Three Religion Stories Demonstrate the Importance and Difficulty of Reaching Healthy Religion

6/24/2017—First, the Democrats need religious voters. Here is the opening paragraph of the story in the New York Times:

“Jon Ossoff’s defeat in Georgia’s Sixth Congressional District election on Tuesday wasn’t just a sign that Democrats may have a harder time winning in the Trump era than they had hoped. It is a symptom of a larger problem for the party — a generational and racial divide between a largely secular group of young, white party activists and an older electorate that is more religious and more socially conservative.” You can read the rest here.

But why not just reach out to religious voters? You might think the problem is abortion, which is a large part of it. That is a must for the Democratic base and anathema to many religious voters. But beyond that, look at two other stories today: an Illinois Bishop denies communion, last rites and funeral rites to people in same-sex marriages and the increasingly religious government in Turkey removes evolution from the curriculum of secondary school education.

I am sure that pro-choice Democrats understand how someone could be pro-life—at least I hope so. But the rest of religion just seems bigoted and crazy to many people. Mean and anti-science.

There is no future for religion in this direction and eventually religion will change. God will not always hate gays and deny science. But these changes will not take place in time to retake the Senate and House in 2018. Or the White House in 2020.