A group of mostly centrist U.S. evangelicals released a lengthy manifesto on Wednesday which called for the movement to pull back from explicit partisan political activity, saying faith was being used to express “political points that have lost touch with biblical truth.”
Leading figures on the conservative Religious Right, such as Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, were pointedly not asked to sign the document — a reflection of some of the divisions emerging in the U.S. evangelical movement, which numbers over 60 million by some estimates.
“I agree that evangelical Christians have become too aligned with the Republican Party which has taken them for granted,” Perkins told Reuters, adding that he saw some good stuff in the manifesto.
But he said “it was like it was written for ivory tower Christians, like they want to rid the world of evil but don’t want to get involved in the issues to do it.”
Divisions among U.S. Evangelicals — which are becoming more visible or vocal but have long been bubbling below the surface — have taken many forms.
Most publicly, they include a shift in emphasis among some evangelical leaders from the focus on culture issues such as abortion to a broader social agenda that includes calls to action on poverty and the environment
Most centrist evangelicals remain opposed to abortion rights, which they increasingly see as a social justice issue, but it is not their main focus.
The Religious Right, which has been the bedrock of conservative evangelical support for the Republican Party in recent election cycles, has also called for a broader agenda — but insists on tackling the issues that many of its supporters care deeply about.
This includes retaining an uncompromising and very public opposition to abortion and gay rights.
What do you think? Do you think the U.S. evangelical movement has become too politicized?
Trackback
8 comments so far
I cringe now whenever I tell people that I am a Christian because I know they are thinking, “Oh, one of those right-wing nutters”. The unfortunate marriage of evangelical Christianity, right-wing politics and fundamentalism has made the word “Christian” a by-word…and erected tremendous barriers to sharing the good news of Christianity with others. The devil himself could not have done a better job of damaging Christianity than the right wing fundamentalist with whom Evangelicals have linked themselves.
- Posted by Dan HutchinsonIt is the absolute right of all Americans to have a faith and a belief, or even non-belief, but this right is protected by a secular government and law. Religious people have the right to be political, but churches were granted a special status that prohibits political actions of the kind they have been doing, strongly, for the past 20 years. The Religious Right, hasn’t just forgotten these two point, they completely ignore this and have attempted to subvert the laws and rules that theoretically protect them. They act as they have because they currently have large numbers - a “Bully Approach.” It would be nice if everyone had the guts to stand up and say “Have you no sense of decency?” and stop this political movement.
- Posted by SeanThis is all a bunch of bull. Conservative Protestants
have begun to feel uncomfortable about being looked down on by their liberal fellow believers. They are being cowed into whining “I am not a Republican.” The left wants Evangelicals to stand in the pulpit and say, “We don’t need to participate. Jesus loves everything and everybody anyway.” If the left and the weenie Christians can accomplish that the Evangelical vote will drop by about 50% and, voila, leftists will win more elections.
That’s their objective. Some Christian leaders whose predecessors withstood torture, prison, banishment, poverty, etc. now can’t stand up to political correctness.
The liberals critics don’t have any problem with the Protestant churches whose pastors preach Democrat politics, get paid to deliver Democrat votes, and deliver 90 to 95% margins for Democrats.
Christians should practice the truths of the scripture. They should align with political parties that best represent their Christian values and work as hard as possible to advance those values.
- Posted by HollandThat’s what everybody else does in a democratic republic.
[…] Hellyer, Alt. Muslim) Telegraph appoints Anglican priest to write on religion (Ruth Gledhill) U.S. Religious Right reacts to “Evangelical Manifesto” (Ed Stoddard, Telegraph) Vote BNP and this is what you get… (Walls Come Tumbling Down) Return of […]
- Posted by Critics of Israel are a cause of crime « The Daily Terrordivision of church and state anyone?
- Posted by NickFundamentalism is fundamentalism. Mr. Hutchinson’s comments above echo the sentiments of many of my Muslim friends & coworkers. They, too, are being painted with the broad brush of intolerance, hatred & bitterness that their fundamentalist brethren have propagated.
Give me fundamentalist Buddhists any day…
- Posted by J Cipolla[…] especially critical of the Religious Right for doing this. The response of the Religious Right was not long in coming. Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, said that “it was like it was written for […]
- Posted by An Evangelical Manifesto « WordspewThis is sounds so familiar, you know when religious fundamentalism starts mixing with politics. This sort of religious influence on politics I thought could or would only happen in those 3rd world countries, with almost medieval attitudes, that you can find in parts of Africa, Asia and Middle East, (Not that there’s anything wrong with that if you’re into oppression, bigotry, ignorance and all that comes with it). This article is about 21stC USA isn’t it? I thought the meaning of democracy was ‘a form of government in which the people have a voice in the exercise of power, typically through elected representatives..’ (Oxford Dict.) I can’t seem to find the word ‘religon’ as part of the Oxford Dictionary meaning? Or would I only find that ‘religon’ is part of the democracy meaning in the book of the “Evangelical American Dictionary”?
- Posted by Conscientious Observer