Mixing religion and politics has, traditionally, been a source of concern for Jewish voters.
“It’s a slippery slope and there are concerns about how much religion is being talks,” said David Adelman, the Des Moines Jewish federation’s top lay leader. “That being said, obviously religion helps shape somebody’s moral direction and if that’s important to people everyone has the ability to ask these questions and vote based on whatever is important for them.”
Perhaps not surprisingly, the candidate least likely to discuss faith in his campaign is the only Jew in the rasie. Democrat Bernie Sanders avoids touching faith issues as much as possible. When asked by voters at a Jewish federation event last fall on the impact of his religion on his politics, Sanders stuck to the notion of “tikkun olam,” or repairing the world, and refused to delve any deeper into his own beliefs.
Israel is a nation-state based on a religion — Judaism, so I don’t think Jews intrinsically have a problem mixing politics with religion. They only have a problem when the mixing is to their disadvantage.
Rosenberger is 35, friendly, direct and familiar, the voice of someone you went to camp with, but probably smarter.
She describes herself as a wonk with a social-activist bent, which she credits to her religious background.
“So if you look at foreign policy,” said Rosenberger, who, like most millennials, is prone to start her most important sentences with “So,” “many different issues have inequality sort of at their core. And I would say that, for me, actually, I do think that comes from my Jewish roots. Passover is my favorite holiday, because I find very much a driving mission for myself in this, the obligation of the Jewish people who have been free from oppression ourselves to root out oppression wherever we see it.”
Rosenberger grew up in the South Hills suburbs of Pittsburgh, where her mother helped found the Jewish Community Center. The family belonged to the Reform movement: Temple Emanuel, travel to Israel with Young Judea, and summer each year at Emma Kaufmann Camp.
It does not sound like Laura Rosenberger has a big problem mixing politics with religion.
I think social identity theory best explains what is going on here. The more you identify with your in-group, the more suspicion you are likely to feel towards out-groups.
