Whitewashing religious Democrats

Here are Senate Democrats kneeling in prayer as they honored today the memory of George Floyd with nine minutes of silence. I find this picture moving as well as instructive. It’s not supposed to exist.

Democrats can’t exercise faith, because Democrats don’t have any faith, according to people like Dan Patrick, the lt. governor of Texas. “We have a country where we’ve been working really hard, particularly on the left, to kick God out. We need a culture change to address this racism,” he said on Fox News.

This might be merely annoying if it weren’t taken so seriously by the press corps, and if the press corps did not overlook the fact that the Floyd protests have featured dozens if not hundreds of members of the clergy from an array of denominations, all of them seeking peace by way of justice for Floyd.

The whitewashing of faith is bad enough, but it’s the outcome that bothers me most. When the press corps adopts the Christian right’s framing—only they are the true believers—it not only bewilders people who can’t make heads or tails of evangelical support for Trump; it robs the left of moral authority.

I could be wrong, and I’d like your thoughts. Leave your comments below. Cheers! —John Stoehr