REVIVAL AT THE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION?

Your missionary to Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, Rob Schenck reporting:

Yesterday’s Democratic National Convention Committee’s “Faith in Action Interfaith Gathering” was a stunning display of religious fervor for what has been the more “secular” political party. In spite of the impressive presence of Jewish, Islamic and Hindu leaders, there were times I thought I was in an old-timey tent revival. There were plenty of shouts of “Amen!” (I delivered a few myself—tell you about that in a minute), hands were raised, and, as they say in the black church tradition, more than one soul “got the glory.”

For me this is a very welcome turn of events for the party I was raised in. I only left the Dems when I thought they had abandoned spiritual sensibilities (and the moral tenets that come with them) in exchange for a purely secular and amoral future. The result, in my estimation, was a party hostile to religious people and religious practices. I’ve been a reluctant Republican since but plan to change my registration this year to Independent.

The Dems’ “born again” faith doesn’t please everyone, though. Two groups of atheists and agnostics protested outside the service’s venue Sunday. They decried what they saw as the Party’s cynical aping of the Republicans.

Yesterday’s service sported a diverse slate of celebrants, among them two Imams, a Hindu professor and three rabbis. The assembly of several thousand appeared to me to be mostly Anglo and European American Protestant. (At least from the way they sat on their hands throughout a rousing worship set by an all-black Gospel ensemble!)

Notwithstanding the numerical advantage of the “frozen chosen,” it was the African Americans in the room—both on stage and in the hall—that dominated the atmosphere. The meeting was formally convened by the Reverend Leah Daughtry, CEO of the Convention and the pastor of House of the Lord Pentecostal Church in Washington, DC. And it was the venerable Bishop Charles E. Blake of the Church of God in Christ who thundered a prophetic sermon from the pulpit—err—podium, at one point unequivocally condemning abortion and personally challenging Barack Obama to pursue “viable alternatives”! That’s when I blew my cover and joined the Amen Corner! Complementing both preachers was Dove Award winning worship leader Richard Smallwood who managed to get a few obvious Episcopalians out of their seats and swaying to the music—or was that God’s presence?

We’ll have to see just what the effect of this injection of religion and its attendant morality will be. Courting Catholics, Evangelicals and Muslims will bring in a lot of votes, but inevitably they will also bring conflict with the Party on issues like the sanctity of life and marriage.

I for one welcome this tiny step forward out of the harsh and two-dimensional amoral world of the Democrat yesterday and into a slightly more spiritually sensitive tomorrow. One thing that struck me: I couldn’t remember anything like this—especially on this scale—being sponsored or staged by any of the Republican National Conventions. Maybe this year would be a good time to do it. For a fleeting moment during that service, even I wasthinking about being a Democrat again . . .

Rev. Rob Schenck

www.faithandaction.org

Faith and Action

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