Democrat Senator Chris Coons Says Many Progressive Politicians Are Actually Deeply Religious but Are Embarrassed to Share Faith

A Democratic member of Congress has urged progressives in politics to “bring their faith to work” and be more open about their religious beliefs.

Senator Chris Coons of Delaware and Republican Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma were recent guests on the Church Politics podcast, which is hosted by former Obama administration official Michael Wear and Democrat political strategist Justin Giboney.

In an interview posted online on Tuesday, Senator Coons explained that he was concerned that many Christians in the progressive movement were not being open about their beliefs.

“I am concerned, frankly, that more and more Democrats feel embarrassed about or uncomfortable with sharing anything about their faith and how it connects to their service,” said Coons.

“Some of the most progressive members of the Senate, members I’m very close to, don’t ever talk about how it was their experience of faith, when they were children, that motivated them to get into public service and politics in the first place.”

Coons added that he thought “many of their constituents would be very surprised to hear their deeply held religious views and how in particular the radical justice that the Gospel focuses on is really what motivated them to be involved in service in the first place.”

Coons’ comments came in response to a report released last July by Pew’s U.S. Politics & Policy department, which found that 36 percent of Democrats in general and 44 percent self-identified liberal Democrats believe that churches’ impact on society is negative.

“Liberal Democrats are about as likely to say the impact of churches and religious organizations is negative (44%) as they are to say it is positive (40%). By two-to-one (58% to 29%), more conservative and moderate Democrats say churches have a positive than negative effect on the country,” noted Pew in their 2017 report.

“Majorities of both conservative Republicans and Republican leaners (75%) and moderate and liberal Republicans (68%) say churches and religious organizations have a positive impact.”

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Source: Christian Post