Why should Democrats talk about faith if half of the country isn’t listening?

SALT LAKE CITY — Joe Biden has released a video on his Catholic faith, written a column on his religious upbringing and taken breaks from campaigning to attend Mass.

But, according to a survey released last week by Pew Research Center, 39% of U.S. adults doubt he’s even a “somewhat” religious man.

The disconnect between Biden’s statements on faith and voters’ assumptions should be familiar if you’ve paid attention to Democratic Party politics over the past few decades. Candidates on the left have long struggled to convince a sizable chunk of Americans that they care about religion.

“I’ve met so many religious people around the country who think that when they go to the ballot box they have to choose between voting for the religious party, the GOP, and voting for the secular, liberal party, the Democrats,” said Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons, a fellow with the Faith and Progressive Policy Initiative at the Center for American Progress.

This belief will likely become even more common as the share of registered Democrats who identify as religiously unaffiliated — which was at 28% in 2016 — grows. One-third of U.S. adults (33%) already believe religious “nones” have too much control over the Democratic Party, Pew reported last year. 

“The candidates (in 2020) are up against a pretty strong headwind in terms of people recognizing that Democrats can be religious and are,” Graves-Fitzsimmons said.

But widespread doubt about their sincerity hasn’t stopped Biden and, to a lesser extent, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., from talking about faith. They’ve credited their religious upbringings with inspiring their activism and promised to partner with faith communities in the pursuit of their policy goals. 

Temptation to stay quiet

John Carr, the founder and director of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University, worries a growing group of “Democratic elites” would say, yes.

As the party has increased its outreach to religious nones, some leaders have expressed a desire to leave religious language behind.

“My sense is that Democratic elites think ... faith is less important to people than it really is,” Carr said.

Even Democrats who identify as religious or see the value of religion in society sometimes think its best for candidates to downplay their faith, Graves-Fitzsimmons said.

“We live in a pluralistic society and to some, (religious language) feels exclusive,” he said. 

But sharing your own religious experience isn’t inherently insulting to people who believe different things, Graves-Fitzsimmons said. He highlighted Sanders’ comments about his Jewish faith, noting that these comments on Judaism haven’t prevented the candidate from forging strong bonds with the Muslim community.

“We shouldn’t try to keep religion out of the public square. One of the things that makes America so special is the diversity of our religious beliefs,” he said. 

https://www.deseret.com/indepth/2020/3/8/21165067/joe-biden-bernie-sanders-elizabeth-warren-democrats-faith-donald-trump?utm_source=Morning+Edition&utm_campaign=51231066b2-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_03_09_12_29&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c273c164df-51231066b2-510874605