Apparently religion is a complicated subject, but I don’t think Democrats are very good at talking about it. We can alienate alot of good people who should be our allies. Acceptance of other people’s beliefs can be a challenge, and part of that is the conflation of all levels of spirituality as “religion”. I think the following is a good way to separate the good from the bad and build alliances:
Let’s call Faith someone’s personal relationship with God or in the case of Christianity the desire to follow the example of Jesus. This might give people peace, strength, purpose, or inspiration to do good things for others. OK, I might not share your beliefs but if that works for you then great!
Then there is Church, which for some is a place of cherished community, traditions, music, and inspiration. Again, I don’t have to share your beliefs to support that it’s a positive in your life.
Then there is what I define as Religion. This is where instead of people speaking to God, they speak for God. It is, and always has been, a means of controlling people. It is people saying what you need to do to please God, people saying what you should believe, who you should be, who you should love, and codifying their own beliefs in the law. This is the source of so much strife in our nation and the world. So let’s talk about how destructive religion can be, but let’s talk about it as the corruption of faith and church. Talk about how it manipulates people’s sincere beliefs for a political end. There are many ways to be a good person with or without spiritual belief — now more than ever we all need to band together against those who use religion against us.