"Democrats Don't Understand 'Evangelicalism'"

An article by David Steinmetz at yesterday's Tribune-Review:

Some analysts, stunned by the victory of George W. Bush in the 2004 election, suggested that he had won re-election because of the support of right-wing evangelical Christians or fundamentalists (the terms were used interchangeably). A few even braced for the introduction of an unwelcome theocracy and spoke darkly of secession.

Amazingly, nobody laughed....

Democrats like to regard themselves as more cosmopolitan than Republicans. But they have been woefully unsophisticated in their analysis of evangelicals, whom they tend to paint in monochromatic hues. Evangelicals seem to them to belong to an alien "retro" America, whose values they do not share.

In point of fact there always have been, and still are, evangelicals in the Democratic Party, including former President Jimmy Carter, who once caused distress in the media by announcing he was "born again." At least 22 percent of self-identified evangelicals voted for John Kerry, a number buoyed by black evangelicals, who vote overwhelmingly for Democratic candidates.

Unfortunately for Kerry, evangelical support for Democrats has eroded since 2000, even among blacks and Hispanics, but especially among evangelicals for whom abortion and gay marriage trump all other considerations....

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Mon. 11/29/04 07:11:56 AM
Categorized as Political.