Tapped. perma link |
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