Senator Warnock Uses Religious Language. Look Out Republican South


When Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock thanked God for his victory, one could almost hear anguish of Republican God operatives. "He can't talk like that. We own God-talk and Democrats are not allowed to use it."

Whether it's gay marriage or abortion, God-talk is available to every branch of Christianity. It's folly to think God-talk is owned by anyone or any group.

We half to remember politics, especially elections, are art not science. When a politician paints a picture it had better look the way voters want it to look. Portraying oneself the way voters prefer is the goal.

When Obama first landed on the national scene he chided Democrats for not declaring their religious convictions. "I'll show you how it is done," he implied. But Obama, for all his intellectual and professorial creds, could not pull it off. Scripture did not roll off his tongue. He was not a Baptist but of the liberal United Church of Christ. He comes off as a Unitarian. Couching his election, policies and ideas as gifts from God doesn't work. 

This is not the case with Warnock. Liberal policies like Black Lives Matter, abortion rights and gay marriage rights are all right there in the Bible and can be seen as endorsed by God himself. Warnock knows how to argue these points. He has published in academic outlets. 

You will not find Trump, or any other Republican contender, quoting the Bible's message of giving to the poor. Instead, you will hear them saying God loves large corporations and frowns of people receiving welfare. Bible talk is making Georgia is trend to the Democratic Party. What state in the Bible Belt, the solid South, is next.  

The no religion part of the country continues to grow. It is growing in the South just as in the North. Warnock's and Biden's style of talking about religion is within the tolerance level of non-religious people. While I'm not religious, there is nothing wrong with using it in politics as long as the goal is to not force into our laws. 

 

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