Insulting Invocation

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78. My opinion is that you make a terrible representative of progressive thought.

Without a doubt, some, even many, religious people have too long denigrated those who choose not to believe in a diety or to have or engage in any religious beliefs or activities. That sort of intolerance is wrong and decidedly at odds with progressive values. But so too is intolerance and belittling of people who choose to adhere to a religious faith.

The problem as I see it is that you do not merely object to those that are intolerant of your choices. You look down on anyone who makes a choice different from the one you make. You make no bones about expressing your disdain. You display an attitude that suggests you believe you are superior to those that choose to make religion part of their lives, implying that such people are less evolved than you. That sort of arrogance turns people off. Bad things have been done and still are done in the name of religion. But so too are good things. There are very good people who are religious adherents -- many very good progressive people. I've met them in anti-war groups, in civil right groups, in working for social justice in any number of respects. Insulting them is wrong. And from a purely political standpoint, its boneheaded.

The Democratic party is a big tent. And it needs to be a big tent. Some of its most important groups include African Americans and Latinos that, as a whole, tend to identify themselves as religious people in greater numbers than the population as a whole. It also includes Jews, Catholics, Episcopalians, members of various other Christian denominations, Muslims, and pretty much every other religious affiliation. The repubs talk about their "messaging" problem with some groups, particularly Latinos. Well, we will have a pretty fundamental messaging problem too, if people of faith feel like they are being belittled by other Democrats.