Democrats Welcome the ‘Religiously Unaffiliated’
by
John J. Dunphy
(Originally published in the 8/31/19 edition of The Telegraph of Alton, IL)
The Democratic National Committee last weekend demonstrated the kind of courage that makes me proud to be a Democrat. The committee passed a resolution that underscores our party’s inclusiveness in such a way that it has already incurred the wrath of the conservative evangelicals who dominate the GOP.
Let’s skip over the numerous “Whereas” statements contained in the resolution and get right to the “Be It Resolved.” We Democrats now officially recognize “The value, ethical soundness, and importance of the religiously unaffiliated demographic, a group of Americans who contribute in innumerable ways to the arts, sciences, medicine, business, law, the military, their communities, the success of the Party and the prosperity of the Nation.”
The resolution further notes that “religiously unaffiliated Americans” are “advocates for rational public policy based on sound science and universal humanistic values.” Such Americans “should be represented, included, and heard by the Party.”
Reaction from Republican evangelicals has been understandably negative. Pulpit and Pen ran an article headlined “Democrats Officially Vote to Become the Party of the Non-Religious.” As the resolution clearly states, we voted to recognize the contributions to our nation by religiously unaffiliated Americans and celebrate the inclusion of these Americans in the Democratic party. Christians, Jews and members of other faiths are and will continue to be integral members of our party.
An article posted on the site of the Christian Action Network carried the headline “Did the Democratic National Committee just embrace atheism?” It did nothing of the kind. It voted to acknowledge the importance of those Americans who have no religious affiliation. Some indeed are atheists and agnostics. Others, however, are theists who don’t feel the need to affiliate with any formal religion. They’re much like Thomas Paine who remarked, “My own mind is my own church.”
The religiously unaffiliated demographic has tripled in the last two decades, the resolution notes, “now representing 25 % of the overall American population and 35 % of those under the age of 30.” One in three Democrats are religiously unaffiliated.These Americans are understandably attracted to a party that values reason, science and education.
Eighty per cent of white evangelicals voted for Donald Trump in 2016. The overwhelming majority of them continue to stick by him. I find that strange and agree with Kevin McDermott, who in a recent column observed the irony of these conservative Christians “worshiping a thrice-married philandering casino mogul and crooked businessman who knows as little about the Bible as about the Constitution.”
Is Trump representative of American Christianity? It depends on one’s definition of that religion. If one believes that Christianity should be characterized by opposition to comprehensive health care, gay rights and reproductive freedom of choice while supporting the caging of children at our nation’s southern border, then the GOP indeed epitomizes Christianity.
If you believe that racism and Christianity are compatible, then Trump and the Republican party will welcome you. Trump in 2018 was discussing with U.S. senators immigration from Haiti, El Salvador and African nations. Suddenly, he exclaimed, “Why are we having all these people from s**thole counties come here?” He then expressed a desire for immigrants from Norway and Asian nations. As Ibram X. Kendi pointed out in The Atlantic, Trump’s language constructed a “racial hierarchy” that “placed whites over Asians, and both over Latinos and blacks from ‘s**thole countries.’ ”
Trump’s white evangelical supporters uttered not a word of protest. The Latin “Qui tacet consentire videtur” is usually translated as “He who is silent is understood to consent” but sometimes simply rendered as “Silence means consent.”
Conservative evangelicals deplore the steady and seemingly irrevocable decline in church attendance. They lament the fact that twenty-five percent of Americans are now religiously unaffiliated. These evangelicals should ask themselves whether both developments might be in part attributed to their decision to embrace the reprehensible values of Trump and the GOP.
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John J. Dunphy’s books include “Abolitionism and the Civil War in Southwestern Illinois” and “Unsung heroes of the Dachau Trials: The Investigative Work of the U.S. Army 7708 War Crimes Group.” He is the Godfrey Fifteenth Precinct Democratic Committeeperson and serves as recording secretary for the Godfrey Democrats.