Douglas Turner
Updated: December 5, 2011, 6:29 AM
WASHINGTON — Mirroring the George W. Bush presidential campaigns, the Democrats have rolled out their religious platform of faith and values. But their agenda shows they’re not looking for much support for President Obama among conservative Evangelical Christians and traditional Catholics the way that Republicans did in 2000 and 2004.
In an announcement made in behalf of Young Democrats of America, the Democratic National Committee said, “new values voters will frown on a Republican Party that would reinstitute discrimination in the military.” The Faith and Values Initiative for young Democrats, formed last week, includes House members and religious leaders who are Jewish, Muslim, Evangelical Christian, Baptist and Presbyterian.
The “new values” message specifically denounces the Republican preference for the rich. “Young Americans are not abandoning their faith,” said Rod Snyder, president of Young Democrats of America. “Our definition of what constitutes a ‘moral issue’ has expanded into foreign policy, environmental regulations, economic and tax policy, immigration and other social justice causes.”
It went without saying those principles include the Democrats’ 24-year support of women’s reproductive rights. But doesn’t it sound rather earthbound for a religious statement? A far cry from a comment made by Catholic Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., about what he sees as militant secularism driving Catholic teaching about marriage and life issues out of the public square and “into the sacristy.” Lori, head of a new bishops’ committee on religious freedom, said, “once man’s transcendent
nature is denied, all freedoms are endangered.”
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial-page/columns/douglas-turner/article660594.ece
Here's the press release:
http://www.yda.org/yda-and-dnc-hold-joint-press-conference-on-faith-values-initiative/
Here's the new website:
http://www.ydafaithandvalues.org/