"Don't Talk About Religion and Politics"

In my Intro to Mass Media class, the topic of politics came up frequently, mainly because our first group project focused on the presidential campaign. One day, our professor mentioned something about church-going liberals. A guy in the front of the class snorted in disbelief. "There are church-going liberals?" he scoffed. "I didn't think those existed."

I wanted to raise my hand and say, "Here's one! Take a good look!" His comment touched a nerve. More importantly, it reminded me of one of the many things in my life that seem (to others) to be contradictions - I am an art-loving, Harry Potter-reading, liberal-leaning moderate who also goes to church and tries to follow the morals taught to me by the Bible. Others - like the guy in my class - seem to think these things are irreconcilable. I don't believe that.

The reason I'm thinking about this is because I saw a piece on CNN about religion and how the two parties are trying to connect to religious voters. Which party relates better to church-goers? It really depends on your view of religion. My roommate is a dedicated liberal as well as a devout Lutheran. My aunt and uncle are also very devout Christians, though they are confirmed conservatives.

In my personal opinion, a lot of the values on the liberal side of the coin coincide with those taught by Christ. He tells us to love one another and to love our neighbors as ourselves - liberals have a history of pushing for inclusion. He tells us to care for the poor - liberals are known for working to set up programs that help the poor and get universal health care for those who can't afford it. We are called to be stewards of the earth - the Democratic party has a good record on environmental issues.

These are just my opinions. I know there are many ways in which the Republicans also embody Christian values. And I haven't included the ways in which the different political parties relate to other religions, mostly because I don't know enough about other religions to give an opinion. I welcome any other comments/ideas/opinions on this topic.