books:

	The Party Faithful: How and Why Democrats Are Closing the God Gap Amy Sullivan Scribner, 2008 - 272 pages average customer review:based on 7 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

With unprecedented access to politicians, campaign advisers, and religious leaders, Amy Sullivan skillfully traces the Democratic Party's fall from grace among religious voters, showing how the party lost its primacy -- and maybe its soul -- in the process. It's a story that begins with the party's ineffectual response to the rise of the religious right and culminates with John Kerry's defeat in the 2004 presidential election. Sullivan documents key turning points along the way, such as the party's alienation of Catholics on the abortion issue and its failure to emulate Bill Clinton's success at reaching religious voters. She demonstrates that there was nothing inevitable about the defection of values voters to the GOP and the emergence of the God gap: it was not just a Republican achievement but the Democrats' failure to embrace their own faith and engage religious Americans on social issues.

Sullivan's story has a hopeful ending. She takes readers behind the scenes of the Democrats' recent religious turnaround. She offers insight into the ways Democrats have reoriented their campaigns to appeal to religious voters -- including their successes at framing the abortion issue in less-divisive terms and at finding common ground with evangelical leaders and communities.

Timely, informative, and immensely thought-provoking, The Party Faithful is a tough and revealing analysis of the Democratic Party's relationship to religion and an essential primer for evaluating the outcome of the 2008 presidential election.

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A Fascinating Look Inside the World Where Religion and Politics Meet

Our parents may have warned us to avoid talking about religion or politics. Fortunately, Amy Sullivan never got--or never listened to--that warning. Regardless of your political persuasion, The Party Faithful is a fascinating look deep inside a world which the mainstream media for the most part seems afraid to touch or simply does not seem to understand well.

It is no secret that Democratic party presidential candidates have been hurt by shaky support among Catholic voters and abysmal support among white evangelical Christian voters for most of the period from 1972 on. Catholics, once a solidly Democratic constituency, have preferred the Democratic presidential candidate only in 1996 and 2000 in the seven elections since 1980. And not since Jimmy Carter carried 58% of the white evangelical vote has that group favored Democrats, with no other Democratic nominee since then garnering more than 33% support among this very large demographic.

Sullivan, an evangelical Baptist and a liberal Democrat, maintains it did not and does not need to be so. National editor for Time and formerly editor of the Washington Monthly and a Capitol Hill staffer, she explains how Democrats have missed opportunities to do far better with both groups without compromising their principles--and of how the party is lately showing signs of rapid progress in working its way up that learning curve.

John Kerry, who lost the white evangelical vote 78-22, did not learn that there were evangelical Democrats until after the election. His campaign's approach: "We don't do white churches", even though 40% of evangelicals are politically moderate. Sullivan describes the recent broadening of priorities beyond abortion and gay marriage within the younger generation of politically active evengelicals to include attention to issues such as Iraq, poverty and AIDS in Africa. Many among this new generation of evangelical activists feel used and taken for granted by the Republican party and have put their support up for grabs based on which party can deliver on this expanded range of concerns.

Sullivan likewise believes that Democrats can, and need to, engage Catholic voters on a much broader range of issues and not assume, incorrectly, that Catholic voters are only concerned with abortion and gay marriage. She explains that many Catholic voters are influenced by Church teachings in support of the concept of the Common Good and that this outlook may align better with Democratic party approaches on many economic/social justice and foreign policy issues. But, fearful (not without reason) of being disrupted by anti-abortion rights protesters and a vocal, visible minority of communion-denying far right-wing Catholic officials, many Democratic politicians have declined to engage Catholic audiences. In this regard, I was moved by the account of Rep. Rosa DeLauro's refusal to disengage from her Church, no matter how much her Church has given the back of its hand to her and other pro-choice Catholic Democratic elected officials. DeLauro has been among the leaders seeking to put in place policies which would reduce the number of abortions without overturning Roe v. Wade.

Sullivan describes some of the strategies that, so far applied on a small scale, have already borne impressive results with both groups.

At 220 pages the book is a brisk read. While the author devoted considerable, and quite fruitful, attention, to the abortion issue, I would like to have gotten a similar level of detail and insight on the inside politics of the gay marriage/civil union issue.

Sullivan's sources are impressive. She left me feeling like a fly on the wall as she recounted one vivid anecdote after another involving major players ordinary citizens like me have no, or limited, access to. Marked by a lively reportorial style, a passion for illumination in lieu of condemnation, and sensible positive suggestions for how Democrats and liberals can pick up support among religious voters without losing their souls, The Party Faithful is a winning and hopeful window into that world where politics and religion intersect. As someone who has been trying to educate myself about this subject in recent years, I learned a great deal from this book.

