By Jeffrey A. Rendall
If Dems can’t win voters with better policies, they’ll just dangle religion in front of them
If you’ve paid attention to the news lately, you’ve no doubt picked up on the fact that Democrats don’t support President Donald J. Trump’s decision to eliminate the decades-long threat to western civilization posed by the Iranian mullahs.
Not only that, Democrats have seemingly enlisted the spiritual assistance of religious figures in their quest to turn the American public against Trump and the Iranian mission. Democrats do so not because they’re seeking to convince voters that Trump acted impulsively and thoughtlessly in opting to lay waste to a rogue foreign nation’s weapons infrastructure without first consulting Congress… and opposition party leaders themselves.
No, Democrats rather hope they will turn religious believers to the dark side, partly by linking their traditional leftist causes with the usual big government, anti-law enforcement and pro-amnesty agendas. Will the left’s inserting Jesus into the War picture help them get it done?
In an opinion piece poignantly titled, “Can the Democrats get religion?”, the always astute political commentator W. James Antle III wrote at the Washington Examiner recently:
“It is not particularly new for Democrats to pit opposition to war, support for social programs intended to benefit the poor, and immigration advocacy against conservative stances on abortion, sex, and the family as Christian priorities. Catholics in particular are much more politically diverse than white evangelicals have been since the 1980s.
“None of this has arrested the rightward movement of religious voters that has been observable for decades. There has, however, been some concern that Trump has been less committed to the pro-life cause in his second term, as Republican elected officials are no longer constrained by Roe v. Wade (thanks in large part to Trump’s own judicial appointments). Vice President JD Vance is releasing a book about his Catholic faith in June.
“But Democrats are a long way from having a real strategy to capitalize on this disenchantment, since the socially conservative wing of their party is practically extinct. Thus, they are left hoping that candidates like [Texas Democrat James] Talarico can revive a religious Left tradition that survives mainly in Democratic communities of color and build something bigger.”
Political observers have noted how Democrats have launched a concerted effort to depict themselves as active believers in the church and their communities. Many leftist Democrats have woven welfare-for-all socialist/pro amnesty views into their contorted interpretations of biblical teachings.
I distinctly remember a sermon our new (liberal) female pastor preached one Sunday almost two decades ago where the gist of her message was that Black Liberation Theology and the socialism-is-good philosophy of Jim Wallis were stationed on the cutting edge of progressive doctrinal teachings.
Needless to say, I was shocked to subsequently learn how many of my fellow church attendees entertained similar views in the pews in those days. The resulting schism literally split our congregation down the center, with half the folks voting to join with another, outwardly liberal pro-LGBTQ assemblage and the other faction opting to stay put and attempt to steer the church’s direction back towards what the Bible actually preached.
So, the religion-in-politics issue is deeply personal to myself and citizens of similar ideological predilections. Meanwhile, a good many members of our former church family regularly post leftist ideology on social media and shame and label right-thinking traditionalists as bigoted and backwards for daring to trust in law enforcement and assume that there are only two genders.
Frankly, I’m surprised the lefties haven’t worked to re-write the Easter story to include non-binary humans who witnessed the crucifixion and resurrection at the foot of the cross. Maybe they could argue that Pontius Pilate was conflicted about his sexuality and secretly resented Jesus’s simplified manner of teaching about loving God and your fellow man as yourself.
The more recent statements from Pope Leo regarding Trump and the Iran War are a bit more troubling, but the Catholic leader’s message is hardly one of “You should now become an abortion-touting Democrat because the American president is a warmonger and civilization destroyer.”
It would only make sense that religious individuals who rely on common sense and dedication to Bible teachings are able to distinguish legitimate secular war aims from the utter death and destruction characteristic of most military incursions. Religious leaders from most major religions, I would speculate, naturally oppose any war in the sense that innocents are harmed in the process of prosecuting it.
Thou shall not kill. It’s a commandment, not a request.
Unknowing civilians and non-combatants are often the first to die in any conflict. Remember how, in the early days of the now four-year-long Russia/Ukraine war, the world’s left-leaning establishment media regularly ran stories about innocents in Kiev and other Ukrainian cities suffering tragic deaths at the hands of Russian munitions and various other supposed atrocities committed by Vladimir Putin’s military commanders. The journos did so to reveal the un-justness of the Russian action and stir up outrage in the U.S. among those inclined to be livid about anything perceived as an enemy of “democracy”.
I don’t specifically recall how the late Pope Francis reacted to the Russia/Ukraine war, but I’d surmise it wasn’t all that different from how Pope Leo outlined the Catholic church’s position on the American military’s campaign against the Iranians.
In addition, judging by their posts on Facebook, contemporary American liberals have wholly taken the side of the Palestinians against Israel, conveniently omitting the verifiable facts that the Palestinian-supported Hamas group started the whole thing by butchering and savaging thousands of innocent Israeli citizens – and some Americans – in the unprovoked October 7th attack.
The recognizable “outrage” pattern goes a little like this: some leftist entity attacks and kills and draws blood and lay people initially swear any measure of vengeance in retaliation to strike back is justified. Then the more powerful force that originally endured the outrageous provocation blows stuff up and kills the bad guys – and some civilians — in large enough numbers to generate reactive indignation from the left. The more powerful force threatens to finish the job… and the lefties (including Democrats) get all up-in-arms about the cruelty of the retaliatory side.
The innocent civilians! Always the innocent civilians! They didn’t ask for the conflict, but they’re caught up in it nonetheless.
It isn’t fair. But the media distorts the facts to the point where only one half of the story is being told and the Pope then weighs in because he always comes down on the side of peace. And life. And sparing the blameless human beings enduring the casualties.
One wonders if the media talkers would ever ask the Pope, and others of similar stature, about their thoughts on the multitude of Americans and Iraqi Muslims – and innocent Israelis – who were killed over the course of nearly five decades by the Iranian side, or about the threats the Iranian rulers represented to long-term peace in the world.
It’s easy to advocate for peace. I think most sane people are against war for the simple fact that so many suffer unjustly when bullets fly and bombs detonate. The Ukrainians didn’t ask for Vladimir Putin to invade them. But they’re stuck in a conflict where many, many people are being killed. On both sides.
Opportunistic Democrats recognize there are political benefits to being viewed as opposed to any military action that results in foreign casualties rather than banding together and supporting the president as the leader of our nation. The fact Democrats use religion and pacifist authority to bolster their position makes it even more so.
Americans who believe in President Trump’s stated goals will probably get behind the effort regardless of personal religious beliefs. Democrats know they’re opposed to any U.S. military missions before they fighting forces are even engaged.
Democrats will employ any method that helps them achieve their ultimate goal, which is to win the political offices necessary to attain decision-making power. They’re on the Pope’s side where Iran is involved, but don’t ask them to reinforce the Catholic Church’s position on same-sex marriage or abortion. Religion becomes a lot less useful to them then.
Democrats draw the line on tradition and religious teachings whenever they feel like it. They’re the ones who have to live with themselves.
Jeff Rendall is editor and publisher of GolfintheUSA.com and has written about golf and politics for over a quarter of a century. A non-practicing attorney from California, he moved to the east coast three decades ago to pursue and combine his interests in all things American history and culture. Jeff has worked as an intern on Capitol Hill and in various capacities in grassroots organizing and conservative organizations and publications, including a nearly two-decade stint at ConservativeHQ.com. Column republishing or other inquiries: Rendall@msn.com .