Ordained Minister Charlotte Coyle
It is that season here in Texas. Texas is gearing up for the midterm elections. Thousands of delegates, friends, and politicians from all over Texas have descended on Dallas for the Texas Democratic Convention.
There is an excitement in the air that has been missing from Texas Democratic Politics for some time. It is more than just that Senator Wendy Davis filibuster in the summer of 2013 that brought one of the largest rallies and one of the largest protest marches to the Capitol in Austin Texas. It is more than the fact that Texas has a strong slate of statewide candidates ready to serve. It is more than the Democratic Party of this Southern state running a very diverse slate of candidates including a woman, a Latina, and many other diverse candidates at the top of the ticket and throughout the slates.
It is that Texans are starting to wake up from their nightmare. It is that Texans are starting to believe that their votes matter. It is that Texans are starting to revisit their real values and not those imposed on them by The New Pharisees.
Many voting Texans are very attached to their religion. Religion has been used as a ball and chain around many Texans for decades. In fact many men and women leaders of the cloth have been complicit in enabling Texans to vote against their own interests. Many have done so as they have put perceived value judgments over their own economic and health interests. They did not realize that these interests were never really in conflict.
Charlotte Coyle, an ordained minister and local pastor puts this all into perspective. Charlotte Coyle is attending the Texas Democratic Convention. As she sat down in the Omni Hotel waiting for her husband she had a little chat with a few Democratic activists and politicians. She was not shy about talking about her views and her values.
Make no mistake, Charlotte Coyle is a devout Christian. She makes no apologies for her faith. She wears it on her being without any signs of overbearing. In other words, she is no Pharisee new or old. Charlotte Coyle believes that it is her duty going forward to promote the values she believe in, values that promote middle class centric policies through the political process.
Charlotte Coyle began registering voters in her county in Texas, a county that while very Republican is ready for substantive Democratic activation. She believes that the Democratic Party best represents the Christian values she lives by. It is in that vein that she has been working for the Democratic Party to effect the change necessary in her county.
Charlotte Coyle does not run away from the difficult issues. She knows her faith addresses them. On homosexuality she reminds everyone that Jesus did not parameterize acceptance. “When Jesus said you are to welcome one another and to accept one another and to include one another,” Charlotte Coyle said. “He never talked about gender issues or sexual orientation.”
Charlotte reminds everyone that the vast majority of women do not choose abortion lightly. “I don’t know anyone who really likes abortion,” Charlotte Coyle said. “It is a struggle for a woman to have to make that decision. … The Christian value would support her in her struggle to make a decision that is best for her and for her family.”
One of the most prescient statements made by Charlotte Coyle should be heeded by every man and woman of the cloth. “Pulling a few verses from the Old Testament or a few verses from the Apostle Paul and creating an entire theological position on that, damages the work of Jesus Christ,” Charlotte Coyle said. “I feel very passionate about that and I want to be a Christian who is not like those other Christians.”
Charlotte Coyle and those that share her honest values, a religion, and true concern for humanity and middle class America is that bridge many in the Democratic Party must use to reach the quasi mythical value voter. She is one of the missing links that must be inserted into that chain saw to rip the ball and chains from many Americans.