By Jim Coggins

THE PRIORITIES of many American evangelicals are evolving – and this new reality may be reflected in the current election campaign.

“A new concern for social justice is breaking out precisely at the places – and in the people – where faith is more personal,” said Jim Wallis of Sojourners magazine. “They believe that God is personal, but never private. And many people are now hungry for a faith that is powerful enough to change their lives, their relationships, their neighbourhoods, their nation, and even their world.”

Wallis has been advocating such a change for 35 years. He has often seemed a lone voice; but that also is changing. He has been conducting a speaking tour promoting his latest book, The Great Awakening: Reviving Faith & Politics in a Post-Religious Right America.

Unlike previous tours, he told BCCN, this one is attracting standing-room-only crowds with a large component of young people – “and we’re going to places we never imagined,” including many major evangelical colleges and seminaries.

Wallis also noted that the recent ‘For the Health of the Nation’ statement by the National Association of Evangelicals advocates both the “sanctity of life” and “justice and compassion for the poor.”

While some critics might accuse Wallis of seeing what he wants to see, other observers agree with him.

“That is absolutely the case,” said author and political scientist John Redekop.

In the past, Redekop added, churches seemed focused on “personal salvation and personal ethics” rather than social issues – but this is changing.

An invigorated Christian interest in issues such as poverty and the environment was also one of the findings of Christian Info Society’s ‘State of the Canadian Church’ series (available online at CanadianChristianity.com)

However, these issues have been slower to catch on with evangelicals in the U.S. because of the deeper impact of the modernist-fundamentalist controversy there.

“It has taken almost 80 years for the suspicion between save-the-soul evangelicals and do-good-works evangelicals to be erased,” said Redekop.

This controversy had less impact in Canada, partly because it originated in the U.S. and partly because Protestants were a majority in the U.S. but a minority in Canada; the Protestant quarrel in Canada was moderated somewhat by the large body of Roman Catholics.

The result is that, while many American Bible colleges were focused on fighting the fundamentalist-modernist battle, Canadian Bible schools were often focused on international missions.

Common good

Canada’s European heritage has also given it a greater concern for the common good, said Wallis, while the emphasis on individualism in the U.S. “distorts theology and privatizes faith.”

Doug Trouten, executive director of the Evangelical Press Association (EPA), said it is not true to say that evangelicals were not interested in social issues. However, he admitted there is a broader focus now.

The EPA’s ‘cause of the year’ in 2008 is ‘Caring for God’s Creation,’ a topic that would not have been considered an evangelical focus a decade ago.

One difference is that key evangelical concerns like abortion and same-sex marriage “involve government policies directly” and can be changed by passing laws; whereas, Redekop notes, “legislative action cannot end poverty.”

When evangelicals want to fight poverty, they have been more likely to open a food bank than lobby government, although they are starting to understand the connection between politics and poverty.

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‘Suing for divorce’

Evangelicals may be in the process of “suing the Religious Right for divorce,” said Wallis in a recent news release. The Republican Party had captivated the evangelical vote by taking a strong stand on abortion and homosexuality, but had not delivered any meaningful results in those areas and used this narrow focus to “get a free pass” on other issues, he contended.

It is not that evangelicals are switching to the Democrats but that they are going to be acting more independently, willing to listen to any candidate who offers policies important to a broader range of evangelical concerns.

Evangelical voters “have become a little more sophisticated politically,” Trouten agreed – but for many evangelicals, he said, the current presidential campaign may be a “who cares?” election, because there is no obvious “evangelical” candidate.

Republican front-runner John McCain is an Episcopalian who attends his wife’s Baptist church but talks very little about faith. The only serious challenger to McCain, former Baptist minister and Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, was “a better fit for evangelicals” – but had no chance of winning.

The Democrats are also realizing “it was a mistake to cede the religious ground to the Republicans,” said Trouten. All of the Democratic candidates have made deliberate attempts to win evangelical voters, and one of the difficulties with all candidates “adapting religious language” is that it is hard to tell who is sincere and who isn’t, he added.

Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton is from a mainline Methodist background and is considered so ‘liberal’ by some Christians that Christianity Today wrote an editorial asking evangelicals to tone down their personal attacks on her.

Barack Obama is the hardest candidate to categorize. His father had a Muslim background but was himself an agnostic – which led to a nasty, unfounded internet campaign suggesting Obama is a Muslim.

Obama’s father left when he was two, and Obama was raised by his mother, who had a Baptist background but had no personal religious affiliation.

Obama himself described a Christian conversion experience in a speech two years ago: “I was finally able to walk down the aisle, and affirm my Christian faith. I felt that I heard God’s spirit beckoning me. I submitted myself to his will.”

This took place in Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, a large black church in a mainline denomination. However, while Obama speaks eloquently of his Christian faith, he has a strong pro-abortion voting record.

Many consider this election important because it could determine whether the 1973 Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion in the US, will be overturned. The Court recently voted 5 – 4 against overturning that decision; but two justices are scheduled to retire soon, and the next president will appoint their replacements.

Common ground

While Democrats and Republicans argue about whether to appoint pro-choice or pro-life judges, Wallis suggested there may be a possibility of some common middle ground. There are some pro-life Democrats, he said, but there are more Democrats interested in greatly reducing the number of abortions while still keeping it legal.

In spite of his views on abortion and homosexuality, Obama’s social concern for the poor has struck a chord among some evangelicals – and he is gaining some of their votes.

On the other side, Huckabee, the candidate of the ‘Religious Right,’ had an assertive environmental plank in his platform – and a strong record on social issues when he was governor of Arkansas.

Still, for the most part, in the political arena, the distinct American social divide remains.

The change in the U.S. is therefore not so much a political change as a change in the church, particularly the evangelical church, said Wallis, adding: “You don’t look to politicians to lead change. You look to movements to lead change.”

April 2008