Separation of Church and State?

Generally, when politics invades the pulpit, it’s the Republicans who are accused of crossing the line, but an event held this weekend in Austin shows that when it comes to mixing religion and political activity, its a two-way street.

On Saturday, Congressman Lloyd Doggett organized a forum on health care reform at Austin’s First United Methodist Church, across from the Texas Capitol. Perhaps Doggett felt that the church setting would discourage noisy, disruptive protests like those which greeted his South Austin town hall a few weeks back. 

And to further control the environment, organizers packed the space with hundreds of pro-Obama supporters, leaving barely enough room for opponents to squeeze in.

The event was sponsored by MoveOn.org and Texans for Obama, which rented the space in the church for the event. A blogger at www.travismonitor.com wrote that Democrat operative and ACORN activist Mike Litt, pumped the rally up on facebook and elsewhere: "Together, we will show the strength of support for President Obama's three reform principles here in Central Texas!"

This sort of intentional crowd building is nothing new, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with it. Democracy has always had someone pulling the voters along when they’d rather be doing something else. But the fact that such blatant “astroturfing” is going on now is illuminating in light of all the complaints in the media by liberal commentators that Republicans were doing the same thing in those boisterous August town hall meetings. But beyond that, the religious angle, conservatives argue, is a further double standard in the media coverage of political issues.

“We don’t blame the church, we blame liberal organizations like Moveon.org who routinely go out of their way to blast churches for being what they consider too political, yet they choose a church as a venue for their political rally in favor of ObamaCare,” said Dustin Matocha, president of the UT chapter of Young Conservatives of Texas. “The hypocrisy is just blaring.”

As for the church itself, it did not officially sponsor the event, but rented out space. It’s been the site of political events from across the aisle before. Several years ago, in fact, it was the site of a convention for Matocha’s Young Conservatives of Texas (YCT). 

But Democrats, who long complained about politics from the pulpit – even as some of their own candidates like Al Gore made political speeches from them directly during services – now appear to be specifically trying to use religion for political ends.

Several speakers at the event made appeals to the moral necessity of passing health care reform – specifically, the Democratic leadership’s plan. Implicit was the idea that opposition was cruel, heartless, and immoral. 

By itself, the Austin event is merely of passing interest, but it is enlightening within a wider narrative nationwide of Democrats turning to God for political ends. As Mona Charen with the National Review writes:

“The Democrats, perhaps as a political Hail Mary pass in light of the resistance health-care reform has encountered, are now hitting the religion angle pretty hard. At a Tennessee fundraiser over the weekend (at which Bill Clinton arrived early — a modern miracle if you’re looking for one), the reunited team of Clinton and Al Gore pushed health-care reform as a “moral imperative.” Playing off the Kennedy eulogies, Gore invoked the Christian obligation to care for “the least of these” as the force behind H.R. 3200.”

Embracing God for political ends can be a tricky thing. Republicans have long been attacked – and sometimes rightfully so – for holding a double standard and embracing some biblical principles and ignoring others. Democrats, if they get religion too, will likely face the same principle. After all, it may be the case that God wants us all to have health insurance. But does God want us all to have taxpayer funded abortions?

Of course, Democrats know that the media will likely not pick up on those contradictions as enthusiastically as they do when Republicans are the guilty party. But right now is crunch time for the Democratic party.

Politically, the left is enduring a good ol’ fashioned WWI style artillery barrage right now. Their president’s poll numbers are plummeting and voters views of the proposed health care reform bill are falling even faster. As the incoming shells of opposition continue to blast away at their once-impregnable trenches, Democrats are finally learning the truth in the old adage that there are no atheists in foxholes.