[Vision2020] Campaign Stops

[Art Deco]

[image: Campaign Stops - Strong Opinions on the 2012
Election]<http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/>
May 30, 2012, 11:06 pmDown With Religion?By CHARLES M.
BLOW<http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/author/charles-m-blow/>

Everyone knows that America is far more religious than most other developed
countries.

Religious people tout our fervor as what makes us special (said in a proud
Ronald Reagan voice).

The more secular denounce it as what makes us “special” (said in a mocking
Saturday Night Live Church Lady voice).

A March poll by the Pew Research
Center<http://www.pewforum.org/Press-Room/Press-Releases/New-Pew-Research-Center-Survey---More-Americans-See-%E2%80%9CToo-Much%E2%80%9D-Religious-Talk-by-Politicians.aspx>,
released at the end of a particularly fanatical Republican nominating
process during which religious extremism took center stage, recorded a bit
of a backlash against religion.

It found for the first time that more people thought that there has been
too much expression of religious faith by political leaders.

In fact, the poll found that most Americans (51 percent) believe that
religious conservatives have too much control over the Republican Party.
That was a record high. By comparison, a plurality (49 percent) said they
don’t believe that secular liberals have too much control over the
Democratic Party. That too was a record high.

The poll also found that a record number of people (54 percent) said that
churches and other houses of worship should keep out of political matters.

The question now is whether that backlash will be sustained or whether it
will subside as we move into the general election season. Neither party’s
presidential candidates have much interest in making religion a central
element of this year’s presidential debate ­– President Obama because a
striking number of people still wrongly believe that he is a Muslim, and
Mitt Romney because of what many Americans consider the somewhat exotic
nature of the Mormon faith.

Even as the candidates walk gingerly around religion, religious leaders
remain riled up about two issues that could energize the Republican base at
the expense of scaring off moderates and independents: contraception and
same-sex marriage.

Last week, The Times
reported<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/22/us/catholic-groups-file-suits-on-contraceptive-coverage.html>
:

In an effort to show a unified front in their campaign against the birth
control mandate, 43 Roman Catholic dioceses, schools, social service
agencies and other institutions filed lawsuits in 12 federal courts on
Monday, challenging the Obama administration’s rule that their employees
receive coverage for contraception in their health insurance policies.

The same day Gallup released a poll that found that an astonishing 82
percent of American Catholics find birth control to be morally
acceptable<http://www.gallup.com/poll/154799/Americans-Including-Catholics-Say-Birth-Control-Morally.aspx>
.

Talk about a pew-to-pulpit divide.

Though a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll finds that Romney is making
some headway in narrowing the
gap<http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/05/romney-rebounds-among-women-while-obamas-favorability-slips>with
Obama among female voters, this has the potential to keep
contraception in the headlines and push women away again.

Then there’s same-sex marriage.

Churches have taken on a central role in efforts to defeat same-sex
marriage legislation, which half the country
supports<http://www.gallup.com/poll/154529/Half-Americans-Support-Legal-Gay-Marriage.aspx>,
according to Gallup.

And after President Obama publicly acknowledged his support for same-sex
marriage, much of the news coverage was about the responses of churches.

There was much hand-wringing about whether the president’s stance would
cost him votes among churchgoers, particularly black churchgoers, many of
whom are opposed to marriage equality but strongly support the president.
Turns out that this was much ado about nothing. A Pew Research Center
poll released
on May 14<http://www.people-press.org/2012/05/14/half-say-view-of-obama-not-affected-by-gay-marriage-decision/>found
that:

Roughly half of Americans (52 percent) say Barack Obama’s expression of
support for gay marriage did not affect their opinion of the president. A
quarter (25 percent) say they feel less favorably toward Obama because of
this while 19 percent feel more favorably.

Among blacks, 68 percent said that it had no effect, and more (16 percent)
said that the president’s stance made them view him more favorably that
those (13 percent) who said that it made them view him less favorably.

But recently we have been treated to some hateful, homophobic speech coming
from supposedly holy places.

One pastor from North Carolina suggested that fathers should punch their
sons <http://www.tmz.com/videos/0_xf12hm61> if they showed any sign of
being gay. He said, “the second you see your son dropping the limp wrist,
you walk over there and crack that wrist.” He continued, “Man up! Give him
a good punch.” He also warned against daughters “acting too butch.”



Another pastor from North Carolina said that gays and lesbians should be put
behind an electrified fence
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2839yEazcs>until they die out:

I figured a way out, a way to get rid of all the lesbians and queers, but I
couldn’t get it passed through Congress. Build a great big large fence —
150 or 100 miles long — put all the lesbians in there, fly over and drop
some food. Do the same thing with the queers and the homosexuals. And have
that fence electrified so they can’t get out. Feed them, and you know what,
in a few years they’ll die out. Do you know why? They can’t reproduce.

Aw, now isn’t that nice. At least he’s willing to “feed them.”

Moderates and independents are turned off by this kind of bigotry and
vitriol. This level of hate keeps religious extremism fresh in the minds of
voters even if it’s not on the lips of candidates. In the end, it is likely
to drag down the Republican brand more than lift it.

The people who want to take their country back might first want to start by
taking their religion back.

-- 
Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
art.deco.studios at gmail.com
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