Holy Politics!

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Recently Democratic front-runner Howard Dean was flogged in The New Republic for his "religion problem" -- a lack of public passion about God. Franklin Foer writes in "Beyond Belief" (December 29 issue) that Dean's "ambivalent spiritual narrative" will play right into Karl Rove's hands.

The "real reason Dean will not be able to escape a liberal caricature has little to do with policy," writes Foer, "and everything to do with a warning flag that will mark him as culturally alien to much of the country." And what is that? "Howard Dean is one of the most secular candidates to run for president in modern history."

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Foer calls President Bush's religion "heartfelt." That's a subjective judgment. Bush talks a lot about religion, but we don't know if what's in his heart is Jesus or acid reflux. Journalists and pollsters and most of the electorate assume that if a person talks a lot about religion, he must be religious; and if he doesn't, he must be not-religious. (This goes along with the character myth -- an assumption that if someone talks a lot about morality, he must be moral.)

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The United States Constitution (Article VI, Clause 3) says, "No religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States." We've blown that one out of the water, haven't we? No atheists or agnostics need apply. By today's standards, the deist Thomas Jefferson couldn't get elected. For that matter, neither could Abraham Lincoln. ...

http://www.ospolitics.org/usa/archives/2003/12/31/holy_polit.php

Thank you.

At the moment I am looking for all the political-religious sites I can find.

Also, if anyone can find the approximate date when "Democratic" party had to be changed, due to Right Wing talk show and activist pressure, to "Democrat" party.