Has the Republican Party become an arm of the “religious right” in America?

This transcript has been adapted from the attached audio. It may not be in its final form and may be updated.

Well, it shouldn’t be the case. Often times it has been the case and the reason for that is that the Democrat[ic] party hasn’t been paying attention, or has been attacking, Christians and other people of faith being involved in the public policy process. That changed after the 2004 elections. (Pew, Feb 2005).

After the 2004 elections, the Democrats came to understand that they’re going to have a very hard time winning a majority in the county if they ignore people of religious faith. So, all of the Democratic candidates have people who are in charge of “outreach” to Evangelicals. Hillary Clinton has one. Howard Dean invited me to come and meet with him. He wanted to hear my concerns and I went—I took a witness, but I went—and sat down and visited with him.

I think that it is important, however, to understand that when people say, “Well, you know, I am concerned about the abortion issue but I don’t want it to be a partisan issue.” Well, if it is a partisan issue, it’s the Democratic party’s fault for making it a partisan issue.

If the Republicans are on the right side of that issue and the Democrats are on the wrong side, then it is not Republicans or pro-lifers that made it a partisan issue, it is the Democrats who will not listen to the legitimate concerns of people who are concerned about 4,000 babies a day being killed.

The same criticism was made of Lincoln—that the Republican party, when it first started, was the anti-slavery party. They were told, “Well, you are just making slavery a partisan issue, you are making slavery a political issue.” Lincoln said you know: Yeah! We are going to make it a political issue, we think it is an issue of right and wrong! ¹

But whose fault was it that it became a partisan issue? It was the Democratic party’s choice. The Democrat[ic] party in the 1860 election tried to be the pro-choice party. They had both a pro-slavery and an anti-slavery candidate.

So, you know, when slavery was a partisan issue it was not the Republican party’s fault, it was not Abe Lincoln’s fault, it was the Democratic party’s fault for being on the wrong side of the issue.

I would long for the day—long for the day—when the abortion issue is no more a partisan issue than the issue of racial reconciliation. Both parties in this country are committed to racial reconciliation and racial justice—they may have differences of opinion about the best way to achieve it—but there is not a “pro-segregation party” or a “pro-racist party.”

I would love to see the Democratic party and the Republican party both get to the place where they are both pro-life—and they may have differences of opinion about the best way to get there—but they are at least acknowledging that unborn children deserve protections under the law.