Regardless of your political affiliation or belief system, you should be aware that Republicans, contrary to popular opinion, do not “get” all the people of faith. About 2/3 of Democrats attend worship services regularly, and if you ask one of them how they can be a Christian and a Democrat, you just might get the oh-so-shocking answer that their faith has made them a Democrat. It’s wise not to polarize Republicans and Democrats into the “God-fearing” party and the “atheist” party–there are both kinds of people in both parties. Plus a billion other kinds of people. It’s getting hard to keep people in their appropriate little boxes [and I think that's a good thing!]..For any Democrats of faith out there, or for anyone who would like to better understand how the whole faith-politics thing works together on the left, you might want to check out Amy Sullivan’s The Party Faithful: How and Why Democrats Are Closing the God Gap. Now I’m not trying to make a case for or against any of the people mentioned below..I believe in me thinking for myself and you thinking for yourself. With that said, here are a few of my favorite parts:
“I grew up in this church….I was a nerdy mess of orthodontics [and] peach plastic eyeglasses…but the congregation at First Baptist welcomed me with open arms as a child of God.
“Now, at the end of what had been a gut-wrenching week, in which I had been strong for everyone else, I needed to be wrapped in that faith again. I felt comforted in this church. I felt at home. I felt as if I were finally catching my breath. I tried to remember why it had been so long since I had visited. And then I tuned back into Pastor Mike’s sermon just in time to hear him declare that it wasn’t possible to be a good Christian and a Democrat.
“The pronouncement, and the matter-of-fact tone in which it was delivered, knocked the wind out of me. My liberal politics were, after all, due in large part to the Gospel lessons I had absorbed at First Baptist, over years of Sunday sermons, Wednesday-evening church clubs, youth retreats, and devotions. A painfully literal kid, I took seriously Jesus’ instructions in Matthew 25 on how to be righteous: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in.” At a young age, that meant constantly worrying that I wasn’t doing enough for the “least of these,” that I might inadvertently have snubbed Jesus-in-disguise by failing to share my fruit roll-ups with a classmate who forgot his lunch. Over time this impulse developed into a more concrete political conviction that citizens–and governments–had a moral obligation to take care of the poor, the sick, the marginalized.
“By the time I graduated from high school, however, those Gospel lessons had been subsumed by a different kind of politics at my church. An assistant pastor rebuked me for taking a course on Zen philosophy and the writings of Emerson (”The Bible says to beware of false religions”). Antiabortion messages found their way into the occasional Advent sermon. I heard less and less about the inherent failings of humankind and more about the moral turpitude of liberals. As a result, I sought out different church homes in other cities. But First Baptist retained a special distinction as the place that had formed my faith, and it was still the congregation I turned to in this time of crisis.
“With Pastor Mike’s words still ricocheting inside my head, I bristled at his implication. The God of Abraham and Isaac, the God who created the heavens and the earth, the God I was taught to trust and obey, could not be squeezed into the narrow confines of partisan politics. He wasn’t anybody’s campaign surrogate, and He certainly didn’t do endorsements. Baptists believe in an active and engaged God. But there is a difference between believing that the hand of God occasionally intervenes in human events and that it pulls the lever for Republican candidates.”

“Clinton’s moral failure became the proof many skeptics needed to expose what they had always believed to be the insincerity of his religious convictions. They had never quite been able to square the idea that a Democratic politician could truly be devout and knowledgeable about religion. Now they could rest easy, trusting once again the instincts that had told them it was all an act.
“Privately, both Clintons turned to the ministers in their lives to work through their anger and guilt. Mrs. Clinton relied on Donald Jones, who had been her youth minister when she was a teenager and First United Methodist Church in Park Ridge, Illinois. He prayed with the first lady, reminding her that sin and grace coexist–each is necessary for the other. The president asked three pastors–Phil Wogaman, the senior minister at Foundry Methodist; Campolo, and Gordon MacDonald from Lexington, Massachusetts–th help restore his “spiritual health.” At least once a month, the men came to the White House to pray, read Scripture, and force Clinton the man to answer some tough questions. For their efforts, the men of faith bore the brunt of outrage from their colleagues. “Don’t you understand that this man does not deserve grace?” one pastor wrote to Campolo.
“Conservative Christians, who hold as a key theological doctrine that man is inherently sinful (”For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”), were hardest on Clinton. When the president reacted as most Christians are taught–by confessing his sin, asking for forgiveness, and expressing his desire to repent–they savaged him for exploiting religion….Clinton couldn’t possibly be repentant…because he was Clinton. As a Democrat, the president was presumed to be a secularist at heart; if he embraced religion, it could only be for false reasons. But this view stands in stark contrast to assumptions about conservative politicians and faith. Republicans often benefit from having a narrative of moral failure followed by repentance–it is seen as proof that their personal faith is sincere and that they recognize that all humans are fallible. Almost nine years after Clinton’s confession, Newt Gingrich would appear on the radio show hosted by conservative Christian leader James Dobson to declare that he, too, had been cheating on his wife with a political aide at the same time that he was leading the charge for Clinton’s impeachment. Gingrich’s announcement was not condemned as exploitation of religion; it was a necessary prelude for a potential presidential campaign, providing evidence of his humble faith. “Conservatives,” says Flo McAfee, Clinton’s religious liaison, “can say, ‘I have fallen and I have sinned,’ and then the can rise again. And again and again.”

And here are a few other interesting statements:
“Yes, four thousand abortions take place every day. But nine thousand people will die from HIV/AIDS today. Thirty thousand children will die of malnutrition or from diseases spread by unclean drinking water. How can I say that abortions are more important than anything else? We need to broaden what ‘life’ issues are.” -Jim Wallis
“Jesus tells us that the real spiritual renewal that we need requires a faith that goes beyond even accepting the truth of his message. It requires literally a movement toward the person of Jesus, an attachment that requires us to live our lives in a manner that reflects the fullness of our faith and that allows Jesus to become for us truly a lifesaving force.” and
“The Bible tells us that in others we encounter the face of God. I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you received me in your home, naked and you clothed me….this is the final judgment of who we are, and what our life will mean.” -John Kerry
”There’s nothing conservative or political in singing about Jesus at the top of your lungs.” -Amy Sullivan