‘Faith moms’ for Palin
The Christian Defense Coalition is reminding folks to remember that key demographic groups in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections were “soccer and security moms.”
Today the coalition, in a Christian Newswire statement, says that “faith moms” will play a key role in deciding who goes to the White House.
“Faith moms,” the coalition said, represent ”millions of women who attend weekly Bible studies; volunteer for and coordinate church activates and are the foundation of thousands of churches across America.”
These faith moms have been energized by Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Republican John McCain’s running mate, ”like no other national candidate in history.”
The Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, the coalition’s director said Palin has energized faith moms just like Democrat Barack Obama has galvanized American blacks.
“Governor Palin has motivated these ‘Faith Moms’ in a way that no politician has ever done before,” Mahoney said in his statement.
“In fact, many of the women that I have talked with over the past week have been disillusioned with the political process because they felt that their political leaders in Washington have been out of touch with their concerns and values. That has all changed now that ‘one of them’ has been nominated for Vice- President of the United States.”
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
Evangelicals: Love ‘em or leave ‘em?
There’s been a lot of talk this election season about evangelicals. As Americans prepare to head to the voting booths, we’ve all seen the headlines: Evangelicals are for McCain, Evangelicals get behind Palin, Evangelicals sceptical of Obama.
A new study by the Barna Group takes a look at what Americans think about evangelicals — what non-evangelicals think about this group and what evangelicals think about themselves.
According to the Barna survey, evangelicals are “perceived with a mix of skepticism and respect.
“Americans are not always sure what to make of evangelicals, but they believe the voting bloc has significant influence.”
Barna took a look at eight perceptions of evangelical voters and four of the statements represented the most widely held views:
- That evangelicals will have a significant influence effect on the election outcome (59 percent of American adults said this was either “very” or “somewhat accurate” regarding evangelical voters);
- That evangelicals will cause the political conversation to be more conservative (59 percent;
- That they will be spend too much time complaining and not enough time solving problems (59 percent);
- And that they will be misunderstood and unfairly described by news media (56 percent).
Barna found this to be surprising: Only half of Americans (52 percent) felt that evangelical voters would focus primarily on homosexuality and abortion.
Meanwhile, roughly half said that evangelicals will minimize social justice issues (47 percent) and another 47 percent felt they believe that evangelicals will vote overwhelmingly Republican. Roughly two out of every five Americans (44 percent) believed evangelicals will not approach the election with an open mind.
On the other end of this survey are the self perception of evangelicals.
According to the Barna survey, ”in many ways, they exude both confidence and concern.”
The survey said evangelicals widely contend that they will have a significant influence on the election (84 percent), yet the also firmly believe that they will be misunderstood and unfairly depicted by media (81 percent).
Three-quarters of evangelicals believe their peers will cause the conversation to be more conservative (75 percent). A similar proportion indicates their fellow believers will vote overwhelmingly with the Republican Party (74 percent).
Barna leaders found these statistics intriguing: In all, 48 percent of evangelicals believe it is accurate that their voting peers will focus primarily on abortion and homosexuality, while 45 percent reject this characterization. Also, just 28 percent of evangelicals contend that their tribe will minimize social justice issues, like poverty and immigration; 69 percent of evangelicals disagreed.
Interesting survey, don’t you think?
We are sure to hear more about the influence of evangelicals as the presidential election draws near.
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
Faith’s view of political conventions
The PBS news magazine show Religion & Ethics Newsweekly features special reports on this week’s Democratic Convention and will also focus on the upcoming Republican convention.
As part of the program’s ongoing “2008 Campaign” coverage, managing editor and correspondent Kim Lawton began her series of convention reports on Aug. 22 with a look at the impact of religion on both parties as they head into the November election.
This week, Lawton will be on location in Denver at the Democratic National Convention to examine the Democrat’s new faith-based outreach strategy and the role religion has played during the convention.
The series concludes the week of Sept. 5 with a report from the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis where Lawton will explore the challenges facing the Republicans as they try to hold onto the support of social conservatives and reach out to faith-based moderates.
Log onto Religion and Ethics Newsweekly’s Web site here, R&E 2008 Campaign, or you can watch the show on your local public television station. The program can be seen in the Oklahoma City area at 2:30 p.m. Sunday on OETA-13.
Carla Hinton
Religion Editor
Faith in the voter’s booth
I was struck by the simplicity of Richard Land’s (pictured at right) message when I visited with the Southern Baptist Convention leader during his visit to Oklahoma City this week.
I interviewed Land briefly at last year’s convention annual meeting in San Antonio and had been to previous news conferences where the president of the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission held sway. I had always enjoyed talking to him because he doesn’t mince words nor does he appear to hesitate to speak exactly what’s on his mind (every reporter’s dream come true!).
So when I asked him to explain his general message to Southern Baptist these days I shouldn’t have been surprised that it was so simple and direct:
Register to vote.
Find out where you need to go vote.
Become informed about the candidates and …
Vote.
Land said that is the essence of his message — and he implores his audience of evangelicals (Land said one in three Oklahomans is a baptized member of a Southern Baptist church) to vote according to their Judeo-Christian value system.
The message is getting through, he said.
Land said Americans see the necessity of the seperation of church and state — a point emphasized by the country’s founding fathers. Americans don’t want government-sponsored faith, but they do want people of all faiths to have an opportunity to make their point in the public square, Land added.
He predicted that this will be borne out come the presidential election in November.
Meanwhile, here’s a heads up about a new prayer initiative that Land’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission is leadin.
The Nashville, Tenn.-based commission is partnering with the SBC’s North American Mission Board for a prayer initiative calling all Southern Baptists to engage in a time of prayer for personal spiritual revival and national renewal this fall.
The initiative, called the “40/40 Prayer Vigil,” will feature 40 days of prayer beginning Sept. 23 and concluding with a dedicated 40 hours of prayer that will begin at 4 p.m. Oct. 31 and end at 8 a.m. Nov. 2.
For more information, go to ilivevalues.com.
