Family Research Council President, Tony Perkins, recently hosted a forum that addressed the question of the influence of the religious right in the 2008 elections.
Joining Perkins was Bishop Harry Jackson, chairman of the High Impact Leadership Coalition, who recently co-authored a book with Perkins, Personal Faith, Public Policy. Rev. Jim Wallis, president and executive director of Sojourners, and the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, responded to the book and discussed the role of faith in politics.
Perkins said conservative Christians continue to play an important role.
"I've been reading these headlines that the religious right, their influence, is waning. I've heard that Evangelicals are cracking up. I've even heard that the religious right is dead, and I tell you what, I feel amazingly well. These headlines, like the paper that they're written on, are recycled.
We see these about every six to eight years, going back to (former President) Jimmy Carter, back in 1981, saying, the measuring rod of the religious right will not long stand. Well, we're far removed from his comments, and the religious right, Evangelical social conservatives, are having a pronounced impact upon the shaping of the policy in this country.
Bible-believing Christians who are concerned about their community and their country have always had a broad perspective of the issues. It's just that the issues are changing. And they are working through trying to come up with responses to those issues.
It's changing not away from the issues, but its complexion, its demographics, its reach to those in the pews that care about the world around them. I found this to be true in my life in public office; and more so now, that I have more in common with my Evangelical brothers and sisters of color, than I do with people in my same party that are associated, or called; ‘Country Club Republicans.'
We have not been as aggressive as we should have been in calling Christians, social conservatives, Evangelicals, to exhibit personal responsibility, and share what they are doing at the personal level with the broader community."
Perkins stressed that pro-life, and pro-family, issues will still be at the core of the Christian right movement.
"There remains a prioritization of those issues, and life remains top of the list. Marriage, which we saw was a turning issue in the 2004 election, remains a very important issue."
However, Perkins, added, "By no means are Christian voters, Evangelicals single issue."
Jackson said, "Our movement is not dead; it's maturing."
Jackson outlined some of the issues that he believes Evangelical and conservative Christians should be, and are, now addressing:"Immigration, poverty and justice, racial reconciliation, religious liberties, rebuilding the family, the environment and global warming."
Jackson added, "There is an amazing coming together of black, white, Hispanic believers, of what we believe to be important issues of our day. Real mature Christians believe that our personal relationship with Christ should be the foundation for us to create an atmosphere of justice for others -- Biblical justice, not just social justice, if you would.--Biblical justice where we take care of the widow, the weak, the poor. No one would argue with that."
Wallis, who also penned a new book, "The Great Awakening: Reviving Faith & Politics in a Post-Religious Right America," weighed in on the conservative Christian movement.
"I am not one who says the religious right is dead or gone. What I have said is, what has felt like a monologue is over, and a new dialogue has begun. I am pro-life, but I ask, how does a committed life- ethic address the fact that 30,000 died today of poverty and disease? I want to find a common ground, and, indeed, move to a higher ground. A new Evangelical agenda is emerging. I profoundly agree that it must include people of color and white Evangelicals.
For too long, when the media has said Evangelical, they mean white Evangelical. And that's changing dramatically. And the inclusion of people of color is changing the agenda, I think, significantly.
God is not a Republican or a Democrat. And people of faith should be in the pocket of no political party. We should, if you will, be the ultimate swing vote, evaluating both sides by our moral compass.
Martin Luther King Jr. said that the church should not be the master or the servant of the state, but the conscience of the state. He never did endorse a candidate, but he asked candidates to endorse the agenda of his movement," Wallis said.
Rodriguez said, the Hispanic population is becoming a major factor in the conservative Christian movement.
"In 50 years, the majority of Evangelicals in America will be non-white. And that browning of the Evangelical movement in America will reconcile righteousness, life and marriage issues with health care, immigration reform, education, poverty, global warming."
Rodriguez said, Hispanic Christians do not want to be associated with only one political party.
"You'll be hard-pressed to find Latinos that identify themselves with the Christian right, even though we are more committed to protecting life, according to research, than even white Evangelicals. We are more committed to traditional marriage than white Evangelicals. But we repudiate the idea of being categorized as Christian right, because we definitely don't want to be owned by one political party.
That ‘browning' of the Church will really push back on the notion of Christian right, Christian left, and will look at this experience called ‘American Evangelicalism' not from right or left, the red state or the blue state, Democrats or Republicans, but from radical followers of Jesus Christ, committed to the prayer, ‘Thine Kingdom come, thine will be done.' And the Kingdom of God is not Republican or Democrat, it's righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost," Rodriguez said.
Following the forum, Perkins said it produced some spirited discussion on several topics, particularly relating to poverty. Perkins noted that in "Personal Faith, Public Policy," he and Jackson called it, "one issue where we can find common ground by understanding more fully the Church's scriptural responsibility to the poor. Churches should be much more directly involved in solving poverty than the government. It is our task first, not the government's. The Church must also let the world know that helping the destitute is, and has always been, central to our mission."
In their book, they also write that broadening the issues of concern to Christian conservatives will not adversely affect their political influence, as some have suggested, but rather, encourage both Republicans and Democrats to vie for support from Evangelicals.
"This, we believe, will ultimately result in policies that are more faith-friendly," they write.
In penning his book, "The Great Awakening: Reviving Faith & Politics in a Post-Religious Right America," Wallis said, we now see the "leveling of the praying field."
Wallis said, "Many Democrats are rediscovering their own religious roots, with many coming out of the closet as people of faith. And their candidates are actively reaching out to the faith community. In recent years perceived as the ‘secular party,' hostile to religion and values, Democrats are becoming a much more faith-friendly party–that's real sea change."
Others have opined on the state and future of the religious conservative movement.
Rob Boston, with Americans United For Separation of Church and State, cautioned about "sweeping statements on the religious right's demise," citing an AU report last year that found, the nation's leading conservative Christians remain well-funded and organized at the grassroots.
Boston said, that was underscored by former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, who beat Mitt Romney in the Iowa Caucuses, despite being outspent by Romney 20-to-1. Exit polls indicated that Huckabee rode a wave of support from Evangelical Christians to victory.
As for the general election in November, Americans United Executive Director, the Rev. Barry Lynn, said, "I think most Americans have had their fill of candidates trying to claim the endorsement of Jesus. To Christians, Jesus is too important to be relegated to the status of some candidate's running mate. To Christians and non-Christians alike, it's a distraction from discussion of the candidates's stands on the issues, and their plans for the nation's future."
Focus on the Family Founder, Dr. James Dobson, expressed concern about the conservative Christian movement's future leadership, during an address at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention in Nashville.
Dobson said, the passing last year of Rev. Jerry Falwell, Rev. D. James Kennedy and Ruth Bell Graham, represent the end of an era.
"It causes me to wonder who will be left to carry the banner when this generation of leaders is gone. The question is, will the younger generation heed the call? Who will defend the unborn child in the years to come?" Who will plead for the Terri Schiavos of the world? Who's going to fight for the institution of marriage, which is on the ropes today? Who in the next generation will be willing to take the heat, when it's so much safer and more comfortable to avoid controversial subjects? What will be the impact on the conservative Christian Church when the patriarchs have passed?" Dobson questioned.
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