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Obama able to close gap with Catholics, evangelicals

By Jean Torkelson, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published November 6, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Is Barack Obama closing the so-called "God gap"?

Pundits on Wednesday were calling the president-elect's national support from 54 percent of Catholics one of the more startling outcomes of the election. It's 2 percent higher than George Bush's Catholic support in 2004.

Among Protestant evangelicals, about 25 percent went for Obama, compared to 21 percent for John Kerry in 2004.

Obama's strong Catholic support comes despite a flurry of statements from Catholic bishops in the waning days of the campaign, which warned of Obama's loyalty to abortion rights. Evangelical Protestants also have been staunchly anti-abortion and support other social issues such as a federal amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman, which Obama opposes.

Yet Obama made inroads in both groups.

However, some are disputing the depth of his support. According to the spokeswoman for Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput, the Catholic support is inflated because it includes anyone who might simply define themselves as a Catholic.

"The archbishop would say it is important to look at Catholics who are practicing their faith, with regular Mass attendance and involvement in their parish," said Jeanette DeMelo. She cited a CNN Web site showing that 55 percent of people of any faith who worship regularly supported Sen. John McCain. However, the gap was much closer among regular Catholic church-goers, where the split was 50 percent for McCain, 49 percent for Obama.

Obama benefitted from Hispanic Catholics, who voted heavily Democratic and now make up a third of the Catholic Church in America.

When it comes to evangelicals, some might not understand where Obama really stands on social issues, said Carrie Gordon Earll, a spokeswoman for Focus on the Family.

"There's been a concerted effort to court those voters by being less than upfront on Obama's position on life issues and marriage," Earll said. "Obama is really a social liberal, but I'm not sure that's what evangelicals think they're getting. Certainly people were attracted to him. But when he's in office it will be very clear who he's beholden to - Planned Parenthood and homosexual activists. He won't be beholden to evangelicals."

Comments

  • November 6, 2008

    4:33 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    VATICAN2CATHOLIC writes:

    I believe the Democratic landslide election of Barack Obama signals a new and much needed era of democracy in the United States, replacing the long broken Republican era of George W. Bush.

    Obama could not have made a better choice than Joseph Biden, now the Vice-President elect, who has had a long and distinguished career as the Democratic Senator from Delaware.

    Joe Biden is a man of integrity and a good catholic, notwithstanding the hammering he has taken in recent months from some ultra-conservative, fundamentalist leaning and single issue bishops, like Denver's Archbishop Charles Chaput, who have spoken out so vehemently against him and President elect Barack Obama.

    Fortunately, most catholics did not vote on the abortion issue.

    They voted responsibly.

    They voted on the entire spectrum of life issues; hunger, poverty, unemployment, unjust trade practices, racism, sexism, human rights violations, trafficking in women and children, etc., etc., etc.

    It is important to keep in mind that as a U.S. Senator, Joseph Biden has an unequaled records in many if not all of these areas.

    Perhaps the election of Joe Biden as VP will give more publicity and exposure to Delaware's landmark legislation, the Child Victims Law which became effective on July 10, 2007 removing all criminal and civil statutes of limitation in regard to the sexual abuse of children and opening a two year legislative window for bringing forward previously time barred cases of child abuse by anyone, no matter his or her color, creed, orientation or religious affiliation.

    Perhaps then the people and legislators in Colorado will not allow themselves to be hoodwinked by Chaput and others like him who oppose better child abuse legislation for their own short sighted agenda and instead pass needed the laws needed that would protect all children.

    It is time that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops stopped blowing smoke, stopped scapegoating men with a homosexual orientation, stopped blaming them for the church's sex abuse scandals, curtailed their sexist attitude toward women barring them from priesthood because of an indefensible "they don't look like Jesus" position.

    Who didn't know men and women were different?

    Or is the Reverend Fernando Cristancho, a priest from Columbia incardinated in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, who talked some women into bearing his children by way of in vitro fertilization and now stands criminally charged in Maryland of abusing two of his triplets, just another rogue homosexual priest?

    And Iowa's Bishop Lawrence D. Soens isn't guilty of serial child sexual abuse either, I suppose.

    Sister Maureen Paul Turlish
    Abuse Victims' Advocate
    New Castle, Delaware
    maureenpaulturlish@yahoo.com

  • November 6, 2008

    8:44 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    ck writes:

    If 54% of Catholics voted for Obama, then there are an awfully lot of Catholics in name only. What really surprises me is that this group apparently includes nuns.
    I am probably considered a single issue voter, in that I view one issue as being paramount over all others. There are many issues that I view as important, and I have prioritized them in order of importance. The issue that out weighs all others, for me, is whether a woman should be allowed to legally kill her unborn child. The way a candidate will govern depends on his or her stand on this one issue.
    There is Biblical precedent for such prioritization. When Jesus was asked "which commandment is the greatest?" He replied "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments" (Matthew 22)
    As I strive to love my neighbor as myself, I ask who is my most vulnerable neighbor? Which neighbor is least able to defend himself? Which neighbor is most dependent on others? This is the neighbor for whom I must work hardest to love as myself. This is the unborn child. A candidate who is not willing to protect this most vulnerable neighbor, will be untrustworthy with all other neighbors.
    I suggest that every voter can be a single issue voter if there is a particular issue of enough importance to that voter. For instance, I would guess that few women would vote for a candidate who believed that women should not be allowed to vote. That one issue alone would disqualify the candidate in their minds. Hence, they would be one issue voters.
    More of us need to be willing to follow Jesus' teachings as taught through his Catholic Church, its Magisterium, the Pope, and the Bishops. A person unwilling to do so should not be called Catholic.

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