U.S. evangelicals call for step back from politics
Pastor Dale Morgan
U.S. evangelicals call for step back from politics*
07 May 2008 18:02:50 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Ed Stoddard
DALLAS, May 7 (Reuters) - A group of U.S. evangelical leaders called on
Wednesday for a pullback from party politics so that followers would not
become "useful idiots" exploited for partisan gain.
One in four U.S. adults count themselves as evangelical Protestants,
giving them serious clout in a country where religion and politics often
mix. Conservative evangelicals have become a key support base for the
Republican Party.
But the movement has had growing pains and the statement issued on
Wednesday, called an "Evangelical Manifesto," is the latest sign of
emerging fractures as some activists seek to broaden its agenda beyond
hot-button social issues such as opposition to abortion and gay rights.
"Christians from both sides of the political spectrum, left as well as
right, have made the mistake of politicizing faith," the manifesto declares.
"That way faith loses its independence, the church becomes 'the regime
at prayer,' Christians become 'useful idiots' for one political party or
another, and the Christian faith becomes an ideology in its purest
form," it said.
The manifesto was signed by leading and mostly centrist evangelicals
such as Leith Anderson, president of the 30 million-member National
Association of Evangelicals; Mark Bailey, president of the Dallas
Theological Seminary; and evangelical academic and author David Gushee.
Many of the more than 70 signatories have been critical in the past of
evangelical partisan involvement which was seen as the crucial element
behind U.S. President George W. Bush's re-election victory in 2004.
Leading figures on the conservative "Religious Right" such as Tony
Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, did not sign the
document and his office said he had not been asked to sign it.
LIMITED POLITICAL IMPACT
Michael Cromartie, vice president of the Ethics and Public Policy
Center, said of the statement: "It's a sign of maturation of the
evangelical movement ... It's an important theological document but it
will have limited political influence because it is making a essentially
a theological argument."
The document also highlights divisions that have been there for a while
as some leading evangelicals attempt to redirect the movement's
considerable energies toward areas such as action on global poverty and
climate change.
Polls show growing numbers of evangelicals receptive to a wider social
agenda and Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack
Obama have been attempting to woo them in a bid to peel some away from
the Republican camp ahead of the November election showdown with John
McCain.
But analysts say most are still center-right politically and polls
consistently show most remain opposed to abortion rights. They are also
deeply committed to their faith.
"We have a big umbrella called evangelicalism which is theological in
nature. We are called to be followers of Jesus Christ and men and women
of the book," said John Huffman, a pastor and chairman of the board of
Christianity Today.
Huffman, who helped draft the document, told Reuters by telephone that
the group wanted to bring back "civility of discourse in the public
square." (Editing by Michael Conlon and Mohammad Zargham)