Tuesday, May 6, 2008 | by nathan

The Party Faithful by Amy Sullivan

In the fall of 2004, about a month before the presidential election, a dear friend from college told me he was voting for George W. Bush because, "I just think it’s wise to vote for someone who’s a believer."

Never in my life have I wanted so badly to kick another human being in the balls.

Amy Sullivan’s book The Party Faithful examines the origins of the idea that we have in America that the Republican party is the party that Jesus would join, that good Christian people should always cast their lot with the GOP. It examines how the Democratic party became - largely due to its own efforts or lack thereof - to be regarded as the party of out-of-touch elites and secularists.

This distinction, argues Sullivan, is inaccurate and harmful, not only to the Democratic party but to American politics in general. The truth is that a majority of Democratic voters - myself included - describe themselves as "religious" and attend church regularly. Our votes, in fact, reflect our religious background and beliefs, and to the extent that Republicans have been able to capture a majority of religious votes is just as much due to efforts to scare ordinary Americans over abortion and gay marriage as it is due to the refusal on the part of Democratic Party leaders to engage churchgoing voters.

All this is changing, Sullivan says, pointing to the disastrous showing of John Kerry among Catholics in the 2004 election and the failure on the part of his campaign to answer questions from voters on the subject of religion and public policy. Sullivan points out that the major Democratic contenders are all engaging these issues head-on and changing the dialogue in this country around issues of religion and politics.

For example, instead of constantly going on the defensive about abortion, Democratic candidates and consultants are actively engaging evangelical and Catholic constituents about "pro-life" issues, attempting to expand the definition of what "pro-life" means. It means not only making abortions rare - through safe-sex education and help for mothers who fear they will not be able to provide for a child - to eliminating life-destroying problems like poverty, global warming, pollution, the death penalty and war. They point out that Republicans who march blindly and ardently toward war, toward the death penalty, and away from providing assistance for people that will help prevent abortions, cannot be called truly pro-life. They’re changing the dialogue because the dialogue needs to be changed, and in the process they’re opening the eyes of the electorate to the fact that there are more pressing matters in America than abortion and gay marriage.

The book is a fascinating look at why religion does matter to all voters, and why it should. Sullivan herself is an evangelical Democrat whose work is inspired by a deep, personal faith both in Christ and in Democratic party principles. This sets it apart from other books on the subject, many of which are written from a detached religious perspective. For Sullivan (and for me) this stuff is personal and vital; it’s the question, largely, of what it means to be a Christian in America.