Mariner
Active Member
There's a tendency here on USMB for people to refer to stereotype liberals as anti-religion. There's also a tendency to talk in terms of a single left/right dichotomy on issues ranging from abortion to the war in Iraq to tax and economic policy. There's enormous support here for almost anything George Bush does, and very few people voicing skepticism along the lines of moderate or independent Republicans, or along the lines of moderate or conservative Democrats.
The current Atlantic Magazine carries an interesting analysis which makes America look a lot more complicated. The original study can be found at:
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/153/story_15355_1.html
Basically, the authors look for the current large groupings of Americans in terms of religion and politics, and find what they call 12 tribes. The surprise here for USMB religious conservatives should be just how religious many liberals actually are. For each tribe, I copied out what percent of the electorate they are, and how much they went for Bush over Kerry, if the article mentioned these things.
Republican Tribes
1. The Religious Right (12.6%, 90% for Bush)
2. Heartland Culture Warriers (11.4%, 74% for Bush)
3. Moderate Evangelicals (10.8%, 64% for Bush)
Democratic Tribes
4. Religious Left ("almost exactly the same size as the religious right"; 70% for Kerry)
These are described as progressives who are "liberal on economic policy and decidedly to the left on foreign policy."
5. Spritual but not Religious (5.3%, >60% for Kerry)
6. Black Protestants (9.6%, >80% for Kerry)
This group is liberal on economic and social policy, but conservative on values.
7. Jews (1.9%); 8. Muslims and Others (2.7%) (Both slightly for Kerry.)
9. Seculars (10.7%, >60% for Kerry)
Swing Tribes
10. White-bread Protestants (8.1%, ~60% for Bush)
They like Bush's tax cut policies.
11. Convertible Catholics (7%, 55% for Bush)
E.g. Arnold Schwarzenegger. In 2000 this group went for Gore; had Kerry done as well with them, he would have won the election in 2004.
12. Latino Christians (55% for Kerry).
Each party is thus a complex amalgam of different religious and economic views. The media emphasis on the culture war and the religious right has perhaps overemphasized its size and importance and underemphasized that of the religious left which, unlike the right, is actually growing.
The complexity of each party's make-up clearly explains why Bush has done so little to actually enact a religious right agenda, as the Atlantic piece points out--Bush has taken no real action in regard to banning abortion (which was on the platform of the Republican party in 2004), banning gay marriage, or pushing Intelligent Design.
Bush's Supreme Court nominations have also been carefully chosen--I personally believe that Bush is smart enough to know that if the Supreme Court actually reversed Roe v. Wade, the Republican Party would face a backlash, and could lose the Presidency as well as Congress.
Mariner.
The current Atlantic Magazine carries an interesting analysis which makes America look a lot more complicated. The original study can be found at:
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/153/story_15355_1.html
Basically, the authors look for the current large groupings of Americans in terms of religion and politics, and find what they call 12 tribes. The surprise here for USMB religious conservatives should be just how religious many liberals actually are. For each tribe, I copied out what percent of the electorate they are, and how much they went for Bush over Kerry, if the article mentioned these things.
Republican Tribes
1. The Religious Right (12.6%, 90% for Bush)
2. Heartland Culture Warriers (11.4%, 74% for Bush)
3. Moderate Evangelicals (10.8%, 64% for Bush)
Democratic Tribes
4. Religious Left ("almost exactly the same size as the religious right"; 70% for Kerry)
These are described as progressives who are "liberal on economic policy and decidedly to the left on foreign policy."
5. Spritual but not Religious (5.3%, >60% for Kerry)
6. Black Protestants (9.6%, >80% for Kerry)
This group is liberal on economic and social policy, but conservative on values.
7. Jews (1.9%); 8. Muslims and Others (2.7%) (Both slightly for Kerry.)
9. Seculars (10.7%, >60% for Kerry)
Swing Tribes
10. White-bread Protestants (8.1%, ~60% for Bush)
They like Bush's tax cut policies.
11. Convertible Catholics (7%, 55% for Bush)
E.g. Arnold Schwarzenegger. In 2000 this group went for Gore; had Kerry done as well with them, he would have won the election in 2004.
12. Latino Christians (55% for Kerry).
Each party is thus a complex amalgam of different religious and economic views. The media emphasis on the culture war and the religious right has perhaps overemphasized its size and importance and underemphasized that of the religious left which, unlike the right, is actually growing.
The complexity of each party's make-up clearly explains why Bush has done so little to actually enact a religious right agenda, as the Atlantic piece points out--Bush has taken no real action in regard to banning abortion (which was on the platform of the Republican party in 2004), banning gay marriage, or pushing Intelligent Design.
Bush's Supreme Court nominations have also been carefully chosen--I personally believe that Bush is smart enough to know that if the Supreme Court actually reversed Roe v. Wade, the Republican Party would face a backlash, and could lose the Presidency as well as Congress.
Mariner.
