Democrats taking on religious right via blogs

By Karen Brooks - Dallas Morning News
Friday, July 18, 2008 - Web Link
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July 17, 2008

The fight by Democrats to reclaim God from the religious right has been taken up by the traditional lefty blogosphere, an online collision between the edgy and the ecumenical.

“I don’t think we’ll start winning (that fight) until we get over ourselves and start saying yes, I have values, yes I have a family, and yes these things matter to me,” said Sara Robinson, a blogger and fellow at Campaigns for America’s Future in Washington, D.C. “For good theological reasons. For reasons for reasons of morality and the kind of world I want to live in and the God I believe in.”

As more than 2,000 bloggers descended on Austin on Thursday for their third annual Netroots Nation convention, no small part of the myriad panels and discussions will be focused on religion:

The right to practice it in a hostile secular environment, and how liberal bloggers and can use the language of religion to draw God-fearing Americans to a political movement that has, for so long, been looked upon as Godless.

“Some people think that the progressive side of things doesn’t respect religion too much,” said Dan Schultz, known as “Pastor Dan” and host of “Street Prophets,” a blog connected to the popular national lefty blog DailyKos. “I think that’s really overstated. What I see as much more of a problem are the conservative types who say you can’t be a Christian if you don’t believe in these 15 different things, most of which come right off the GOP playbook.”

The discussions come during an election cycle that has featured religion heavily –from Sen. John McCain’s on-again-off-again relationship with the religious right to Sen. Barack Obama’s controversial embrace of faith-based institution.