Was the Democratic Party's 'Religion Problem' Born of Bad Intentions?

and stayed with it until I was 19. I was an Evangelical who dedicated my life to youth outreach(as a youth) and spreading the word of God. The term religious right was almost not quite far enough to the right for me. When I could no longer ignore the contradictions, hypocrisy and hatred in the Evangelical movement and beliefs I left the church. I am now a progressive Democrat and a non-believer. My so-called prejudices about Evangelicals are from experience of being one and having a family who still is. I heard the sermons that condemned gays. I heard the earnest prayers of respected elders in the church who begged, literally begged God, to destroy evil people and bring about the Rapture and Armageddon. In a youth group for high schoolers I watched a youth pastor announce with glee that we were going to watch a "Rapture video". Basically it was a horror movie used to scare kids away from ever questioning God or Christian orthodoxies. It began at the Rapture when all God's children disappeared in an instant and left the world for the beast to rule. Anybody who wouldn't bow to the beast was beheaded. The main characters in the story, after seeing the miracle of Christians being whisked away, accepted Jesus and wouldn't bow to the beast and so they were beheaded by a guillotine. Josef Goebbels would have been impressed by the effectiveness of such propaganda. Anybody who exposes children to such traumatic images should be locked up for child abuse. I'm not kidding. It was horrific. And the youth pastor just couldn't contain his joy. He would make a chopping motion whenever he talked about that movie. The man was a sadist who had one of the most successful youth groups(as far as attendance and new conversions) in the area. No one ever questioned his means. This was over a decade before the Left Behind series. If something works to fill up those pews, questioning its morality, is something you just don't do. FYI - this church was the same denomination as the church Sarah Palin attended for most of her life.

Intercast Aegrus Recuso of OR 10:55PM December 30, 2008

I think the bigger problem is that (not coincidentally) the evangelicals and Bible-thumpers also tend to be the easiest to manipulate politically into supporting initiatives that work against their own interests, since they're traditionally the least educated and least informed, and the most likely to accept propaganda that fits their existing prejudices.

America is alone amongst Western powers in that you can't hardly get elected dogcatcher without claiming to believe without question in the existence of an eternal sky-consciousness. Most industrialized, civilized nations have marginalized their religious nuts. Here, we let them run wild, and those hyper-religious people have way too much power to control the narrative in this country. We should be embarrassed as a nation that our science education is so poor.

Of course, how do you educate an ignorant populace? Worse yet, how do you educate them as to the importance OF education?

Democrats shouldn't need to pander to the Jesus freaks. They should be marginalized as the anti-Democratic, anti-American looney-tunes they are.

(Oh, whoops, there I go, being intolerant of ignorance and superstition again!)

John Clavis of NY 3:51PM December 30, 2008

..."one adviser looked at [Mara Vanderslice] point blank and said, "How the hell did you get hired?" "

I think you need to start getting people on the record to confirm or deny these anecdotes. Relying on a single source like Mara Vanderslice doesn't enhance the credibility of your reporting.

"But enough about Vanderslice—Pastordan think she's gotten too much ink already."

He's not the only one who thinks that. I do too.

Reporters like you hold her up as the poster child for religion in the Democratic Party because she's the only person you can point to as a "before" and "after" example. Before: She wasn't taken seriously. After: She's working for Barack Obama's White House transition team!

"Another Democratic strategist who has testified to his struggles as a religious person in the party is Eric Sapp, an evangelical who is now a partner at the Eleison Group..."

This is dishonest reporting.

Eric Sapp and Mara Vanderslice were partners at an consulting firm called Common Good Strategies. Mara went on to found the Matthew 25 Network while Eric went on to become a founding partner at the Eleison Group, which subsumed Common Good Strategies.

You knew the connection since you reported over at BeliefNet in May that Sapp went to work for Clinton while Vanderslice went to the Obama campaign. Are you so intent on proving that Democrats are hostile to religion that you'd omit their working relationship so Sapp could provide a corroborating opinion for your story?

If there's any hostility here, it's your attitude toward Democrats.

cab91 of VA 3:31PM December 30, 2008