Is there really an "evangelical crack" up in the works?

"The evangelical crackup" is the title of a lengthy story in the New York Times Magazine. The title is a bit more provocative than the actual article which does note some interesting happenings in the evangelical political universe.

I don't see an evangelical crackup because there's not a monolithic evangelical entity out there, in politics or elsewhere. Evangelicalism is more of a movement than an institution and that's true regarding political/public square engagement as much as evangelism.

I think there are some interesting developments in evangelical circles. The most promising one is the broader cultural engagement by evangelicals. An exclusive focus on politics by evangelicals is a mistake in my estimation and would mirror the error of the Left which views politics as the answer to society's problems. I applaud broader, personal social engagement because that's what Christians should be doing. Government by it's nature is ill-equipped to address the pressing social problems of the day. (This is borne out by the fact that the percent of people living in poverty hasn't improved since Johnson's "War on Poverty" began in the early 1960s. I think one could make the case that it has in some respects made matters worse, e.g. usurped the role of private charities and persons and created programs which encouraged people to develop bad patterns of behavior such as out of wedlock births, and the like.) That's why it's absolutely critical that evangelicals are personally involved in addressing poverty, AIDS, and other social problems.

I think the media tries to find the spokesman for evangelicals e.g. Dobson, Falwell, Robertson and it just doesn't work because of its diffused nature. I think the influence the media places on power or influence of particular evangelical leaders is generally overstated. Those viewed as leaders may voice the concerns of large numbers of evangelicals but they don't dictate what people will do.

I don't see evangelicalism as diminishing in influence with the passing of some of the prominent evangelical leaders like Jerry Falwell and D. James Kennedy. I think evangelicals have moved from a protest movement, e.g. Falwell and the Moral Majority in the 70s and 80s to a movement where individuals are personally engaged in the process by running for office, serving on staffs, being law clerks and judges. I think this is true not just for the public square but other areas as well.

I do think the war has changed the political calculus across the board, at least for a few years. (Though that could change if the situation changes for the better in Iraq.) It's drawn out the pacifist thinking of some and disillusioned others but I don't think it's changes the fundamentals of political involvement. I saw a poll recently which showed younger evangelicals are less likely to identify as Republicans but not less likely to identify themselves as conservative and are more pro-life than older evangelicals.

The media which deals in sound bites vainly tries to fit evangelicals into a neat little box. It generally doesn't work, because they're dealing with a movement not a monolithic institution.

Dobson says Fred Thompson "not for me"

Dobson says Thompson 'not for me'
Evangelical leader cites candidate's opposition to federal marriage amendment

© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, who previously questioned GOP presidential candidate Fred Thompson's viability among evangelical voters, now has told friends he cannot support the former Tennessee senator.

In an email to friends, according to the Associated Press, Dobson said he won't be supporting Thompson: "Not for me, my brothers. Not for me!"

Dobson raised questions about the strength of Thompson's campaign and challenged his stance on issues important to evangelical Christians, for whom Dobson is widely considered an important voice.

"Isn't Thompson the candidate who is opposed to a Constitutional amendment to protect marriage, believes there should be 50 different definitions of marriage in the U.S., favors McCain-Feingold, won't talk at all about what he believes, and can't speak his way out of a paper bag on the campaign trail?" Dobson's e-mail said.

As WND reported in March, Dobson was quoted by U.S. News and World Report saying, "Everyone knows [Thompson's] conservative and has come out strongly for the things that the pro-family movement stands for, [but] I don't think he's a Christian; at least that's my impression."

A spokesman for Focus on the Family issued a clarification, explaining Dobson did not mean to disparage Thompson and was "attempting to highlight that to the best of his knowledge, Sen. Thompson hadn't clearly communicated his religious faith, and many evangelical Christians might find this a barrier to supporting him."

In his e-mail, Dobson wrote of Thompson: "He has no passion, no zeal, and no apparent 'want to.' And yet he is apparently the Great Hope that burns in the breasts of many conservative Christians? Well, not for me, my brothers. Not for me!"

A Focus on the Family spokesman told the AP Dobson wrote the e-mail, but he couldn't comment because the statements were made by Dobson as an individual, not as a representative of Focus on the Family.

A spokeswoman for the Thompson campaign, Karen Hanretty, defended the candidate in an e-mail response to AP.
"Fred Thompson has a 100 percent pro-life voting record," she wrote. "He believes strongly in returning authority to the levels of government closest to families and communities, protecting states from intrusion by the federal government and activist judges. We're confident as voters get to know Fred, they'll appreciate his conservative principles, and he is the one conservative in this race who can win the nomination and can go on to defeat the Democratic nominee."

The Republican base has been split on Thompson, with some viewing him as an heir to President Reagan's legacy and others, like Dobson, expressing concern about his stance on homosexual marriage and other social issues.
On the issue of same-sex marriage, for example, Thompson has said he would support a plan to prohibit states from imposing their marriage laws on other states. That's far short of what many evangelicals seek: a federal amendment limiting marriage to one man and one woman.

The e-mail included a news article referencing Thompson's comment that he does not attend church regularly and won't speak about his faith during the campaign. Those remarks prompted Dobson to write that his assumptions "about the former senator's never having professed to be a Christian are turning out to be accurate in substance."
Previously, in an exclusive column for WND, Dobson said he wouldn't back former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani because of his "unapologetic" support for abortion on demand, and he later said he couldn't back Sen. John McCain because of the Arizona senator's opposition to a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

Thompson only recently confirmed his candidacy, immediately bouncing into the lead ahead of Giuliani in at least one poll. Rasmussen Reports' Presidential Tracking Poll showed him favored by 26 percent of likely Republican primary voters right after his announcement. Giuliani, who has been the frontrunner most of the year, was in second with 22 percent and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was a distant third at 13 percent.