[Cincinatus' Wife]

Earlier thread - not listed on Editorial page - thus buried.

[HitmanLV]

Put it this way: if you are about to have major surgery and your only choice was a church-going doctor with a high mortality rate, or an agnostic with a high success record, which would it be?

Death of the corporeal body means nothing to the true believer! Just a fast-track ticket to salvation! Halleluia!!!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

I'm shocked your post went into a black hole.

I've linked it and reposted under editorial.

[x]

The Census Bureau recently noted that only 23.7 percent of the U.S. population fit the ‘50s stereotype of heterosexual married couples with children. Even in the “golden age” of the ‘50s, the figure was just under 50 percent.

That's misleading. First of all, are children counted in the overall population? Since they aren't usually married and usually don't have children, that skews the figure for "heterosexual married couples with children" downward. Secondly, are couples whose children have grown up and widows and widowers not counted in the "heterosexual married couples with children" figure?

I would probably take the unbelieving doctor who as well if they other was likely to kill me. Who wouldn't?

[jwparkerjr]

re: From their nearly unanimous condemnation of Bill Clinton for his extramarital affairs

I would beg to pick a nit with Cal here. The condemnation of Bill Clinton by the conservative Right was a lot more inclusive than simply his extramarital affairs. Everything about him was cause for alarm for this member of the conservative Right.

[My2Cents]

Cal hasn't been reading FR recently.

[TAdams8591]

I don't see supporting Guiliani as having anything to do with the maturation process. Quite the opposite.

[Sunsong]

That substantial numbers of conservative evangelical voters are even considering these candidates as presidential prospects is a sign of their political maturation and of their more pragmatic view of what can be expected from politics and politicians.

It is also evidence that many of them are awakening to at least two other realities — (1) they are not electing a church deacon; and (2) government has limited power to rebuild a crumbling social construct.

The Census Bureau recently noted that only 23.7 percent of the U.S. population fit the ‘50s stereotype of heterosexual married couples with children. Even in the “golden age” of the ‘50s, the figure was just under 50 percent.

Until this election cycle, most social conservatives supported candidates and policies based on the married with children “ideal” family model. It may be the ideal, but it is no longer widely practiced, including by many conservative evangelicals.

Points to remember.

[pissant]

Cal going to bat for Rudy. Dunce.

[TigersEye]

Conservative Evangelical Christian voters have come a long way in a short time. From their nearly unanimous condemnation of Bill Clinton for his extramarital affairs, a growing number of these “pro-family” voters appear ready to accept several Republican presidential candidates who do not share their ideal of marriage and faith. Among those seriously under consideration by these church-going folks is former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has been married three times and who had an affair with the woman now his wife when he was married to wife number two.

If I suspend credulity and hypothetically accept Cal's premise...What does it profit a man to mature emotionally yet let his intellect become a babbling brook?

[dmw]

Cal Thomas is full of hair dye. No one listens to what this guy has to say anymore--except liberals of course.

[Skokie42]

I suppose if "political maturation" means selling out your values for political expediency...

I find this op-ed condescending. He's implying that Christians' voting goals are actually to get REPUBLICANS elected rather than to get CHRISTIAN-ACTING/LEGISLATING leaders. Are Christians now just the lackeys of the Republican Party? Are we supposed to vote for whoever is most likely to win as a REPUBLICAN, even if their positions are antithetical to our own Christian beliefs?

[Cacique]

btt