White progressives often complain about the uses to which GOP politicians put Christianity. Republicans in red states, or red areas of blue states, are apt to sprinkle their talk with references to God and church and prayer and “Judeo-Christian values.”
I use the modifier “white” because those same progressives have little critical to say about black Democratic politicians whose speeches are similarly religiose. But ignore that inconsistency and grant the complaint some justice: To hear a clergyman at a Republican rally deliver an opening prayer invoking “our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” feels amiss—coercive to nonbelievers and loose with that name.
Read Full Article »