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An Excellent Book

Amy Sullivan obviously did a lot of homework, and she presents a wealth of facts and details in a very readable book that holds one's attention and whizzes by. And if you remember the pivotal presidential elections of 1972, 1976, and 1992, for example--pivotal because they involved religious issues that disrupted the composition of the traditional base of the Democratic Party--then you'll enjoy Sullivan's book even more. A very enjoyable read, and I can't recommend it highly enough.


Kudos to Amy Sullivan

For years, as a Democrat and progressive, I have watched the meteoric rise of the religious right. I have been struck by one question "what is it in the psyche of the American public that the Republicans are tapping into and the Democrats have missed?" I couldn't understand the exodus of fellow Catholic voters to support Republicans when so many of that party's policies were hostile to major tenants of Catholic teachings on economic and social justice. I raised this question with my Dad, a semi-retired college professor and political pollster. He too was perplexed. In an attempt to answer this question, a couple of years ago, we began a journey reading about the history of religion in America and its influence on politics and culture. It was not until we read Amy Sullivan's The Party Faithful that we finally got an answer.

One of late Democratic speaker Tip O'Neill's most famous quotes was that if you want someone's vote, "you need to ask for it." Politics 101! It appears that the Democratic Party forgot this very simple rule. They ceded a large group of voters, including historic supporters, because they incorrectly assumed all people of faith are conservatives. The party and its candidates stopped asking for their votes - or worse - pushed these voters away.

Ms. Sullivan's very timely book, describes the events and contemporary rise of the religious right as the Republican's seized a vacuum created by the Democrats. The Party Faithful is exceptionally well written, insightful and an astute social and political commentary. It is an easy read and full of entertaining and tragically true stories of how the Democratic party has bumbled its relationship with constituencies of faith voters. In the wake of the outcome of the 2004 Presidential elections, the book also highlights the actions of a growing group of progressive faith and political leaders to rediscover, build bridges, and redefine the "values voter." This book is a "must read" for all Democrats and anyone interested in the rise of religious right regardless of their religious (or non-religious) beliefs.

The actions of the Democratic party certainly were not unprovoked. The divisive rhetoric of a handful of neo-conservative evangelist leaders and outspoken Catholic bishops certainly exacerbated the situation. By narrowing the scope of issues that defined "good" faithful voters to include only abortion and anti-gay rights, they alienated members of their own faith, widened the cultural and political gaps in our nation, and pushed progressive religious voters of most faiths underground. Issues speaking to the faith values of economic and social justice - which are core to many faith traditions across the theological spectrum --were pushed off the agenda. Tragically and shamefully, over several decades, the actions of these faith leaders created a political environment that led to the de-funding of programs and weakening of laws and regulations that help the poor, safeguard the environment, and protect human rights.

The chapters on Catholics were of great personal interest. It was heartening to learn of the struggles of numerous prominent Catholic elected leaders to balance the internal dilemma of how to be a "good" Catholic and a political progressive at the same time. The chapters on white Evangelicals were also illuminating. Despite my own dislike for the too oft characterization of all Catholics as conservatives, I too had incorrectly assumed all Evangelicals were conservative. It was heartening to learn that, like Catholics, evangelicals run the political spectrum from progressive to conservative.

The impact of religion and political activism has run in cycles over the history of our nation. Ms. Sullivan's book artfully traces the beginning, middle and (hopefully) end of the most recent cycle. In a time when the American people are weary of four decades of political and cultural divisiveness that have torn at the fabric and cohesiveness of our nation, this book is a call for action.

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Truly insightful! A meaningful read!

Though a separation of church and state is implied in the Bill of Rights, Sullivan suggests that our country was built on fundamentally religious principles that permeate the lives of all American citizens. Amy Sullivan's poignant book examines the issue of how one political party lost its right to religion. With keen wit and clever insight, Sullivan explores the series of decisions made within the Democratic Party which led to its inability to maintain religious voters.

The author points to key moments throughout history that contributed to the shift of religion in politics. Sullivan notes the importance of the Scopes Trial in disenfranchising evangelical voters from the left and acknowledges the huge role Roe v. Wade played in the democratic loss of catholic voters. She asserts that Bill Clinton's overt religiosity was not enough to inspire people of faith and that John Kerry's seemingly false Catholicism was even more off-putting for religious voters.

Though critical, her book is not without hope. Amy Sullivan suggests that the way for the left to reclaim religion is through compromise. The evangelical movement is not one against liberal ideals and the agenda has actually expanded to include such liberal issues as protection of the environment.

This book is an important one--for anyone of any political affiliation. Though a liberal reader may identify more closely with Sullivan's progressive bias, she expresses ideas on both sides of the political spectrum while providing an important message about modern politics.

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