David Gibson at Politics Daily notes something that many don't realize: The religious left has more clout than many think. The religious right is still the big dog on the block and constitutes about one-quarter of the population, representing about 45 million Americans. These are mainly conservative evangelicals and conservative Catholics.
The religious left, however, is very nearly as large. About 18% identify with the religious left, representing about 38 million Americans, mostly mainline protestant and liberal Catholics. The religious right, however, continues to have an out-sized influence in the media, is much better organized, and exercises nearly complete control over one of our two major political parties.
The religious left has nothing near that kind of influence, and shouldn't try to get it. The marriage between the religious right and the Republican Party will redound negatively on both entities, if it hasn't already.
Citing a poll of religious opinion, Gibson noted that top issues for the religious right are abortion, named by 83%, and homosexuality, 65%. This is no surprise. Other concerns were far down the list. Top issues for the religious left were poverty (74%), health care (67%), environment (56%), and jobs/economy (48%).
This reminded me of a meeting I once had at Focus on the Family a few years ago. With a bit of time on my hands, I stopped in at the bookstore. Like the bookstore at my own seminary, Focus' had a "social issues" section, though the selections there were vastly different from the ones at my seminary. For Focus, "social issues" had to do with abortion and homosexuality. The book selections at my seminary were mainly about racism and poverty. Literally, we both have our "issues."
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