Posted on 11/07/2008 7:23:40 AM PST by Alex Murphy
So much for the "new evangelicals."
For the past two years, hundreds of articles have appeared in newspapers across America making the claim that the old religious right was moving left and that Barack Obama, with his religiously infused rhetoric and various "outreach efforts," was leading the charge. A year ago, David Kirkpatrick predicted the "evangelical crackup" on the cover of the New York Times Magazine. "Jesus Rode a Donkey: Why Republicans Don't Have the Corner on Christ," "Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America" and "Souled Out: Reclaiming Faith and Politics After the Religious Right" are just three of the dozens of books released since 2004 that suggested that evangelicals were rethinking their loyalty to the Republican Party and conservatism in general. The new evangelicals, just in case anyone missed the storyline, were not so backward as to vote on issues like abortion and gay marriage. They were enlightened about the environment and favored government aid to the poor.
Well, whoever these new evangelicals were, they didn't show up at the polls on Tuesday.
John McCain won 74% of white born-again Protestants' votes. And while this was four percentage points lower than George Bush's share in 2004, President Bush's re-election was "the highpoint" for evangelical support of Republicans at least since 1980, according to John Green, a pollster at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. It's become something of a cliché that Mr. Bush has a "special relationship" with his fellow evangelicals -- but it's true. And it's a little unrealistic to expect that Sen. McCain would enjoy the same relationship with them, given that he is not one of their own. But he did just as well as, if not better than, every other GOP candidate in the past...
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
(Kennedys have evidently been able to do that for some time.)
I hope Jindal can't, and won't, say that.
The traditional nativist slam on Catholics is that their real loyalty is to a foreign power. (The Vatican is of course a grave threat to US interests; why, it's almost big enough to walk a large dog. ;-))
(This comes straight out of the Reformation-era polemic in England; look up Regnans in excelsis and the English response to it, Guy Fawkes Day, etc.)
Kennedy defused that by throwing his faith under the bus. If Jindal is half the man I think he is, his Catholicism is a non-negotiable part of who he is ... as mine is of me.
If you're looking for a man of integrity and strong Christian convictions, with Catholicism being an inextricable part of both, then I hope we can unite behind Governor Jindal.
Evangelicals would be foolish to reject Jindal because he is a Catholic. I would personally vote for him in a heartbeat because his value system is the same as mine on most of the important issues, even though our worship forms are quite different. There aren’t enough Evangelicals or conservative practicing Catholics to make a political difference, but when we stand together on the important moral and ethical issues we can make that difference.
What's going on with the other 26%? I wonder what the % was for my Black brothers.
I don't think they will try to do anything like that. They don't need to. They already control the school systems. They control the media and will restrict debate by means of the "fairness doctrine" and censorship of the internet. The tax codes will be changed and the middle class that already does not pay it's fair share will start receiving checks from the govt.
A culture of dependence on govt will be expanded at the same time children will be indoctrinated with the liberal belief in "tolerance".
Judges will be appointed that feel free to impose their liberal view of "tolerance" and in no time at all Christianity will be marginalized and be "obsolete".
The history is yes.
Why is it that Roman Catholics don't support conservative Born Again Christians?
I got tripped up on that assumption yesterday re the Catholic vote ... we think black/white and forget the hugh numbers of hispanic Catholics and Evangelicals .. hispanics went big time for Obama.
I swear, I recall hearing early in the primaries that hispanics would never vote for a black. ha! You can safely assume that 95-99% of your black brothers went for Obama, regardless of religious persuasion.
xx% McCain, 67% Obama - Hispanic Protestants and other Christians
xx% McCain, 94% Obama - Black Protestants
You can find the expanded, updated chart on my profile page.
They do.
Thanks for the data. It's a shame their Christian faith didn't come first, makes me wonder how Christian they really are.
I kinda figured the "historic" aspect of it would be a driving force for Blacks.
I think it's surprising with Hispanic Evangelicals, maybe the mishandling of immigration reform fed into it as well.
Some of them are "Catholics" in name only. The "Catholics" who can't be bothered with Sunday Mass attendance are going to vote exactly like pagans, because most of them live like pagans.
Of those who practice their faith, a significant number don't make the connection between between their faith, and their behavior in the voting booth, partly because of an long-entrenched history of voting Democrat, and partly because, although they attend Mass on Sunday morning, their faith doesn't make much of an impact on the rest of their life.
It would be interesting to see the exit poll numbers for Catholics who really, really know and practice their faith: Mass attendance at least weekly, daily prayer/Bible study (preferably 2-3x per day), confession at least monthly, don't contracept, etc.
I can give you a little data point on that. I went to the local GOP HQ and got 6 McCain Palin yard signs @ 3 dollars each. I put one in my yard. I took the other 5 to a Catholic function for men (one organized by a Catholic lay organization slandered in a recent movie). My 5 signs were gone in 5 minutes.
I live in the South. Practically every one I vote for would answer to the description of "conservative Born Again Christian".
I still don’t think it will matter that much. If it does, then shame on evangelicals!
I still don’t think it will matter that much. If it does, then shame on evangelicals! Heck, if I was willing to vote for a Mormon, a Catholic shouldn’t be much of a problem, right?
Who?
IIRC, George Bush got 60% of the RC vote. I don't recall what Ronald Reagan got.
Most of the time, it's me, lamenting that my fellow-evangelicals aren't as out-front, identifiably focused on abortion as Roman Catholics.
)c:
Evangelicals by definition practice their religion. Half of self identified Catholics don't. But like you as a Catholic it makes me sick to see so many Catholics voting for the most radical pro abortionist ever elected to be POTUS.
Conservative Roman Catholics do. We just supported the hell out of Sarah Palin.
Catholics support conservative born again evangelicals. If anyone supports pagan, liberal baby killers they are not Catholic.
I would be privileged to vote for a man of his character and integrity, Catholic or not.
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