TIME Editor Tackles Religion, Politics

National editor for TIME Amy Sullivan visited Providence College to speak about her political coverage of a phenomenon of the "God Gap." Sullivan is an evangelical Christian, but maintains that it is "impossible to understand politics in the United States without understanding Catholic voters." She said that is because approximately 85 percent of Americans when asked say that religion plays a factor in their voting habits. "That's a ridiculously high percentage," said Sullivan. Sullivan's major quandry is: has President Obama closed the "God Gap." Sullivan has still not reached a conclusion about if he has due to recent events. She defines the "God Gap" as how the Republican and Democratic Parties address religion as a social matter. The "God Gap" appeared during the 2004 presidential election, according to Sullivan. Exit polling revealed that people who generalized themselves as church-going voted for former President Bush. Those who did not consider themselves church-going voted for Sen. John Kerry(D-Mass.). "We haven't seen that gap before and we haven't seen it since," said Sullivan. Kerry in the 2004 election stopped talking about his Catholicism. Sullivan believes that it is difficult for Catholic and other religious voters to understand a politician's compartmentalization of his faith. Faith did not always play such a significant role in politics. Sullivan argues that religion started to have a significant affect on politics after the Watergate scandal. After Watergate voters felt that they needed to know more about a candidate's character and religious affliation in addition to his policy positions. Sullivan said that by 1980 a relationship had developed between evangelical Christians and politicians due to Jimmy Carter's success in the 1976 election. Evangelical Christians associated themselves with the Republican Party. Democrats did not respond well to evangelical language and preferred technical language. A major issue for Catholic voters was the Roe versus Wade decision. "It made a lot of Christians question whether they were welcomed in the Democratic party," said Sullivan. By 2004 Sullivan argues that the rift between Catholics and Democrats deteriorated to the point that Catholics did not even realize they could be Democrats. "Kerry stopped talking about his Catholicism," said Sullivan. Sullivan thinks that Kerry's decision to stop talking about his faith because of the perception that he was a bad Catholic was a mistake, and ultimately costed him the Catholic vote. Recent developments in the health care reform debate has caused Sullivan to rescind her observation that the "God Gap" has been closed. The question of federally fuding abortions Sullivan believes has reignited the issue.