In 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt met Winston Churchill, for the first time, off Newfoundland, to plot the Atlantic Charter. They held a church service on the British battleship Prince of Wales, Churchill choosing the hymns Eternal Father, Strong to save and Onward Christian Soldiers for FDR, an intensely religious man.
“If nothing else had happened while we were here,” President Roosevelt told an aide, “that joint service would have cemented us.” Churchill, needing U.S. help against Nazi Germany, was equally inspired. “The same language. The same hymns. It was a great time to be alive.”
Three years later, Roosevelt read a June 6, 1944, D-Day prayer to the Nation on network radio. “Almighty God,” it began, concluding: “We know that by Thy grace and by the righteousness of our cause.” America’s greatest Democratic President would have recoiled at the notion of his party mocking God.
FDR successor Harry Truman kissed the Bible on taking the oath of office. John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural said “the rights of man come … from the hand of God.” Lyndon Johnson called Billy Graham “my pastor,” making him a regular guest in the Lincoln Bedroom. None could have imagined a Democratic Party that loved abortion and loathed the Almighty.
Robert and Ethel Kennedy taught their children hymns. George McGovern began his 1972 Acceptance speech by calling its 2:30 A.M. start our “Easter Sunrise service.” Jimmy Carter was elected because he neutered the belief that the Democratic elite detest faith. Bill Clinton noted a “New Covenant,” “The Lord’s Gallery,” and how America is the most religious developed nation on earth.
It still is, though you wouldn’t know watching last month’s national Democratic Convention in, ironically, Graham’s Charlotte, North Carolina.
According to George Gallup, 9 in 10 Americans believe in God, including the vast majority of rank-and-file Democrats. Nearly 9 in 10 pray and endorse religious symbols on public property. Any decline in religious identification has occurred almost exclusively among liberal sects (e.g. Unitarian), turning to disbelief (think atheist). In Charlotte, this ideology trumped diversity.
Speakers from Planned Parenthood to Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke celebrated contraception and the right to abort any child or fetus, depending on the reader’s view. Politically, it is possible to defend either side. It is impossible to defend the Democrats obsession that made birth control seem more crucial than unemployment, foreign policy, the Federal debt, and entitlement reform.
Worse is what occurred when the platform committee killed the single mention to the Party dons’ bête noire – God. Since President Obama has trashed religious liberty, mocked “cling[ing] to guns and religion,” and abetted a war on Christmas, you’d think he would love such bigotry. Instead, knowing America to be deeply religious, Obama ordered that word restored, whereupon much of the convention roared No! The din signified the Party of FDR, JFK, and LBJ – even McGovern — being told to drop dead.
This being America, Charlotte Democrats are free to worship MTV Awards, the Kardashians, a double latte at Starbucks, the latest iPAD, always the hip and boutique, and inevitably themselves. (Thankfully, most Americans worship Someone larger.) None are free to debase, ridicule, or exclude — a hate crime! – Roosevelt’s “Almighty God.”
Ronald Reagan said, “I didn’t leave the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party left me.” More would leave if they knew of God being smeared. A biased press made God’s banishment a footnote whenever possible. In addition, the GOP is as inept at even this issue as the 2012 Red Sox are at baseball. Reagan would have used it to incinerate the Left.
Even if Obama wins, his party’s victory may be brief. Liberals have long denied being extreme and ubersecular. How kind of them now to finally prove it. Conservatives can be heard singing “I told you so.” Middle America may not be far behind.
“God bless us, every one,” said Tiny Tim, who could never be a Charlotte Democrat. A party that loves abortion far more than God will ultimately pay the price.
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