The party talks like Buttigieg but acts like Beto

An interesting, though partisan, discussion on America's views of religion. From Will 2020 Dems Turn Off More Faith Voters in Fifth Debate? by Ashley McGuire.

Will Democrats upset more faith voters in tonight’s debate? A new extensive study released today suggests they better not.

In the last debate, Beto O’Rourke said that churches that espouse traditional marriage should be taxed. When asked by CNN’s Don Lemon, “Do you think religious institutions like colleges, churches, charities—should they lose their tax-exempt status if they oppose same-sex marriage?” O’Rourke didn’t flinch. “Yes,” he replied. “There can be no reward, no benefit, no tax break for anyone, or any institution, any organization in America that denies the full human rights and the full civil rights of every single one of us.”

Democrats balked. Frontrunners Senator Warren and Mayor Buttigieg tripped over themselves to disagree. “I’m not sure he understood the implications of what he was saying,” Buttigieg said. “Going after the tax exemption of churches, Islamic centers or other religious facilities in this country is just going to deepen the divisions we’re already experiencing.” Even The New Republic, hardly a bastion of moderate liberal thinking, proclaimed that O’Rourke “is out over his skis.” Two weeks later, O’Rourke ended his campaign.

The resounding backlash to O’Rourke, even from the left, was a striking example of a reality that a report from the pro-bono law firm The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty makes clear -- namely, that Americans of all stripes still deeply value religious liberty and don’t want to see people of faith and their institutions punished for their beliefs.

McGuire then cites some of the findings from the two research reports.

She makes the following statement which I do not think is quite right.

In short, though we may be becoming less religious as a country, we still value the role of religion and value the principle of religious liberty even more.

It is not that America is becoming less religious. I think the issue we face is that we are becoming less churched. The passion for religion remains a strong characteristic of Americans but that passion is less shaped by traditional religious institutions. As our mainstream churches have become dominated by social justice advocates, their memberships have declined, for some, precipitously. The ideology of social justice, entailing as it does intolerance of difference and endorsement of punitive coercion is incompatible with Christian precepts. It is no wonder that the increase of social justice ideology in mainstream churches is correlated with declining church attendance.

Americans remain quite religious and quite Christian, they are just seeking it outside of the mainstream. And those trends can't occlude the reality that Americans are far more religious, churched and unchurched, than any other OECD country.

McGuire concludes

And while Democrats may pay lip service to these ideas [acceptance of religion] in tepid statements, the reality is that the party walks a different line. Democrats are only increasing their efforts to punish charities like adoption agencies for their religious views about marriage, to force healthcare workers to perform procedures that violate their religious beliefs and religious employers and taxpayers to pay for them, and to exclude religious schools and charities from public funding programs, yet another issue currently before the highest court. The party talks like Buttigieg but acts like Beto.

Research sources linked in article

The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty - Religious Freedom Index

Pew Survey - Americans Have Positive Views About Religion’s Role in Society, but Want It Out of Politics