Christian Right Waking Up... and Rejecting Extremists?

[Pangloss]

Time ran a fascinating piece by Amy Sullivan yesterday about in-fighting in the religious right. One of their more interesting points is that when James Dobson came out slinging mud at Obama this week, there was a backlash within the religious conservative community. One brand new anti-Dobson PAC was created and, low and behold, immediately picked up thousands of dollars in Colorado Springs, the small, overwhelmingly conservative city where Focus on the Family is located!

 

The piece goes on to look at the struggles of political evangelical leaders right now.

 

It's hard out there for a Christian Right leader. Last December came and went with barely a peep about a grinchy liberal "War on Christmas." The Republican nominee, John McCain, has refused to make the pilgrimage to Colorado Springs, telling the Focus on the Family leader to come to him instead. But the biggest problem is that Democrats —and Barack Obama in particular — are determined to make a play for a bloc of voters over whom Dobson and his colleagues have traditionally maintained exclusive control. And those voters seem willing to listen.

 

Rush Limbaugh is no doubt playing this as attributable to "white guilt" and "racial fears". (sigh) But the article talks about how there has been a very real movement toward the left within the religious community, especially amongst young people (as we've talked about here previously). There was also the report last week showing that most Americans are just fine with members of other religious faiths, even evangelicals, something that makes the Dobson types really crazy.

 

Obama's theological beliefs are clearly more liberal than those on the Christian right. But it's the beliefs of the latter that are fast becoming a minority. A new Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life survey of 35,000 Americans reports that 70% agree with the statement "Many religions can lead to eternal life," including 57% of evangelicals. No less a figure than George W. Bush responded "no" when asked in 1999 if he believed heaven is open only to Christians. Those evolving, more relatively open-minded attitudes are one reason Dobson's organization has steadily lost members and revenue over the past five years.

 

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1818313,00.html

 

I think she's got some great points. I don't think the religious right has EVER been as unified as they wanted people to believe they were, and what unity they had has been severely compromised by Iraq and the economy, and I also suspect by more subtle (less talked-about amongst them) factors, such as detainees and torture (i.e. it bothers them even if they don't say so).

[ecoli]

The religious right failed to unite around a single candidate during the primary season. This could have something to do with the fact that most of the top candidates are "too liberal" (McCain), infrequent Catholic (Rudy), Mormon (Romney). protestant but barely known (Ron Paul),

 

I think this contributed to the split, and the look to other options.

[CDarwin]

The religious right failed to unite around a single candidate during the primary season. This could have something to do with the fact that most of the top candidates are "too liberal" (McCain), infrequent Catholic (Rudy), Mormon (Romney). protestant but barely known (Ron Paul),

 

I think this contributed to the split, and the look to other options.

 

I think you're forgetting a pretty major one, there... He got a few more votes that Ron Paul, too.

 

But, yeah, the evangelical movement had very liberal beginnings, both socially and (relatively speaking) theologically. It's not, by its character, particularly suited to a monolithic conservativism. Evangelicalism is a revitalization movement, with a heavy focus on individual connection to God and letting his word and spirit alone guide decisions. The more radical and engaged young Evangelicals are, as the Christian youth movement has succeeded in doing quite well, the more likely some of them are going to feel led by the spirit to do things like help the poor and stop wars, and what-not. Christians are closer to hippies than you'd think.

[Sisyphus]

The religious right failed to unite around a single candidate during the primary season. This could have something to do with the fact that most of the top candidates are "too liberal" (McCain)' date=' infrequent Catholic (Rudy), Mormon (Romney). protestant but barely known (Ron Paul),

 

I think this contributed to the split, and the look to other options.[/quote']

 

But they did have Mike Huckabee, who was, briefly, the front-runner, and eventually the only alternative to John McCain. I think we can probably learn a lot about the state of the Christian right if we look at the rise and fall of his candidacy.

 

Christians are closer to hippies than you'd think.

 

There's a lot of truth in that, and it's why hardcore Christians can't really sustain a comfortable alliance with either major party: Democrats are secularists skipping towards Gomorrah, but Republicans are heartless, greedy warmongers. Remember, we've already had exactly one Evangelical President: Jimmy Carter.

Edited June 27, 2008 by Sisyphus

[Pangloss]

Great op-ed piece in today's Washington Post about Dobson vs Obama, written by a Christian Evangelical who has a problem with Dobson's complaints. Peter Wehner is even a former deputy assistant to President Bush!

 

Obama was doing what people like Dobson have long urged: making the public square more hospitable for people of faith and calling for a halt to their demonization. Obama made his case in ways I found to be respectful and authentic.

 

This was a really smashing quote in particular:

 

Dobson paraphrased this as "unless everybody agrees, we have no right to fight for what we believe in." But that's not what Obama was saying at all. Rather, he was arguing that in a pluralistic nation like ours, politics depends on people of faith being able to persuade others based on common and accessible ground and appeals to reason -- which sounds entirely reasonable. Christians who oppose abortion can make an effective case by talking about sonograms, fetal development and the moral imperative to protect the most vulnerable. That doesn't mean one's faith shouldn't inform the question of abortion -- or, for that matter, war, poverty and other issues. After all, President Lincoln's argument against slavery was partly grounded in faith. But appeals to the Bible or church teaching aren't sufficient in a pluralistic nation. That's why Lincoln talked primarily about the Declaration of Independence.

 

Nice.

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/27/AR2008062702490.html