Washington Post Awakenings: Can Religious Democrats Close the ‘God Gap’?, by Michael Wear (Center for Christianity and Public Life):

The Democratic Party has discovered the power of faith.

For years, a “God gap” has separated the two parties. Republicans have relied on religious voters, and Democrats have drawn disproportionately from Americans who claim no faith. In recent decades, this has become a defining feature of American politics, reflected in voters’ belief that Republicans are friendly toward religion and Democrats are not.

But the midterm elections of vocally Christian Democratic candidates in states such as Texas, Iowa and Kansas provide a glimpse of a different kind of politics. For too long, Democrats tended to write off religious voters, and Republicans took them for granted. Faith was treated as an element of partisan identity rather than something capable of inspiring and challenging leaders of both parties. That has changed. …

Religion never left American politics. It has always been there, and it will continue to so long as the U.S. has a democracy filled with religious people. Democrats seem to have realized that religion doesn’t have to be conceded to the Republican Party. Now the Democrats who drew on their faith while campaigning must do the same in government. What does a politics of love look like in the midst of expected Senate investigations of the Trump administration? …

If Democrats can learn again to appreciate religious contributions to their party and to our politics, they can begin to close the God gap. Faith could cease to be a badge of partisan belonging, and religious polarization would no longer risk turning one half of the political spectrum against belief. These midterms might just remake the role of religion in American politics, with good effects for faith and public life.

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