Republicans in danger of losing US 'God vote'
Pastor Dale Morgan
Republicans in danger of losing US 'God vote'*
By Toby Harnden in Washington
Last Updated: 1:26am BST 15/09/2007
For nearly three decades the Republican party has built its election
victories in the United States on the power of the Christian Right. But
now it is facing the prospect of a "God void" by selecting a
presidential candidate who is not a churchgoer.
In a recent Gallup poll, 55 per cent of Americans said they went to
church at least once a month.
The current US president cited Jesus as the philosopher with whom he
identified most
Neither the thrice-married Rudy Giuliani nor the twice-married Fred
Thompson, the two front-runners for the party's nomination, go to church
regularly.
John McCain, also a divorcé, once described evangelical leaders as
"agents of intolerance".
All have made clear that they will not follow the example of President
George W Bush, who spoke openly about God on the campaign trail.
When asked in a debate which "political philosopher or thinker" he
identified with most he replied: "Christ, because he changed my heart."
The only deeply religious Republican candidate currently in contention
is Mitt Romney.
His Mormon Church, however, is regarded as a cult by many Christian
conservatives, particularly Baptists in the Deep South. Mike Huckabee, a
Baptist former pastor, is a distant fourth in Republican polls.
Many conservative Republicans had expected Mr Thompson to fill the God
void when he jumped into the race this month.
Then he revealed to reporters in South Carolina: "I attend church when
I'm in Tennessee. I'm in McLean right now [a suburb of Washington]. I
don't attend regularly when I'm up there."
George Will, a conservative columnist, commented afterwards: "'Right
now'? He has been living 'up there' in that upscale Washington suburb,
honing his 'Aw, shucks, I'm just an ol' Washington outsider' act, for
years. Long enough to have noticed that McLean is planted thick with
churches."
Mr Thompson also trumpeted how he had learned his values from the "good
Church of Christ" and took his "strength and wisdom" to tell "the truth"
from God.
But when asked to elaborate by a voter, he responded that it was his way
"not to talk about some of these things".
The two leading Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama,
are regular churchgoers of long standing who have been married only once.
Mrs Clinton has spoken about the power of prayer and said that her
"faith was crucial to the challenges I faced" when her husband Bill was
unfaithful.
A campaign radio advertisement in Nevada declared: "Barack Obama is a
Christian man."
Robert Parham, the director of the Baptist Centre for Ethics, which
advocates the separation of religion and politics, said: "Christian
Right leaders recognise the moral liabilities with some of their top
candidates and had hoped that Fred Thompson could be a solution.
"They apparently did not do enough research. Republicans and the
preachers on the Christian Right have a conundrum. They have claimed
that they are the party of providence but now most of their first tier
don't share one of their core values, which is church attendance.
"On the other hand, the top Democratic candidates all appear to have
proven substantive records of authentic church involvement."
Leading Republican evangelicals, however, argue that this does not mean
that their flock will flip towards Democrats next year, when Christian
conservatives are likely to be nearly 30 per cent of 120 million who vote.
"Ronald Reagan wasn't a regular churchgoer and he was divorced," said
Gary Bauer, a Christian Right leader who ran for president in 2000.
"President Jimmy Carter is by any measure a serious evangelical and
somehow Bill Clinton found time to go and be seen in church. But today
neither of those would be able to get any significant vote from people
really motivated by their faith.
"Voters are looking for somebody that they can agree with on the
definition of marriage and on life and religious liberty and the larger
war on Islamo-fascism and who can defeat Hillary Clinton."
Mr Giuliani, who favours abortion rights, currently leads the Republican
field, while Mr Thompson's initial poll bounce has brought him to within
striking distance.
Both men, however, will struggle to motivate Christian evangelicals, who
voted three to one for Mr Bush in 2004.
The greatest fear for Republicans is that millions of "values voters"
will dismiss a Republican candidate who stays at home on Sundays — and
decide to stay at home themselves on voting day, helping to cement a
Democratic victory.