Why People Vote Republican

This has taken some thought on my part, as I come from the state of Ohio, where you would expect Democratic principles on economic issues would drive this state to be a very Democratic state. I learned last night especially however, with the overwhelming passage of Issue 1 in Ohio (which I voted no for because people should ALL have the same rights and opportunities in my eyes), how people are so blinded by Religion in this state that they vote against something that may help in their opinions in one area while bashing them over the head HARD in another.  I myself am a Christian, even would be considered an Evangelical Christian (I'm a white Pentacostal, not too many of those around I know).  The family I was raised in is all born again Christians, and we are ALL Democrats.  
 

Why?  Because we believe in civil rights, human rights, and the idea of free will.  It is not our place to interject on people what we feel is correct, it is our job to love and respect all people even if we sometimes disagree with them.  Christianity is not about dividing people, it is about uniting people.  The scary thing is, the Republican party has used the HUGE growth in Evangelical Christians, especially the growth in the group after the 9/11 attacks to indoctrinate them with the ideals of hate, disdain, repugnation, and anger in respect to people who believe differently than them.  They have used the unity that Christianity promotes to unify their PARTY in an a way that goes against the teachings.  Sadly, I am in the minority of this group...however I fear that we as Democrats have ignored the fact that this indoctrination of Christianity by the right has unified the right in a way that we had never seen before until Tuesday night.  Hopefully, we as a party are able to hone our message on these "Religious values", and make them our own in the areas of human rights and civil rights.  Say that Jesus stood for the downtrodden, the hungry, the outcast.  Don't be afraid to invoke scriptures.  It does go along way.