We shall all be free...

It's not totally unheard of for my professors to be seen dancing in school, but Wednesday was a day of dancing like no other. I attend a seminary that is on the progressive end of the spectrum but boasts a student body that is diverse in terms of theology, social ideology, politics, class background, ethnicity, and national origin. Most of our professors and many students could be categorized as "liberal" (in a world where categories are constructed boundaries that don't really fit anyone exactly), but many other students would identify themselves as "conservative" or "moderate", or perhaps "traditional". These categories break down upon close analysis, but at a surface level they continue to organize how our society sees itself. One thing almost all of us have in common is a concern for social justice in some form. We gather together for (optional) chapel services three days/week, using a wide variety of styles, themes, and theological perspectives. This week one particular theme has permeated all of our services, seeping into the liturgy, the songs, the messages, the benedictions. We're celebrating the election of a new president, the successful process of democracy, and the end of a difficult, divisive campaign season. But most of all, we're rejoicing over the election of a person of color to the highest office in this nation. Finally, after years of striving for equal rights, equal access, equal respect, we see a giant leap forward for the black community. Of course, the mere fact of Barack Obama's election does not mean that white privilege and black oppression will end--that goal requires the continued efforts of all of us. However, the symbolic significance of his candidacy and election is reverberating throughout the entire country. We elected a black man. Halleluia. As we sing together in chapel the rallying song of the Civil Rights movement, "we shall overcome someday." We as a country can overcome our history and systems of racist oppression, even though they are still deeply entrenched in our culture, society, and government. Maybe soon we can elect a woman. Please, America, one more leap forward!

I'd like to point out what I see as a significant reason for hope: the face of religion in politics is shifting in the U.S. The Christian Right does not hold quite so firm a grasp on the politics of Christians as they once did. This semester I've been studying the historical rise of such organizations as The Christian Coalition, The Moral Majority, Concerned Women For America, Focus on the Family, and the politics of well-known evangelical religious leaders who have brilliantly managed to mobilize evangelical Christians as a powerful voting bloc since the 1970s. Their contribution to the political landscape of the U.S. has been controversial, especially because it has been so effective. The GOP has benefited more than the Democratic Party from the mobilization of conservative Christian voters, but at no small cost. When moderate republican candidates like John McCain have to alter their platforms and perform more conservative personas in order to mobilize the GOP's base, we can see the price of utilizing religion as a political organizing principle. However, as Domke and Coe assert in their book The God Strategy, religious politics have become firmly embedded in our election and governing processes in the last three decades. Even the Democrats are learning how to appeal to "religious voters". And this is my point: many voters who would identify themselves as "religious", or more specifically, as "Christian, and even as "evangelical Christian", voted Democratic in this election. Many of these have been voting Democratic all along, and others who typically vote Republican switched over in this election cycle. For information to back up this claim, check out the following blogs:

http://blog.faithinpubliclife.org/
a post on Nov 5th entitled Exit Poll Analysis Shows "Religious Rebalancing"

http://www.spiritual-politics.org/
a post on Nov 5th entitled Results! Evangelicals

My point here is not to belittle the efforts of the Christian Right to organize Christian voters, but rather to argue that Christian voters are motivated by a complex matrix of issues just like non-Christian or non-religious voters. Those on the left who are also "secular" sometimes have the bad habit of assuming all Christians have been brainwashed by Focus on the Family, and to view these voters as lemmings who can't think for themselves (because clearly if they could think, they'd vote Democratic). I certainly think this way sometimes, in moments of frustration. However, in this election year more and more members of the "Religious Left" came out of the closet, admitted the importance of their faith in shaping their liberal politics, and appealed to their moderate and conservative religious friends to vote their faith on issues of poverty, health care, war, violence, ecological sustainability, and social oppression.

Singing and dancing with my seminary community in chapel this week, I realized how long it's been since I've felt proud to be a Christian in this country. Even now, I'm uncomfortable with the label of "Christian" because of all the negative stereotypes associated with it, but I have a renewed sense of hope for Christians in the U.S. I rejoice in the openings created by this campaign and the election, for our citizens to engage in dialogue and thought about the influence of their religious views (or their views on religion) upon their politics. We still face an uphill road to changing our society, but this is a moment for celebration! We shall overcome someday.