Religion can sway the workings of democracy宗教反民主

http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061112/COLUMNIST0107/611120359

Religion can sway the workings of democracy

By DWIGHT LEWIS


Religion can be a powerful force. That was highlighted by the number of white evangelical, or born-again, Christians who are said to have taken part in Tuesday's midterm election in Tennessee and elsewhere across the nation.

That group reportedly made up just over half of all the people who cast ballots. News reports also said that same group voted 2 to 1 in favor of Republican Bob Corker over Democrat Harold Ford Jr. in the state's U.S. senate race.




"What got these folks out of their homes to the election booths and unified them was the ballot initiative defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman,'' the story in Friday's Tennessean quoted Richard Land, head of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, as saying.

"The marriage amendment elected Bob Corker. Obviously, a lot more people (approximately 1,415,810) voted for the marriage amendment than Corker (927,343).''

That's fascinating, isn't it? Fascinating as to what religion can cause people to do. And, it's not always for the best.

When you take that idea to the extreme, it recalls the Rev. Jim Jones. Remember Jonestown? Remember what happened in Georgetown, Guyana, beginning Nov. 18, 1978?

That's when and where Jones, who headed the San Francisco-based Peoples Temple, ordered more than 900 of his followers to commit suicide by drinking a cyanide-laced fruit punch at their commune. Jones, himself, died during the ordeal from a bullet wound behind his right ear.

Earlier, Rep. Leo Ryan and four others were killed as they tried to leave Jonestown after going there to investigate reports that Jones was abusing his followers.

"About three years ago, during the 25th anniversary of Jonestown, I heard some of the survivors of Jonestown, and they sounded different from what I thought they would sound like,'' award-winning film producer and director Stanley Nelson told me recently. "They sounded so sane, so normal.

"They talked about a different Peoples Temple than the one I knew about. They said it wasn't a crazy cult but a socially active church. They talked about trying to change the world, and they had joined the church with the best intentions.

"It was fascinating.''

Jones was white, but more than 70 percent of his followers were African-Americans, many of whom were elderly.

"I think we're living in a time where religion still has some incredible importance, not only in other places but in the United States as well,'' Nelson said.

His fascination with hearing some of the Peoples Temple survivors tell their stories has led him to do a documentary on Jonestown. The film, based on interviews as well as some film and audio footage that has never been seen or heard before, is titled "Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple" and is being shown in various parts of the country.

"The film tells the extreme bad side of what can happen when you give your life and yourself to someone else,'' Nelson told me. "One of the great quotes in the film from one of the members of his church is 'I gave my will and my life to Jim Jones because I thought he had a better plan. I gave up my rights to Jim Jones.' ''

As Stanley Nelson told me, "That can be a scary thought.''

Yes, it can be. And, I'm sure many of those people who voted "no" on whether Tennessee should have a constitutional amendment defining marriage are thinking the exact same thing when they look at the number of people casting ballots in favor of the amendment.