There arent many people like Michael Wear in todays Democratic Party. The former director of Barack Obamas 2012 faith-outreach efforts is a theologically conservative evangelical Christian. He is opposed to both abortion and same-sex marriage, although he would argue that those are primarily theological positions, and other issues, including poverty and immigration, are also important to his faith.
During his time working for Obama, Wear was often alone in many of his views, he writes in his new book, Reclaiming Hope. He helped with faith-outreach strategies for Obamas 2008 campaign, but was surprised when some state-level officials decided not to pursue this kind of engagement: Sometimesas I came to understand the more I worked in politicsa persons reaction to religious ideas is not ideological at all, but personal, he writes.
Several years later, he watched battles over abortion funding and contraception requirements in the Affordable Care Act with chagrin: The administration was unnecessarily antagonistic toward religious conservatives in both of those fights, Wear argues, and it eventually lost, anyway. When Louie Giglio, an evangelical pastor, was pressured to withdraw from giving the 2012 inaugural benediction because of his teachings on homosexuality, Wear almost quit.
The Progressive Roots of the Pro-Life Movement
Some of his colleagues also didnt understand his work, he writes. He once drafted a faith-outreach fact sheet describing Obamas views on poverty, titling it Economic Fairness and the Least of These, a reference to a famous teaching from Jesus in the Bible. Another staffer repeatedly deleted the least of these, commenting, Is this a typo? It doesnt make any sense to me. Who/what are these?
I spoke with Wear about how the Democratic Party is and isnt reaching people of faithand what that will mean for its future. Our conversation has been edited for clarity and length.
Emma Green: Many people have noted that 81 percent of white evangelicals voted for Donald Trump in this election. Why do you think that was?
Michael Wear: It shows not just ineptitude, but the ignorance of Democrats in not even pretending to give these voters a reason to vote for them. We also need to have a robust conversation about the support or allowance for racism, misogyny, and Islamophobia in the evangelical tradition.
Many of those 81 percent are accommodating cultural changes in America that are deeply problematic. Liberals have been trying to convince Americans, and evangelicals in particular, that America is not a Christian nation. The 2016 election was evangelicals saying, Yeah, youre right! We cant expect to have someone who is Christian like us. We cant expect to have someone with a perfect family life. What we can expect is someone who can look out for us, just like every other group in this country is looking for a candidate who will look out for them.
Theres a lot of conversation in Christian circles about Jeremiah 29, which is Jeremiahs letter to the exiles in Babylon. The message Jeremiah had, and that the Lord had, for the exiles is that they should seek the peace and prosperity of the city where theyve been planted, and multiplythey should maintain their convictions for the flourishing of others. The concern I have, and that many others have, is that in this time of cultural transformation in America, youre going to have many evangelicals who just become Babylonians.
Its much easier to make people scared of evangelicals than trying to make an appeal to them.
Green: Why is it, do you think, that some liberalsand specifically the Democratic Partyhave been unwilling to do outreach to people who hold particular kinds of theological points of view?
Wear: They think, in some ways wrongly, but in other ways rightly, that it would put constraints around their policy agenda. So, for instance: You could make a case to evangelicals while trying to repeal the Hyde Amendment, [which prohibits federal funding for abortion in most circumstances,] but thats really difficult. Reaching out to evangelicals doesnt mean you have to become pro-life. It just means you have to not be so in love with how pro-choice you are, and so opposed to how pro-life we are.
The second thing is that theres a religious illiteracy problem in the Democratic Party. Its tied to the demographics of the country: More 20- and 30-year-olds are taking positions of power in the Democratic Party. They grew up in parts of the country where navigating religion was not important socially and not important to their political careers. This is very different from, like, James Carville in Louisiana in the 80s. James Carville is not the most religious guy, but he gets religious peopleif you didnt get religious people running Democratic campaigns in the South in the 80s, you wouldnt win.
Another reason why they havent reached out to evangelicals in 2016 is that, no matter Clintons slogan of Stronger Together, we have a politics right now that is based on making enemies, and making people afraid. I think were seeing this with the Betsy DeVos nomination: Its much easier to make people scared of evangelicals, and to make evangelicals the enemy, than trying to make an appeal to them.
The Democratic Party used to welcome people who didnt support abortion into the party. We are now so far from that, its insane.
Green: Ive written before about the rare breed that is the pro-life Democrat. Some portion of voters would likely identify as both pro-life and Democrat, but from a party point of view, its basically impossible to be a pro-life Democrat. Why do you think it is that the party has moved in that direction, and what, if anything, do you think it should do differently?
