15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Fascinating Look Inside the World Where Religion and Politics Meet, March 6, 2008
This review is from: The Party Faithful: How and Why Democrats Are Closing the God Gap (Hardcover)
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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3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Truly insightful! A meaningful read!, June 1, 2008
This review is from: The Party Faithful: How and Why Democrats Are Closing the God Gap (Hardcover)
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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4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
important subject marred by apparent plagiarism, June 21, 2009
This review is from: The Party Faithful: How and Why Democrats Are Closing the God Gap (Hardcover)
I was initially very impressed with the message of this book, but soon became deeply troubled by the apparent plagiarism I discovered. There are identical and near-identical passages in this book from Jeffrey Sheler's "Believers: A Journey into Evangelical America" (2006). Here is one example:
From Believers (p 237):
"For nearly half a century after the Scopes trial in 1925 American evangelicals were essentially absent from the public square. They tended to steer clear of political involvement except for voting--and even that was frowned upon in some fundamentalist circles. Politics was widely regarded as a futile and worldly pursuit that could only distract from the more important business of winning souls to Christ. ... And so evangelicals poured their creative energies and financial resources into building their own churches and parachurch organizations and a supporting infrastructure of Bible colleges and seminaries, publishing houses, and broadcast ministries to disseminate the gospel."
From The Party Faithful (p 25):
"In the trial's aftermath the political momentum to ban the teaching of evolution collapsed. ... the humiliated fundamentalists retreated from the public square and from the Protestant mainstream.
But they did not disappear. For the next two decades they poured their creative energies and financial resources into building their own churches and denominations and a supporting infrastructure of Bible colleges, seminaries, publishing houses, and broadcast ministries--all apart from the Protestant establishment. They tended to avoid political involvement except for voting, and even that was frowned upon in some fundamentalist circles. Politics was widely regarded as a futile and "worldly" pursuit that could only distract from the more important business of winning souls to Christ."
[For another, longer, example see Believers pp 238-240 vs. Party Faithful, 42-44]
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