Crossroads Podcast: Democrats Run Mainline Protestants In Midterms
Did I volunteer, someone, to jump in the Doctor Who time machine and zoom back to the 2004 Democratic National Convention? That was when Barack Obama delivered the keynote address that launched his career to new heights.
“The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States. … We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the Red States,” he said, in a clear reference to one of the most popular charismatic worship songs of that era.
“We coach Little League in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States. … We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes.”
That speech (plus Obama’s decision to sing “Amazing Grace” during a high-profile speech) launched a thousand emails from Christian conservatives to journalists covering religion and politics. The message, over and over, was that Obama wasn’t a “real Christian,” because of stances he had taken on various doctrinal, moral and political issues. Why weren’t journalists telling the truth?
The political time machine has now landed in similar journalism terrain. During this week’s “Crossroads” podcast, we discussed several important news reports, including this Religion News Service feature: “‘They’re not real pastors’: As clergy run as Democrats, Republicans question their faith.”
Here’s some key background:
… [F]aith-focused attacks that have intensified amid an election cycle featuring a striking number of clergy campaigning as Democrats — and, in recent months, besting their challengers. At least 12 pastors, seminarians and former clergy have run for federal office as Democrats this year, and seven have already become the Democratic nominees as of Wednesday (Aug 5). Some are even competing against each other: In Iowa, James, who is ordained within the Presbyterian Church (USA), had to beat out another pastor, United Methodist minister the Rev. Clint Twedt-Ball, to win her primary.
America’s “Seven Sisters” — the churches of oldline Protestantism — are spiraling into demographic disaster, losing between 30% to 50% of their members since 2000. Nevertheless, it’s clear that doctrinally liberal clergy are emerging as strategic faces as Democrats strive to win legislative seats in “purple” and even “red” states.
Face it: It helps, in Kansas and Texas, to have candidates who know how to carefully express their religious beliefs in language and images that appeal to centrists, and especially Black and Latino voters.
Democrats of faith, no matter what pulpit they call home, also know that journalists will defend mainline leaders against their critics, even after decades of withering press criticism of evangelicals and pro-Catechism Catholics who use religious language to rally their supporters during campaigns. The RNS feature included the term “attack” 10 times (including direct quotes) while describing the work of those who criticize progressive clergy.
Clearly, the report noted, evangelical and Pentecostal Christians are offended by the modern, nuanced doctrinal stances taken by clergy who have graduate degrees from the excellent (if shrinking) mainline Protestant seminaries.
But here is the key point of this podcast: Democrats are explicitly stating how their doctrinal beliefs are shaping their political choices and strategies. Also, rather than being “fake” pastors, or "fake” Christians, these candidates are loyal members of the ruling elites in their own denominations. As the RNS report noted:
… [C]onservatives have pointed to their opponents’ support for LGBTQ+ rights — particularly transgender rights and votes in favor of various forms of gender-affirming care — as evidence of their insufficient faith. But that framing exposes another theological rift: In recent decades, many mainline Christian denominations distanced themselves from evangelical views on gender and sexuality by formally ordaining LGBTQ+ people, officiating same-sex marriages and affirming LGBTQ+ identities.
Mainline denominations have, of course, also distanced themselves from the doctrines defended by the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox churches. There is more to this story than “evangelical views on gender and sexuality.”
The bottom line: If doctrine is “back on the menu,” it will be interesting to see if journalists consistently connect the doctrinal dots on the issues the progressive candidates what to talk about, while playing down the doctrinal issues that will be stressed (“conservatives pounce”) by their critics.
By all means, reporters should ask religious conservatives: Are you saying that mainline Protestant leaders are not “real” Christians? Would it be more accurate to simply call them “liberal” Christians? That’s a topic worthy of coverage, especially if reporters will (Yo! Ryan Burge!) look at the clear political divide between mainliners in pews and the vast majority of those in pulpits and denominational leadership.
Anyone seeking a short, punchy, summary of what is happening in these contests should look to the authoritative pages of The New York Times, especially this story about the Presbyterian (USA) seminarian who won the Democratic Party nod to run for the U.S. Senate in deep red Texas. Check out this headline (and look for the crucial “them’s fightin’ words” stab):
In Senate Race, Talarico Challenges ‘Heretical’ Right-Wing Christianity
James Talarico, the Democratic nominee from Texas, hopes to counter what he sees as a conservative takeover of the American church.
Yes, there was a “heresy” reference, which implies that heresy is possible.
In this important chunk of the story, notice the interesting word, starting with the letter “a,” used to replace the overused term “attack.” This is long, but important:
Mr. Talarico, 36, is positioning his candidacy as an effort to break the stranglehold conservatism holds over both American politics and Christianity itself.
“I don’t see myself as challenging the Republican Party,” he said. “I see the real fight as all of us, whether we’re progressive or conservative, Democrat or Republican, uniting together to take on the very powerful people who have corrupted our politics and who are corrupting our church.”
His victory has unleashed a wave of fury from conservative Christian leaders attacking the theological underpinnings of his political positions and moral values.
Hours before his victory last Tuesday, prominent politicians, activists and pastors began assailing what they called Mr. Talarico’s “blaspheming tongue.”They blanketed podcasts, social media platforms and right-wing media outlets with video clips of him using the story of Jesus Christ’s conception to defend abortion rights, saying “God is nonbinary,” and finding spiritual truths beyond Christianity to support religious pluralism. Such positions, they argued, were an “abuse of Scripture” that disqualified him as a Christian leader.
As he moves into the general election, Mr. Talarico is pushing Christians to reclaim what he sees as core principles of their faith in American political life, including compassion for immigrants, helping the poor and loving one’s neighbor.
In other words, this is a classic case of “good” religion/doctrine against “bad” religion/doctrine. Conservative doctrine is political ideology, behind a religious mask, while liberal beliefs are courageous, faithful Christianity — period.
Digging into another pivotal U.S. Senate race, RNS offered a short report on a Democratic nominee who has a much, much higher profile in his own denomination, the United Methodist Church.
The headline: “Adam Hamilton, mega-church pastor, wins Dem Senate primary. Now comes the hard part.” The lede: “The Rev. Adam Hamilton, pastor of the largest United Methodist church in the U.S., is about to test whether a pastor running as a Democrat can flip a red seat — and become Kansas’ first Democratic senator in nearly a century.”
Yes, this pastor’s church is truly a mega-church and it was already one of America’s largest United Methodist congregations before the recent split in which many conservative, some of them very large, congregations left to join the Global Methodist Church, which is largely based in Africa and elsewhere in the Global South.
Once again, the RNS report focuses on the issues that Hamilton wants to discuss, while avoiding his beliefs and actions that have drawn attacks from Methodist conservatives (think “gender neutral bathrooms).
Hamilton’s church, Resurrection, has over 24,000 members and nine locations in the Kansas City area. He announced his run for U.S. Senate in April, saying his decades in ministry prepared him to be a bridge builder in Congress.
“In a world that feels more and more divided, I’ve had the privilege of being a pastor for 36 years of a church that’s roughly equally divided between Republicans, Democrats and independents,” said Hamilton at the time. “Our people love each other precisely because of their differences.”
During his campaign, he has emphasized the need to address tariffs, limited health care access, rising costs and workforce shortages caused by immigration policies. He also said he hopes to bring “decency” to Washington.
Stay tuned. This is going to be one of the most important journalism issues shaping coverage of the battle to control the U.S. Senate.