Billy Graham's grandson: 'Evangelicals hurt by their association with religious right

[Bert]

The role of Hispanics in electing presidents is only going to grow.

 

That goes w/o saying but I don't know for how long Hispanics can be assumed to continue voting heavily democrat. For a long time, if you were Catholic, you voted democrat, no questions asked. And these were obviously white Catholics. JFK running extended this loyalty a little longer till the abortion issue came about and Catholics like Ronnie Reagan and now Catholics can not longer be taken for granted to vote Dem. Will that happen for Hispanics? I don't know.

[rockmom]

 

Interesting. Catholics have been political as far as I can remember, both conservative and liberal. Conservative issues like abortion, gay marriage, school choice and issues of freedom of conscience but liberal in areas like death penalty, immigration, social programs for the poor, etc..

 

Catholics were also political in uniting the Catholic vote in Louisville. The Whalens back decades ago knew a Catholic could not win state wide in KY but they also knew they could get a politician's ear since they could sway the large Catholic vote towards that candidate. They were sort of like a small, less corrupt version of Tammany Hall.

 

Catholic history is deeply tied to political history throughout the world. One needs look no further than Irish and English history to see how intertwined Church and Politics are for Catholics. Maybe that's why I love this P&R forum so much...

[Twotoplace]

That goes w/o saying but I don't know for how long Hispanics can be assumed to continue voting heavily democratic.

I don't think we'll see any major shifts in voting patterns for the next two-three presidential election cycles. I think it's more a case of Hispanics voting against Republicans than voting for Democrats. And now we've got Billy Graham's grandson questioning the strongest link in the GOP election chain.

[Bert]

Catholic history is deeply tied to political history throughout the world. One needs look no further than Irish and English history to see how intertwined Church and Politics are for Catholics. Maybe that's why I love this P&R forum so much...

 

The Papal States were obviously involved in international politics due to its large land mass but as far as political parties and voting, that is only during the last century and a half or so. Around the time of the mid 1800's when monarchies were falling and republics where rising in Europe, democracies scared the snot out of the papacy and other church leadership. This was primarily due to the earliest promoters of democracy being those of the Enlightenment Era who many professed belief in God as foolish and only as a way to subdue the masses from the hardships the ruling classes put on them. The church (incorrectly) associated atheism with democracy and saw a stable Monarchy as the only way to save the people from heresy. After the fall of the Papal States in the 1870, the pope forbade Catholics from taking part in elections in Italy. In time the church leadership realized their error and encouraged Catholic participation in voting and holding office.