The Evangelical Elephant in the Corner of the Country

Evangelicals, at the very least, played a significant role in electing President Bush in 2000 and 2004, and the effect of “church going” voters is snowballing. Many liberals know that the “religious minded” will most likely have a considerable influence in the 2008 election, and some, Barak Obama for instance, are attempting to court “people of faith” more now than ever. As this realization settles in, I think my fellow Evangelicals are missing something: Evangelicals wield more power in the election of politicians than we realize and certainly more than non-Evangelicals want to admit. But, Evangelical voters do not wield as much power as we should. For instance, “fringe liberal groups” make up a smaller minority than “conservative evangelical groups,” but the impact of these far left liberal groups is often more substantial than the impact of the evangelical groups. Liberal activists are good at being pro-active and remaining on the offensive as they advance their agenda, and many Evangelicals dragging their feet are being found on the defensive, frantically attempting to smother “spot-fires” created by the liberal program.

Part of the reason for this problem is due to the misconception by many Evangelicals that political involvement is “dirty,” and should be left to the “non-religious.” But, it is the very insistence of keeping the secular political world separated from the sacred that is part of the very poison destroying the moral fabric of our culture, and it is a grave mistake. Evangelical Christians must understand that our failure to confront the corruption killing America is a main contributing factor resulting in the soiling of American politics.

As Evangelicals, we can not cram our religion down the throat of dissenting fellow Americans, but there are core foundational beliefs and moral principles that we must not only share, but stress with our culture, and we must do it with extreme urgency and upmost importance. Our survival as a nation founded upon religious freedom, justice, and equality depends upon it.