Wear: The spending that womens groups have done is profound. 2012 was a year of historic investment from Planned Parenthood, and the campaign in 2016 topped it.
Number two, were seeing party disaffiliation as a way of signaling moral discomfort. A lot of pro-life Democrats were formerly saying, My presence here doesnt mean I agree with everythingIm going to be an internal force that acts as a constraint or a voice of opposition on abortion. Those people have mostly left the party.
Third, I think Democrats felt like their outreach wouldnt be rewarded. For example: The president went to Notre Dame in May of 2009 and gave a speech about reducing the number of women seeking abortions. It was literally met by protests from the pro-life community. Now, there are reasons for thisI dont mean to say that Obama gave a great speech and the pro-life community should have [acknowledged that]. But I think there was an expectation by Obama and the White House team that there would be more eagerness to find common ground.
Green: One could argue that among most Democratic leaders, theres a lack of willingness to engage with the question of abortion on moral terms. Even Tim Kaine, for examplea guy who, by all accounts, deeply cares about his Catholic faith, and has talked about his personal discomfort with abortionfell into line.
How would you characterize Democrats willingness to engage with the moral question of abortion, and why is it that way?
Wear: There were a lot of things that were surprising about Hillarys answer [to a question about abortion] in the third debate. She didnt advance moral reservations she had in the past about abortion. She also made the exact kind of positive moral argument for abortion that womens groupswho have been calling on people to tell their abortion storieshad been demanding.
The Democratic Party used to welcome people who didnt support abortion into the party. We are now so far from that, its insane. This debate, for both sides, is not just about the abortion rate; its not just about the legality of it. Its a symbolic debate. Its symbolic on the pro-choice side about the autonomy of women and their freedom to do what they want with their bodies. On the pro-life side, they care not just about the regulations around abortion, but whether theres a cultural affirmation of life.
Even the symbolic olive branches have become less acceptable.
Weve allowed politics to take up emotional space in our lives that its not meant to take up.
Green: If you were talking to a secular Democrat who is skeptical about the need to do outreach to conservative evangelicals or make a compromise on language surrounding social issues like abortion, same-sex marriage, etc., what would you say?
Wear: Its sad that this is a throwaway response, but its the duty of statesmanship. Its the duty of living in a pluralistic society to make a case to all folks.
The second would be that America is still a profoundly religious nation. There are reports that high-level Democratic leadership was not interested in reaching out to white Catholics. And they sure didnt have a lot of interest in white evangelicals. Thats a huge portion of the electorate to throw out. So if the civic motivation doesnt get you, let me make the practical argument: It doesnt help you win elections if youre openly disdainful toward the driving force in many Americans lives.
The Democratic Party is effectively broken up into three even thirds right now: religiously unaffiliated people, white Christians who are cultural Christians, and then people of color who are religious.
Green: And religious minorities.
Wear: Well, right, but because of their numbersIm speaking in general terms.
Barack Obama was the perfect transitional president from the old party to the new. He could speak in religious terms in a way that most white, secular liberals were not willing to confront him on. He got away with religious language and outreach that would get other Democratic politicians more robust critiques from the left. He was able to paper over a lot of the religious tensions in the party that other, less skilled politicians will not be able to paper over.
Green: Youre a little bit of a man in the wilderness. You have worked for the Democratic Party, but you have conservative views on social issues, and you are conservative in terms of theology. There just arent a lot of people like you. Does it feel lonely?
Wear: Its not as lonely as it might appear on the outside.
One of the things I found at the White House and since I left is this class of people who arent driving the political decisions right now, and have significant forces against them, but who are not satisfied with the political tribalism that we have right now. I think were actually in a time of intense political isolation across the board. Ive been speaking across the country for the year leading up to the election, and I would be doing these events, and without fail, the last questioner or second-to-last questioner would cry. Ive been doing political events for a long time, and Ive never seen that kind of raw emotion. And out of that, I came to the conclusion that politics was causing a deep spiritual harm in our country. Weve allowed politics to take up emotional space in our lives that its not meant to take up.
Certainly, it would be a lot more comfortable for me professionally if I held the party line on everything. Politically, I definitely feel isolated. But a lot of people feel isolated right now. And personally, I dont feel lonely because I find my community in the church. That has been a great bond.
Original post:
Democrats' Religion Problem - The Atlantic