Thursday 15 June 2017

Your Rabbi? Probably a Democrat. Your Baptist Pastor? Probably a Republican. Your Priest? Who Knows.

From RRW
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/06/12/upshot/the-politics-of-americas-religious-leaders.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0

1 comment:

Rabbi Ben Hecht said...

It should be noted that, while the vast majority of Reform and Conservative rabbis are clearly Democrats (Reform, actually having the highest percentage of its clergy as such with the Conservative ranking as fourth), it would seem that the majority of Orthodox rabbis are also Democrats.

The reality is that one of the marks of the Jewish People is that they are bnei rachamim, caring of others. While there are many problems with the liberal agenda in our present world, the Democratic party is still perceived as the one that cares more about the other. Whether this is true or not and whether this caring has been hijacked by forces not really interested in others but simply applying it for their own selfish purposes are, of course, important matters that have to be addressed amongst others. But in that the Democratic party is seen in this manner, on a superficial level, such surveys still can be perceived as a reflection of this reality that we are bnei rachamim.

This may, somehow, also reflect how Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump are often described as the moderating influence with the Trump administration. Their just being Jewish.

Rabbi Ben Hecht