U.S. “Religious Right” riled but lacks committed Christian leader
Wanted: a leader for the U.S. social conservative movement. Must be able to press all the right buttons, be a committed Christian and have a vision to propel the Republican Party back to power.
U.S. social and religious conservatives will be searching for someone to fill that void as they gather in Washington this Friday to Sunday for the fourth annual summit of self-styled “Values Voters.”
Dubbed the “Religious Right,” they have been stirred by a summer of discontent when their activists went on the offensive against Democratic President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority of healthcare reform, taking part in widely publicized town hall meetings on the issue that often turned raucous.
Formerly high-profile leaders of the religious right such as televangelist Jerry Falwell and political operative Ralph Reed have died or retreated from prominence. Last year’s economic crisis helped propel Obama to the White House.
“Social conservatives are looking for leadership and this is one of the places these folks are going to be shopping,” said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian lobby group organizing the summit.
Read the whole story here.
U.S. conservative Christians sound “cap and trade” alarms
America’s social and religious conservatives are turning up the heat as they galvanize heartland opposition against the latest example of President Barack Obama-inspired “socialism” — a climate change bill that aims to reduce fossil fuel emissions, which most scientists have linked to climate change.
The Democratic Party-led House of Representatives passed the bill on Friday. It would require large companies, including utilities and manufacturers, to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases associated with global warming by 17 percent by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050, from 2005 levels. It must still go through the U.S. Senate, where its ultimate fate remains uncertain despite the Democratic majority there.
Conservative Christians, a key base – if not THE base — for the out-of-power Republican Party, are among the biggest skeptics of human-induced global warming. In the eyes of many environmentalists, they were part of an “unholy alliance” with the energy industry that enjoyed its zenith under former president George W. Bush, who pulled America out of the Kyoto Protocol aimed at cutting emissions in the developed world. The Bush administration was widely seen as hostile to any attempt to cap emissions as well as the science behind it.
Conservative Christians are sounding the alarm bells about the climate bill, which represents Obama’s first major legislative victory and which Republicans see as a major opportunity to gain political ground ahead of the 2010 congressional elections. You can see our coverage of this issue here.
Republicans are calling it a “job killer” while the Cornwall Alliance – a conservative Christian coalition – has described its cap and trade provisions, which allow companies that pollute less than their limit to sell some of their permits to others struggling to meet such green requirements, ”as the largest tax hike in history.” Analysts have said such arguments may appeal to voters especially against the backdrop of the current recession.
The Cap and Trade bill shows the US as being weak. Other nations will benefit from our mistake. The passage of this bill will drive much needed US jobs overseas thus resulting in higher unemployment. During this time of economic instability, the passage of this bill will result in turmoil for generations to come. Businesses will migrate to other countries where there are no cap and trade restrictions and where their products can be manufactured at a lower cost. This energy bill is no more than a disguise for an energy tax. American citizens will bear the tremendous burden of this bill. Let your Senators know how you truly feel at http://tinyurl.com/ .
Southern Baptists (and Republicans): old, white and in decline?
The evangelical Protestant revival has been one of the most dynamic religious and social movements in the United States in the last three decades. According to the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, one in four U.S. adults now count themselves as followers of this faith tradition.
So it may come as a surprise to some non-American readers of this blog that the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) – with 16 million members, America’s largest evangelical denomination and the country’s second largest after the Catholic Church — is ringing the alarm bells of decline.
Its research arm LifeWay Research released the following projections this week at the convention’s annual meeting in Kentucky: it said its numbers would fall nearly 50 percent by 2050 “unless the aging and predominantly white denomination reverses a 50-year trend and does more to strengthen evangelism, reach immigrants, and develop a broader ethnic base.”
“Using U.S. Census projected population figures, SBC membership could fall from a peak of 6 percent of the American population in the late 1980s to 2 percent in 2050,” said LifeWay director Ed Stetzer.
The SBC in 1951 enjoyed robust annual growth of four percent and still had two percent in the early 1970s but in recent years it has been falling about 0.6 percent per year.
The number of baptisms — which is how the SBC counts converts and is key to a group that sees bringing souls to Christ as its raison d’être — have also been in decline.
Your article fails to mention that while total membership declined last year, the total number of churches and the number of people regularly attending worship services grew between 2007-2008 within the SBC. I believe this reflects a trend in a growing number of church plants (which traditionally start small but grow rapidly) and less prioritization toward membership while still actively attending services regularly. Don’t count the SBC out too quickly!
Gallup first: more Americans now “pro-life” than “pro-choice”
America may have a president and Congress that support abortion rights, but a new Gallup poll suggests that for the first time such a stance is not the majority view.
Gallup said on Friday that a new poll, conducted May 7 to 10, found “51 percent of Americans calling themselves ‘pro-life’ on the issue of abortion and 42 percent ‘pro-choice.’ This is the first time a majority of U.S. adults have identified themselves as pro-life since Gallup began asking this question in 1995.”
“The new results, obtained from Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs survey, represent a significant shift from a year ago, when 50 percent were pro-choice and 44 percent pro-life. Prior to now, the highest percentage identifying as pro-life was 46 percent, in both August 2001 and May 2002.”
Underscoring how divisive the issue remains, the poll further found that 23 percent of Americans felt abortion should be illegal in all circumstances and 22 percent said it should be legal in all circumstances.
Still, it found that 53 percent held to a middle view — that is should be legal in certain circumstances. That figure, Gallup said, has been steady since 1975.
A few other things stand out. The percentage of Republicans and those who lean to that party who lablel themselves “pro-life” rose by 10 percentage points over the past year to 70 percent. As there was essentially no shift among Democrats on this issue (33 percent said they were “pro-life,” unchanged since last year) much of the shift clearly came from the Republican side. Does this suggest a hardening among the party faithful, whose numbers have also been in decline, in reaction to the Democratic administration of President Barack Obama?
