Posted on 06/27/2009 10:43:54 PM PDT by Steelfish
Will scandals inspire evangelicals to stray from Republican Party?
Cases like Gov. Mark Sanford's have undercut GOP assertions of moral authority. They could also reinforce some Christian conservatives' doubts about politics in general.
By Mark Z. Barabak
June 28, 2009
While Mark Sanford works to salvage his marriage, Republicans are facing the prospect of a different kind of breakup: religious voters walking out on the GOP.
A series of sex-related scandals over the last few years has undercut the party's assertions of moral authority and, worse, may serve to reinforce the doubts that many evangelical voters have traditionally harbored about the unholiness of the political realm.
"If we place our hope in a political party or a politician, we'll be let down," said Brandt Waggoner, 25, a student at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., who said he spoke for many young evangelicals. "My hope is in God and not in the government."
A sudden and overwhelming shift of Christian conservatives from the GOP to the more secular-minded Democratic Party appears unlikely. As Laura Olson, an expert on religion and politics at South Carolina's Clemson University, put it: "The Republican Party is still going to be, at a minimum, the lesser of two evils."
But in politics, subtraction can be just as important as addition. If large numbers of evangelicals were to stay home on election day, or channel their activism into outlets other than politics, the GOP could suffer grave consequences; over the last generation, devout churchgoer voters have become an increasingly vital part of the shrinking Republican base.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
As if there were no scandals in the other party. If the scandals could be attributed tp membership in the party, then there might be reason to abandon the party. Since that is really a non sequitor, I would say the answer is no!
Translation: We hope, we hope, we hope.
In fact, the main thing that will turn Republicatn base voters away from the party is the failure to hold the line on taxes, spending, and the appalling growth of government.
“Scandals” are the least of the party’s problems.
wishful thinking on the part of Barabak
Behavior has consequences style Christians will not flock to baby killers
After Jim and Tammy Faye, Jimmy Swaggart and countless other evangelical problems, it is obvious that:
We ALL fall short of the Glory of God!
And, our job is NOT to act as Peter, at the Gates, deciding who gets into Heaven!
Our job is to help elect people who can then fight against bad ideas and bad laws, and fight FOR good ideas and good legislation.
You do not ask the cop, when he or she comes after a 911 call, if the cop is “faithful” to his or her spouse.
We need to focus on how Republicans VOTE, while in office.
Their private lives matter, only as a gage as to how we might trust them to keep their promises, on policy matters.
Yes, private scandals matter, but -—
If Republicans continue to be obsessed by these issues, we will eat our own, and our circular firing squads will guarantee that the leftists, atheists, Communists and radical Islam completely take over the world!
Ridiculous. As a Catholic, I never know if we are part of the Evangelical group. But, this ridiculous statement is like saying that because a few freaky priests decided to embarass the Catholic Church, we are all going leave the Catholic Church. This just does not make one ounce of sense. Another stupid author looking for attention.
I find the article to be worthy of a “C” in a second year college class. At some point, the journalist suggests that the church-goer crowd will still continue to be part of the decreasing base of Republicans? Where exactly is this decreasing base? You have barely one election where independents carried the weight of the Obama win...and without them...there is no Obama win. The Republican base is the same as it was ten years ago. This was third-rate journalism at best.
Doubt it...Evangelicals have plenty of their own marital baggage...
And go to a gay-loving, anti-christian party? What utter nonsense.
Will Scandals Inspire Evangelicals To Stray From Republican Party?
And go where? The party of abortion on demand?
only if you treat ppl as groups instead of as individuals
Ping for later
For better (a terrific execution of the war on terror) or worse (huge growth in government) evangelicals came out in droves to vote for George Bush. With McCain they had no reason to think that he would represent their beliefs.
That should mean something to the GOP leadership but it probably won’t.
The difference IS: Liberal Democrats are the TRAITORS; Conservative Republicans are the PATRIOTS! That is the bottom line.
Since much of Sanford’s support came from third party types, both on FR and bloggers and was a L Ron Paul clone, Republican Party not a real issue.
Yes, so true, you can add that to what I said....
LMBO!!!
Sure, if they're complete morons...
You can always trust a dying scumbag Democrat newspaper like the LA Times to come up with this same re-hashed "story" they ran after the Bob Livingston, Henry Hyde, Mark Foley, and Larry Craig scandals.
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