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How Do You Understand This?
In this political season, I have a confession to make: until moving to Florida, I had always been registered as an Independent. My thinking was/is that Jesus
stands above any political party. To Christ, and not to party, we are accountable.
Then we moved to Florida; and, alas, I learned two things: first, it is a closed primary; second, it has been so long since a nonRepublican won any office of importance that for all practical purposes, the Republican primary is 'the' election. Thus, my change to a party affiliation was prompted not by an ideological epiphany as much as it was pure practicality - I wanted my vote to count. I changed registration, and the cheering could be heard all the way from Ohio as my Mother gave thanks that her prodigal son had come home.
Given this background, I read a book earlier in the year (and have recommended it to many) that still causes me to ponder. The book is American Grace by Harvard University professor, Robert Putnam. One of the areas that he explores is the "God gap." In 1980, Putnam explains, Democrats and Republicans attended church at roughly the same rates. Not anymore! Attendance has since gone up markedly for Republicans and declined among Democrats; a sign, he writes, that "people are changing their involvement with religion as a function of their politics."
"Changing their involvement with religion as a function of their politics".... what in the world does this mean? Does this mean that Democrats view the church as an instrument of conservative politics, and so feel less welcome? Does it mean that there has been a rightward political drift in American religion?
How do you understand this change?
In faith, 
Pastor Tim | 
