"Prayer and the Polls"

An article by David M. Shribman in yesterday's Communist Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

This country is divided along lines over how we live, love, tax, vote -- and pray. And now that we are about to enter a political year in which we will help decide how we will live, love and tax, there's increasing attention on how we pray.

Three years ago, when the country was divided narrowly over whether to elect Gov. George W. Bush of Texas or Vice President Albert Gore Jr. of Tennessee, one of the biggest gaps was over religion. In the 2000 election, Bush swept more religiously observant voters by large percentages -- and, in the case of white evangelical Protestants, by a margin of more than five to one.

This would matter in any nation at any era; much of British and French history, for example, is the story of religious struggle, and the role that religion has played in the politics of the Middle and Far East, in Africa and in Latin America is well known. Though we commonly argue that we live in a secular age, the United States today is engaged in a bitter national-security struggle with strong religious overtones -- even as the nation itself is moving toward stronger religious belief....

See also "Our Secularist Democratic Party".

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Thu. 12/18/03 08:14:09 AM
Categorized as Political.