Colorado Democrats want to close the “God gap.”

It’s the theory in political science that calling yourself religious and regularly attending services are strong predictors of your political party affiliation, and for the past three decades those voters have largely called themselves Republicans.

“We are here today to dispel a myth that somehow right-wing conservatives have a monopoly on faith,” Colorado Democratic Party Chair Morgan Carroll said from behind a podium in Civic Center Park last week. “They do not. Many, many, many Democrats — many people who have been in the party for a long time or who are new to the party — come from strong faith backgrounds.”

In the era of President Donald Trump, which has seen a family separation policy at the U.S. border and rollback of environmental regulations, the state party sees an opening to engage people in their churches, temples and mosques and encourage them to take an active role in shaping public policy with the launch of Colorado FAITH-ful Democrats. Conservative religious groups welcome the new kids on the block, but political scientists have reservations about whether the party can lure people of faith back to their flock.

For Carroll, who is Jewish, the way to reach people of faith is to appeal to their desire for “tikun olam.” It’s a Hebrew phrase means “repair the world,” but Jews interpret it as a call toward acts of service and social action.

“A health care system where people die and go broke with callous indifference does not come from any faith tradition,” Carroll said. “I think a lot of people of faith are looking at what’s going on around them, and it’s like thinking about it is great, but doing something about it is even more important.”

That starts with encouraging religious leaders to run voter registration drives, host issue forums and invite candidates from all parties to speak. These are things black churches have done for years, but they’re new ideas for a lot of other flocks.

“People on the progressive side have been more focused on direct service and living their faith out and not really focused on the public sphere,” said Adrian Miller, director of the Colorado Council of Churches.

But Miller, a Colorado native and a lifelong member of Campbell Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church, said there’s been “an awakening” in recent years. That’s part of the reason he helped launch Faithful Tuesdays at the Colorado Capitol during the 2019 legislative session. The group held multifaith events and met with lawmakers about issues important to them like homelessness, criminal justice reform and domestic violence.

“It’s an interesting alignment, which you might not have seen 10 years ago,” Miller said. “You are seeing certain issues resonate with the faith community – especially what’s going on on our border.”

The newfound interest in activism from the left mirrors the rise of the religious right 40 years ago. The Rev. Jerry Falwell founded the Moral Majority movement in 1979 during a time when American culture started shifting its positions on issues like abortion and gay rights. Conservative Christians were looking for a way to push back, and organizations like Focus on the Family and its lobbying arm, Family Policy Alliance, showed them how to get involved.

Jeff Hunt, director of the conservative Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University, told The Denver Post he thinks Colorado Democrats’ initiative is a “wonderful” idea.

“For us it’s always about people of faith being able to share their values in the public square, regardless of your faith,” Hunt said.

He found common ground with Democrats during the 2018 election on a ballot initiative to cap what payday lenders could charge in interest, and he pointed to the cross-section of lawmakers who gave religion as their reason for supporting a failed attempt to repeal the death penalty.

“I often think religion should transcend our politics,” Hunt said.

But he still thinks Colorado Democrats face an uphill battle in recruiting people of faith.

“They have, in some cases, really ostracized people of faith,” Hunt said, ticking off issues such as the sanctity of life and religious freedom when it comes to issues like sex education in public schools.

Another expert on the intersection of religion and politics was even more pointed in assessing Democrats’ chances of success.

“White Christianity in America is overwhelmingly Republican,” said Ryan Burge, a political science professor at Eastern Illinois University. “I don’t know if they can ever win that back.”

Trump has an approval rating above the national average at 85% of the predominately white, protestant churches in America, Burge said. While only 7% of those churchgoers attend services where the president is liked less than the national average. At the other end of the spectrum, he said, 40% of people who identify as both white and liberal say they are religiously unaffiliated.

“But here’s the bigger story,” Burge said. Mainliners, which he defined as moderate Christians, were the largest bloc of Christians in America a generation ago with three in 10 people identifying that way. Today, Burgess said, that number is 10%.

“Moderate religion in America is in this death spiral,” Burge said. “At the same time the number of people who say they’re religiously unaffiliated went from 5% to about 23% today.”

It’s those religiously unaffiliated people that the Rev. Brad Laurvick, who ministers to Highlands United Methodist Church in northwest Denver, hopes to reach with his church’s progressive message.

“We tell folks that God loves everyone and wants you to make a difference in the world. And that resonates with people,” Laurvick told The Denver Post. “This isn’t a radical idea. This is what I hear Jesus saying.”

The church hung a big banner off its side espousing its beliefs that black lives matter, science is real, no human is illegal and love is love.

“The congregation I serve has been growing like crazy with younger people,” Laurvick said. “They look at that list of values, and they say, ‘Those are the reasons I thought I couldn’t come.’ And now they are a part of helping create those values in action.”

Laurvick, who is also running for the Denver Public school board, sees his role in Colorado FAITH-ful Democrats in two ways. As a pastor, his job is to “create a space” for congregants to make their own decisions through events like a forum on the death penalty, as his church did earlier this year.

As a Christian, he sees his role as espousing part of a verse from the Message Bible translation of Ephesians 2:19, which reads “You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone.”

“There were times I used be embarrassed to tell people I was a Christian,” Laurvick said. “Now I’m emboldened. Let me tell you the kind of Christian I am.”