Seven Percent

November 13, 2004 7:39 PM | Permalink | Comments ()

Radical Congruency � What Will Replace Evangelicalism?

Much of what is broken is evangelicalism's reputation with non-Christians, especially those on the other side of the political aisle from the Christian Right. Just as the US has alienated other nations by invading Iraq as part of the "war on terror", the Christian Right has alienated much of the American public in the quest to see God's will done "on earth as it is in heaven."

I disagree. I believe that the Church is healthy, and this media barrage that it is facing is silly excuse making by the democrats and the liberal media.

According to The Barna Group\, Evangelical Christians make up 7% of the population and 11% of the electorate. They voted for Bush by an 85-15 margin.

Evangelicals have tended to vote Republican anyway, so while this is a good margin, it is not surprizing. frontline: the jesus factor: evangelicals: the evangelical vote | PBS

The Democratic candidates in recent years have gotten about between 30 percent and 40 percent of the evangelical vote.

Really we should be looking elsewhere to see why Bush won. He made substantial gains in the Catholics, Substantial gains among hispanics, and modest gains among African Americans.

In the 11 states where there where gay marriage amendments on the ballot they recieved support from an overall average of 2/3rds of the voters. 2/3rds of Americans do not belong to the "Christian Right". Even assumeing that a majority of evangelicals voted for these amendments there still where a ton of non-evangelicals voting for them.

The secular left is calling these voters "Ignorant". I believe that this stratagy will work quite poorly, and will alienate them from the secular worldview and move them to seek fellowship with people who share their values. Hopefully the church will have an excelent opportunity to share Christ's love with them.

Contrary to the left's conspiracy theories, by and large the church teaches it's congregations what the Bible says. They do not tell the members who or what to vote for.

If Churches did take political stands, I feel that often they would be much different than the voting patterns of their members. The IRS bans political speech from the pulpit, so it is hard to tell.

The Church will always have (And always has had) people who hate it. This is nothing new. They may have a new reason, but if it wasn't this reason, there would be another.

Comments

Radical Congruency � What Will Replace Evangelicalism?

Much of what is broken is evangelicalism's reputation with non-Christians, especially those on the other side of the political aisle from the Christian Right. Just as the US has alienated other nations by invading Iraq as part of the "war on terror", the Christian Right has alienated much of the American public in the quest to see God's will done "on earth as it is in heaven."

I disagree. I believe that the Church is healthy, and this media barrage that it is facing is silly excuse making by the democrats and the liberal media. According to The Barna Group\, Evangelical Christians make up 7% of the population and 11% of the electorate. They voted for Bush by an 85-15 margin. Evangelicals have tended to vote Republican anyway, so while this is a good margin, it is not surprizing. frontline: the jesus factor: evangelicals: the evangelical vote | PBS

The Democratic candidates in recent years have gotten about between 30 percent and 40 percent of the evangelical vote.

Really we should be looking elsewhere to see why Bush won. He made substantial gains in the Catholics, Substantial gains among hispanics, and modest gains among African Americans. In the 11 states where there where gay marriage amendments on the ballot they recieved support from an overall average of 2/3rds of the voters. 2/3rds of Americans do not belong to the "Christian Right". Even assumeing that a majority of evangelicals voted for these amendments there still where a ton of non-evangelicals voting for them. The secular left is calling these voters "Ignorant". I believe that this stratagy will work quite poorly, and will alienate them from the secular worldview and move them to seek fellowship with people who share their values. Hopefully the church will have an excelent opportunity to share Christ's love with them. Contrary to the left's conspiracy theories, by and large the church teaches it's congregations what the Bible says. They do not tell the members who or what to vote for. If Churches did take political stands, I feel that often they would be much different than the voting patterns of their members. The IRS bans political speech from the pulpit, so it is hard to tell. The Church will always have (And always has had) people who hate it. This is nothing new. They may have a new reason, but if it wasn't this reason, there would be another.