“O ye of little faith,” proclaimed Jesus to his disciples when stormy seas rocked their boat. The same might be said to today’s Democrats, given how secular their party’s leadership has become in recent years.
Here’s a quiz: On Sept. 8, when Catholics honored the Virgin Mary’s birth, which presidential candidate posted a portrait of Our Lady of Guadalupe and wrote, “Happy birthday Mary!” on social media?
Even if you were not one of its 60 million viewers, you’d probably guess President-elect Donald Trump. That’s a bingo.
Can you imagine advisors of Vice President Kamala Harris suggesting she share such a message? Or the one on Sept. 29, feast day of St. Michael the Archangel, when the former president posted the saint’s dragon-slaying image and famous prayer?
On Oct. 17, Trump was in New York for the Al Smith Dinner where, in the presence of Timothy Cardinal Dolan, he said, “You do something that’s incredible. The Catholic Church, you’re helping the poor, educating children and supporting the vulnerable.” He spoke about the attempt on his life, and said, “I have a very fresh appreciation for how blessed we are by God’s providence and His divine mercy.”
Harris also praised the “tremendous charitable work of the Catholic Church,” and for giving people a “sense of hope” in times of disaster. But those words were delivered via teleprompter and on video; the vice president did not attend.
Flash forward to Election Day. In 2020, Joe Biden beat Trump among Catholics by 5 points. This year, Trump won Catholics by 18 points.
One of the few demographic groups where Harris did better than Biden? Wealthy, educated nonreligious people. Simply put, rich atheists do not provide a strong foundation for electoral victories. You gotta believe if you wanna win.
Also simply put, Democrats need a “great awakening” if we are to recapture the spiritual imagination of the American people. Frankly, it’s even broader than that; as my old boss, the late Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), wrote in a posthumously published book, “we need a new religious awakening in America.”
But we’ve got to start somewhere, and why not with the party that won the non-religious vote by 45 percent?
It is not like Democratic leaders themselves are a bunch of heathens. Harris, the Obamas and the Clintons are all church-going believers. President Clinton could talk circles around me and most people about scripture and religious history, and he won the Catholic vote in 1992 and 1996. Biden, a Catholic, attends Mass every weekend.
And it’s not like Republican leaders are always exemplars of faith in action. Trump rarely goes to church. A few of his recent appointees appear to have, to phrase it charitably, taken some dark detours along their faith journeys.
But the increasingly leftward lurch of the Democratic Party as a whole — underway for much of the 21st century — has alienated millions of people of faith and raises serious questions about the ability of our party to regain the White House in 2028.
How do you “awaken” an entire party’s apparatus to embrace religion? You can’t force faith, and adopting it simply as a tactic would be seen as more cynical than sincere.
The answer may reside in the soul of those who aspire to lead the party. If one or more of them could draw more deeply on their faith in God and speak more publicly about religion in public life, that would go a long way towards reestablishing a connection with voters who regularly go to church, synagogue or mosque.
Such candidates could be inspired by their faith to carve out a moderate unifying message that appeals more broadly to conservative Democrats, independents and traditional Republicans.
Even on abortion, a divisive issue in so many ways, but especially for religious voters, a bold, innovative Democrat could make a break with extremists who want no restrictions of any kind. Abortion is no sacrament; it’s a tragedy, and most Americans would prefer it to be, as Bill Clinton famously said, “rare.”
And what Democrat might be the one to lead the charge on a restoration of faith in our party? Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, who is Jewish, comes to mind; he reminds me of Sen. Lieberman, whose own devout nature appealed to a broad swath of religious voters in Connecticut (and across the nation in the 2000 presidential election).
Then there’s Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland, a committed Christian, who has said, “My faith is deeply important to me.”
If these and other Democratic leaders engage in a competition of sorts for the hearts and minds of people of faith in the coming years, then there is reason for hope in the future of the party.
But if no Democrat rises to this religious test, our next vice president, JD Vance, himself a devoted convert to the Catholic faith, will step into the breach.
Only God knows how it will all turn out. But a political battle waged on the field of faith would yield healthy benefits for our nation. Let us pray we see that happen. Because we surely could use a respite from the stormy seas of the present day.
Jim Kennedy is a former spokesman for Bill and Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, Joe Lieberman, the Clinton Foundation, Sony Pictures, Sony Corporation of America and News Corp. He publishes occasional columns on Substack.
