PEW: " Democrats Have A Serious "God Problem"

PEW Research is reporting that, although the Democrat candidates often talk about God's importance to them personally, the public doesn't believe them.

Less than 10% see Biden, Buttigieg, Sanders or Warren "as very religious."

I'll be talking about this and the latest on the coronavirus this morning on our live radio program. Perhaps Gov. Inslee should not have mocked VP Pense's offer to help Washington State.

You can join me from anywhere in the world. See the links below.

Be informed.

Here's how to join us on the radio this morning. I'm talking about Vice President Pense and President Trump's remarks over the weekend regarding the virus. And did Governor Inslee hurt Washington State by publicly mocking Vice President's offer to help the state regarding the coronavirus issue?

Update: Pete Buttigieg dropped out the presidential race late last night. After a very disappointing showing in the South Carolina primary. He used the occasion to remind his followers he made history as an openly gay candidate. He said he hoped to help kids believe they can do anything even if they are "different."

I've included him in this article, because he was included in the PEW report.

The so-called "narrative" of the Left.

PEW Research published a report Friday that reveals, although the Democrat presidential candidates talk about how God has shaped their lives and their beliefs, including their political beliefs, the public doesn't believe them.

However, the press either believes them, or are simply trying to cause you to believe them.

A couple of weeks ago Associated Press ran an article titled, "Gospel of Matthew's message Rings Loudly for Some 2020 Dems."

The entire article, in my opinion, was an attempt to say something like---"Hey, all you biblical Christians out there who think Trump is your best bet, he isn't. These people are just like you. They are much more spiritual than Trump."

AP notes that when Pete Buttigieg ran his first TV ad in South Carolina, "it's opening lines may have sounded familiar to a churchgoer."

"Buttigieg," they say, "is hardly the first Democrat to invoke biblical verses of Matthew 25 in which Jesus Christ reminds his followers that their true measure comes from how they treat "the least of these, my brethren'."

And they note that President Barack Obama quoted from that biblical passage in 2008. In fact, Obama created a political action committee that year called "Matthew 25 Network" to help attract Christians to his political campaign.

It worked to some degree because about 6-7 million self-identified evangelical Christians voted for him.

AP says, "But in this year's Democratic primary, where several candidates have routinely discussed faith as they try to connect with religious voters, Buttigieg wasn't the only contender to invoke the Gospel of Matthew's central value of helping those in need."

The news service goes on to affirm the deep religious commitment held by Elizabeth Warren, Biden, Booker (who is also out of the race now)---even Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and Jimmy Carter. They even try to connect Bernie, who has said he isn't religious, to the Bible.

AP continues with what they really want to get at:

"As conservative evangelicals continue to make up a critical part of President Donald Trump's base, the message of Matthew 25---which calls for feeding the hungry and giving the stranger safe harbor---allows Democrats to make a strong contrast between the spirit of their policymaking and that of Trump's."

However, once again the press underestimates the public. We're not as dumb or uninformed as they think.

Particularly on spiritual matters.

Apparently, most people know that the "compassion" the religious Left talks about all the time, really means open borders, lawlessness under the guise of "sanctuary," and a further bloated federal government creating and expanding the welfare state.

None of this is biblical.

God and His Word teach that God's model is borders and national sovereignty, abiding by the laws of the land---not what the Left declares to be "sanctuary," and charity, not welfare. Charity is personal and from the heart not enforced by government decree through taxation.

Americans are not buying the religiosity of the Left.

PEW reports that "Americans don't consider the Democrat candidates to be particularly religious. Their polling focused on the top contenders, Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg (now out), Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

Just 3% thinks that Elizabeth Warren is very religious, while 4% said the same about Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg---despite Buttigieg's regular quoting of Bible verses in his campaign speeches.

Joe Biden got the best score: 9% think he's very religious.

Last fall PEW found that more than twice as many Americans view the Democrat Party as actually "unfriendly" to religion, while only 13% feel that way about the Republican Party.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue has noted that the Democrat debate has grown openly hostile toward people of faith, which reveals itself in the candidates' severity in dealing with religious freedom issues.

He says it is clear that "none of the Democrat candidates want to be tagged as religion-friendly."

With the exception of Buttigieg, who constantly tried to affirm his homosexual behavior and same-sex "marriage" using Scripture, the far Left "Atlantic" magazine said in a featured article that Democrats have become "tone-deaf" to religion. They say God is no longer met with approval.

I disagree. Most of the Left see value in God, because they have this sense that America is still generally a Christian nation---at least among many there is still a Christian consensus.

Religion---specifically Christianity---can be a useful tool in winning a political election in many---not all---but many parts of the country.

And therein is the faultline between the real and the fake.

Jesus defined this issue in Matthew 23.

Since the religious Left dwells on the book of Matthew, let's look at Matthew.

In Matthew 23, Jesus pronounces a series of "woes" on the scribes and the Pharisees. Here's how and why Jesus rebuked them so harshly:

• Before His pronouncements, Jesus told the people to respect the office of the scribes and the Pharisees, but not to emulate them in any way.
• The first woe, Matthew 23:3-5: "Because they do not practice what they preach. They keep adding to, or changing God's law. Their religion is rooted in a prideful heart, not true worship."
• The second woe, Matt. 13:15: Jesus condemns the scribes and Pharisees for making strenuous efforts to win converts, then leading those converts to be "twice as much" children of hell as the scribes and Pharisees were. In other words, they were more intent on spreading their religion than on maintaining the truth.
• The third woe, Matt. 23:16-17: Jesus refers to them as "blind guides" and "blind fools" who nitpick about about God's laws while ignoring sacred Truth and God's holiness.
• The fourth woe, Matt. 23:23: Jesus calls them out for paying their tithe, while neglecting to actually care for the people. Religion is external. Their hearts were not transformed.
• The fifth woe, Matt. 23:25: Jesus says these religious leaders appear clean on the outside but they have neglected the inside. It is full of sin and greed and self-indulgence.
• The sixth woe, Matt. 23:27: The deadness inside the tombs is like "white washed tombs" clean on the outside, rotten on the inside---full of "hypocrisy and wickedness."
• The seventh woe, Matt. 23:29-31: Jesus declares they are just like their fathers who persecuted the prophets of old. In building monuments to the prophets they testify against themselves. And Jesus says they themselves will soon plot the murder of the Son of God Himself.

Woe to those who mislead the public, claiming, "God has said," when God has not said.

Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Prayerful.