How to explain to Evangelical Christians why they should vote for Obama.
The author is an anthropologist who has studied Evangelical Christians. Having grown up in that kind of Evangelical milieu, I agree with the recommendations.
IT’S election season, and once again Democrats are flummoxed by evangelical voters. They think that “those people” vote against their own self-interest. They cannot believe that same-sex marriage matters so much to so many people. They don’t get why Obamacare is controversial. To them, evangelicals don’t make sense.
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What someone believes is important to these Christians, but what really matters is becoming a better person. As I listened in church and participated in prayer groups, I saw that when people prayed, they imagined themselves in conversation with God. They do not, of course, think that God is imaginary, but they think that humans need to use their imagination to understand a God so much bigger and better than what they know from ordinary life. They imagine God as wiser and kinder than any human they know, and then they try to become the person they would be if they were always aware of being in God’s presence, even when the kids fuss and the train runs late.
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When evangelicals vote, they think more immediately about what kind of person they are trying to become — what humans could and should be, rather than who they are. From this perspective, the problem with government is that it steps in when people fall short. Rick Santorum won praise by saying (as he did during the Values Voters Summit in 2010), “Go into the neighborhoods in America where there is a lack of virtue and what will you find? Two things. You will find no families, no mothers and fathers living together in marriage. And you will find government everywhere: police, social service agencies. Why? Because without faith, family and virtue, government takes over.” This perspective emphasizes developing individual virtue from within — not changing social conditions from without.
If Democrats want to reach more evangelical voters, they should use a political language that evangelicals can hear. They should talk about the kind of people we are aiming to be and about the transformational journey that any choice will take us on. They should talk about how we can grow in compassion and care. They could talk about the way their policy interventions will allow those who receive them to become better people and how those of us who support them will better ourselves as we reach out in love. They could describe health care reform as a response to suffering, not as a solution to an economic problem.
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http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/06/do-as-i-do-not-as-i-say/
I am a liberal for the same reasons that Evangelicals are conservative. I want to help the poor, live in a healthy society in which we all thrive and live good lives.
I believe in marriage for all, for example, because I see marriage as a wonderful institution in which we can demonstrate honesty, mutual trust, support for one another, love and sharing and, yes, self-reliance. I see it as a positive part of my life. Evangelicals use different language but, setting the lingo to the side, they believe in marriage for the same reasons I do. The only difference is that instead of talking about it as desirable based on reason and a good idea, they say it is God's will.
It is how we live and what we value, what we want for ourselves, our loved ones and our society that counts. It's with regard to shared values that we Democrats have far more to offer than does the floundering Republican Party. We just have to learn to communicate our ideas in language that Evangelical Christians understand.
Even a very emotional issue like abortion can be dealt with in this way. Just ask an Evangelical, if your daughter had an abortion or tried to abort without a doctor, would you want her to face the death penalty? What would you do? Most of them have not thought about that.
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