I actually do see some truth in what pro – life activists think. For example, it WOULD be our duty to oppose the law if we lived in nazi Germany, to try to prevent a holocaust. But I see one huge and insurmountable difference between nazi Germany and the current state of abortion rights. That is that, right now, the mother decides. The pregnant woman makes the terrible, sad, and personal decision. If the state forced her to have a baby that she could not care for, did not want, or that would kill her in delivery, that would be the real nazi analog.
Though fetuses are living humans, there are worse things that can happen to a person than never being born. And all of those things happen to children born to underage, underprivileged, and troubled parents. If a baby gets born but is never loved, that is a worse outcome to me. I recently read that people who experience any detrimental childhood circumstances are 5 times more likely to die from suicide. If the mothers have children when and only when they can take care of them, there will be more lives worth living.
Another day, another faith coalition
Is it my imagination, or are there lots of new faith coalitions and initiatives sprouting up these days?
The newest one, launched on Wednesday, is The Mobilization to End Poverty. Its main driver is Sojourners, which claims to be the biggest group of self-styled “progressive” Christians in the United States.
The coalition will hold a conference in Washington from April 26-29. The organizers describe it as a “a historic gathering where thousands of Christians and antipoverty leaders will engage in a transformative experience of education, worship, community, and activism in Washington, D.C. Together, this powerful group will call on President Obama and the new Congress to make overcoming poverty a political priority and to develop a national plan that addresses this moral and spiritual crisis.”
It would be easy to dismiss this as just another gabfest at which everyone talks about the poor while the caterers put on a good spread.
But it’s noteworthy that many of these initiatives in recent years — such as the Evangelical Climate Initiative – have come from the religious center or left. There have been many such efforts in the past (the Social Gospel movement of the late 19th century springs to mind).
Whether the initiatives from the left/center are as effective politically as the Religious Right has been remains to be seen. The latter at times excelled at pressing its agenda by getting ballot measures passed against gay marriage or by getting the vote out for the Republican Party (or both at the same time).
the question is irrelevant, as spiritual issues lie without the pale of legislation, regulation, or judicial fiat. the best that governments can do is to leave people alone; ie stop policies and programmes which damage families and feed the fires of entitlement and sloth
WashPost column: “Armband religion killing Republican Party”
Has religion turned into a vote loser in U.S. elections? In covering the U.S. presidential campaign, most analysts took religion as an important vote-getting factor and asked which candidate was appealing most to which religious group. Much was made about how the Democrats were more comfortable with “Godtalk” on the trail.
Now Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker has asked whether religion has turned into a serious vote loser for the more faith-friendly party, the Republicans:
“The evangelical, right-wing, oogedy-boogedy branch of the GOP is what ails the erstwhile conservative party and will continue to afflict and marginalize its constituents if reckoning doesn’t soon cometh. Simply put: Armband religion is killing the Republican Party … the GOP has surrendered its high ground to its lowest brows. In the process, the party has alienated its non-base constituents, including other people of faith (those who prefer a more private approach to worship), as well as secularists and conservative-leaning Democrats who otherwise might be tempted to cross the aisle.”
Is it time for the Republicans to rethink what Parker calls their “preaching to the choir?” Is there a lesson for the Democrats here?
OK People,
Not one person ever became president that G-d did not appoint himself.
Exactly who was elected has been appointed, and who is elected now, was supposed to be elected. G-D don’t loose elections LOL. Obama wiil be good for the economy, but he will make a great mistake, and this mistake will bring a wrath on America, like we have never seen. Obama, will not back Israel, and we WILL see the effect of that DECISION come to pass. Just like when we ( the US ) put pressure on Israel to divide their land for Palestinian peace. That was biblical, do not divide his (G-d’s) land and his people. We are already seeing, what those decisions have brought upon us as a Nation…
Ask me where I got this Information. I’ll be glad to show ya.
Can Democrats hold gains they made with faith voters?
DALLAS – In a country where religion plays a big role in politics, U.S. Democrats have made some big gains with voters of faith.
A number of exit polls have shown that President-elect Barack Obama narrowed the “God gap” that existed when President George W. Bush, a Republican, defeated Democratic challenger John Kerry in 2004.
According to Faith in Public Life, a non-partisan resource center, and Public Religion Research, Obama increased the Democratic share of the tally among all groups categorized by how often they attend church.
The groups noted that he made his biggest gains among voters who attend church more than once a week, “narrowing a 29-point Republican advantage (64 percent – 35 percent) to a 12-point Republican advantage (55 percent – 43 percent). This represents an 8-point increase among a strongly Republican group.”
Other highlights it noted included:
- Obama won monthly attenders 53 percent to 46 percent, while Kerry lost them 49 percent to 51 percent, a 4-point pickup.
- Obama beat Republican rival John McCain soundly among Catholics (55 percent to 44 percent), performing better than Kerry in 2004 and Democrat Al Gore in 2000. - Among white Catholics, Obama narrowed the Republican advantage from Bush’s 13- point advantage (56 percent to 43 percent), with McCain holding only a 5-point advantage (52 percent to 47 percent).
Barack Obama will gain as time moves forward with religious sect. As more of us get to know who and what he really stands for he will not only gain our support he will gain our respect. I am a christian man who worked hard in his local office. As i found out i was not alone in this office. We as people of this great nation must open our eyes and our hearts to many more issuses than just those at chruch. We are a nation of many people and we must not be selfish… Remember in GOD WE TRUST…
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Resident FaithWorld Expert
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Leaders are agents of change. The religious right can only frame issues in terms of their opposition to Democrats’ plans. Hard to lead when you’re waiting to see what the other side does first all the time.