Things You Don't Talk About in Polite Company

There are several explanations out there. One is that there's an outright failure of the left to appeal to religious people. Another (I think I saw it in an old issue of the defunct and lamented Brill's Content, or perhaps it was the Atlantic Monthly) claimed that there is such a thing as a religious left, but it is diversified, whereas the religious right coalesces around a set number of specific issues.

There's no focus for left Christianity to rally around. Liberal Catholics have problems getting together, I suspect, because half of them want to take down the Church hierarchy as part of any effort. I also suspect that mainline Protestants have similar problems with the Catholic hierarchy and see most Catholics as tarnished by their association with that hierarchy. I should probably run some cross-tabulations on that.

The Christian Right has agreement on basic first principles that are not shared by most of the conservative Catholics that others see as the same as Falwell and Robertson types. There's a common understanding on the literal interpretation of the Bible. There are stark differences between conservative Catholics and conservative evangelical Christians. One need only look at differing reasons for being anti-abortion. Pro-life Catholics are more likely to be against abortion due to a sincere belief that abortion is the taking of a human life. Pro-life evangelical Christians are much more likely to stress the need to enforce a (sexual) morality.

In order to create a Christian Left, one needs to find a common basics for liberal Catholics and mainline Protestants. You would probably need to find charismatic Catholic leaders, both lay and clergy. The latter is particularly important, especially for a Catholic like me who is unwilling to abandon the formal Church structure. If I find some particular Church stance distasteful, I would much rather prefer to see it changed within the current system rather than overthrow the system entirely. I don't think that is any more difficult to understand than an American who would rather work to improve the U.S. within the current democratic framework rather than raze government and start anew, or move to another country.

I have a plan, of course. The American Catholic Church needs positive some P.R. to combat priest sex scandals. With abortion and homosexuality also issues out there, the current perception of the Church is that of a sex-obsessed institution. My suggestion is this: for the next 2-5 years, the Catholic Church should work to see that its coverage in the news is no more than 20% sex-related, whether positive or negative. There are three likely issues on which the Church has spoken before which are clearly not sex-related. One is poverty, the other is war, and the last is the death penalty. The U.S. bishops should pick at least one of these issues, and perhaps even all of them, and stage a very public and vocal offensive to bring problems and solutions to the forefront.

Mainline Protestants should join in and downplay any differences on sexual matters (abortion, gay marriage). Hell, don't even mention the a-word and don't make it a major political issue. Liberal Protestants usually don't have the official structures that need to be be brought into things, but keep that gay Lutheran bishop from being a distraction. Black Protestants are their own different animal. Most are actually culturally conservative, but vote Democrat due to racial issues. But the issues I suggested would generally appeal to African-American leaders.

Of course I predict that anything that follows along these lines will somehow be used by non-Catholics to criticize the official Church. I do think there's a leftist bias out there against Catholics, but it's working against creating a clear Christian Left constituency, not against approving jackass judges.

Part of this is why I'm totally pissed off at Dennis Kucinich and rank him dead last in my preferences among Democratic presidential candidates, behind Sharpton, Liebermann, and Mosely-Braun. Kucinich was the perfect opportunity to bring into the Democratic Party Catholics who agree with most of the left socio-economic agenda (as, really, the Pope does) and who may be against the war in Iraq, but feel unwelcome in the party, perhaps due to an abortion stance. Instead, the nut had to make this insincere flip-flop on the issue, failing to draw new people to the Democratic Party. I almost get the idea that if he doesn't win the nomination, he'll toss in with the Green Party.