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Yo, Nashville Tennessean: What does ‘people of faith’ mean in a political argument?

March 3, 2021
6 min read

When I arrived at the Rocky Mountain News (RIP) long ago — think early ‘80s — I quickly learned that the city-desk team had an informal way of checking the Colorado pulse on religious issues.

Basically, they were interviewing clergy at the churches in downtown Denver. That was pretty much it. They would also call the Denver Catholic archdiocese (rather progressive at that time) and the “local seminary,” as in the already “woke” Iliff School of Theology, nationally known as an edgy United Methodist campus. It appeared no one knew about the larger Denver Seminary (evangelical) only a few blocks from Iliff.

What kind of churches were downtown? Almost all of them were mainline Protestant congregations and very few of them were showing any sign of life, in terms of attendance and growth. But they were nearby and most were progressive, so that was that. Why talk to folks at the region’s growing megachurches?

Hang in there with me. I am working toward a recent Nashville Tennessean article that ran with this headline: “Hundreds of people of faith call on Tennessee’s Republican congressional delegation to repudiate lies about election fraud.” The key question: Define “people of faith”?

Back to Denver, for one more comment. Early on, I attended a press conference linked to the Colorado Council of Churches. Here is how I described what happened in a post back in 2013:

The key was that the organization … was claiming that it spoke for the vast majority of the state’s churches. The problem was that, by the 1980s, the conversion of the Colorado Front Range into an evangelical hotbed (including evangelicals in many oldline Protestant bodies) was well on its way. Also, a more doctrinally conservative Catholic archbishop had arrived in town, one anxious to advocate for Catholic teachings on public issues on both sides of the political spectrum. …

Still, it was an important press conference that helped document one side of a religious debate in the state.

Near the end of the session, I asked what I thought was a logical question: Other than the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Denver, did any of the CCC leaders present represent a church that had more members at that moment than during any of the previous two or three decades?

Well, hey, I thought it was a fair question. In effect, I was trying to find a way to let readers know who was who in Colorado’s increasingly complex religious marketplace. Also, the “mainliners” were in decline and the evangelicals were on the rise.

Now, let’s talk Tennessee — a much more conservative state than Colorado, when it comes to religion, culture, politics, etc. Here is the overture of the Tennessean report I mentioned earlier:

More than 300 people of faith are calling on the Republican members of Tennessee’s congressional delegation to repudiate the lie claiming the 2020 presidential election was a fraud. 

The group signed a letter critical of the elected officials and former President Donald Trump, calling for action in the wake of the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot. 

“We call upon you to publicly acknowledge the Big Lie that this was a fraudulent national election. This was a fair and free election which has been upheld by 60 courts, Trump-appointed judges on the Supreme Court, and former Attorney General William Barr,” the letter states. “We, the undersigned clergy, and people of faith and moral concern demand that you speak truth now and repudiate the Big Lie to prevent more violence.” 

So who was trying to call out the GOP leaders on this issue? There’s that term — “people of faith.”

What else do readers learn about the leaders of this effort?

First there is this:

In addition to sending the letter, members of three Abrahamic faith traditions who signed the letter also read it together on Feb. 12 during a brief Facebook live video. Hicks, a Christian, was joined by Pat Halper, a member of Nashville’s Jewish community, and Sabina Mohyuddin, a Muslim woman and the executive director of the American Muslim Advisory Council.

Obviously, there are Jewish organizations of all kinds, left and right, large and small. The same is true, in America, with Islam. Any clues as to facts about the background of these believers? The same is true, of course, for Christians who signed the letter.

Then there is this:

The letter sent by the 300-plus people of faith blames Trump for inciting the violent mob that broke into the U.S. Capitol as congressional members were certifying Biden’s victory. Trump was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives for the role he played in the riot, but the U.S. Senate did not have the votes on Feb. 13 to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial.

Now, this news feature did include, attacked at the end, a copy of the “people of faith” letter (click here to see that). The overwhelming majority of those who signed are not identified, as to their faith traditions or congregations.

Among those that were, people who invest some time in scrolling through the names will find that all but one or two of these clergy (at the most) clearly hailed from oldline Protestant flocks, as in the “Seven Sisters” crowd. We’re talking Episcopalians, United Methodists, Presbyterians and several Unitarian Universalists. Clergy and denominational leaders in those flocks are often more liberal — on culture, politics and faith — than the people in their pews.

They are, certainly, “people of faith.” But why be so vague?

But wouldn’t it help readers to know some specific facts — the names of the denominations, maybe — of the people making this statement? Did they represent the state’s growing flocks? Nashville has lots of mainliners, but as many or way more evangelicals and charismatics of varying descriptions, in terms of politics and culture. As for the whole state of Tennessee, we are talking lots and lots of Baptists of all kinds, along with people in the Assemblies of God, Church of God in Christ, etc.

The bottom line: The story makes it sound like these “people of faith” represent a powerful slice of people in Tennessee life. Why not provide some facts and let readers make up their own minds about that?

Just asking.

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