Evangelicals all over the political map
Martha Sawyer Allen, Star Tribune
April 24, 2004EVAN24
Evangelical Christian Colleen Wicklund is "leaning toward" voting for Massachusetts Democrat John Kerry for president.
Evangelical Christian Bob Bratnober voted for George Bush in 2000 and will again this year.
Evangelical Christian James Lee also voted for Bush in 2000, but he's voting for "anyone but Bush" this year.
So, why are the political views these Minnesota evangelical Christians all over the map?
The answer is simple, experts say: Despite news media portrayals to the contrary, evangelicals, who comprise millions of potential voters nationally every year, have never uniformly voted Republican. In fact, these experts say, there hasn't been a single candidate that evangelicals overwhelmingly voted for -- including President Bush. And this even though Bush has been open about his own evangelical faith, his ties to the conservative religious right and his acknowledgment that his faith influences how he governs.
Political party identity or political leanings, rather than their religion, have more influence on evangelicals, the experts note.
In a recent Minnesota Poll, respondents who said they had had a born-again experience (one indicator of being an evangelical) were fairly evenly split when asked about a party preference: 39 percent said Republican, 32 percent Democrat and 29 percent Independent. (The March 28-31 poll interviewed people who said they were likely to vote in November.) Those who said they had had a born-again experience preferred Bush over Kerry, 48 percent to 39 percent. (The rest were undecided.)
If one narrows the definition of the group of potential voters to the "religious right," then the votes for Bush become more predictable, said Chris Gilbert, professor of political science at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn., and an expert on religious conservatives. "The term 'evangelical' takes in a much broader spectrum of the population than the phrase 'religious right' does," he said. "The term 'religious right' is important as an identifier. In 2000, 80 percent of those who said they identified with the religious right voted for Bush."
Jack Evans, 76, a member of Celebration Church in Lakeville, fits as being among the "religious right." He says he's "born again and waiting for Jesus." He's a solid Bush supporter, he said, because Bush "stands for something. He realizes the truth, that every dispute on this planet is based on a religious difference. Every battle that's going on is for the minds and souls of people."
Ron Sider, director of Evangelicals for Social Action, said, "I tend to divide the evangelical community into the religious right, which is a big block of about 45 percent, another 45 percent are centrist and then there's the progressive side that's at least 10 percent." Sider, a professor of theology at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania, is a national leader of progressive evangelicals.
Wicklund, 62, holds Bible study at her Lakeville home and said she thinks of "Jesus as my savior." But for president, see sees Kerry as "my only choice." She thinks that many conservative Christians don't believe in social-justice issues the way Jesus would.
But for Bratnober, 76, a retired executive from St. Paul who volunteers in community-service projects, Bush "is a man for such a time as this. He needs the prayers and support of all Americans."
Even though national polls show that at least 60 percent of evangelicals report that their faith is important in deciding how to vote, usually the deciding factors are other issues. As Gilbert said, "Being born again doesn't necessarily draw you into the political movement that emphasizes the religious dimensions of issues."
Take Lee, 49, of Watertown, Minn., who says he prays a lot and his faith is important to him. He voted for Bush in 2000 but won't in November because of the economy. When his company downsized, he "inherited" three more jobs, his wage was cut 10 percent and his medical-benefit costs soared. "We've been hurt so bad," said Lee, a steel industry engineer.
However, Bratnober said he thinks terrorism is the major problem and Bush has shown genuine leadership on the issue.
Jim Ballenthin, 56, an attorney who lives on Ponto Lake in Cass County, is worried about the war, the environment and "some of the social issues." For him, faith is "the key relationship one has with God and the second one is service to others." He said, "I find the dichotomy is with the conservative Christians. I can't find a basis for a belief that follows conservative politics and yet call themselves Christians. Christians serve others; they protect the environment. They leave the world a better place for those who come after them. They care about people."
But Bratnober counters that his faith works with his politics. "My dad always imparted to me we need to give something back. I've always been interested in outreach activities that derive income not just as charity, but in providing useful services." He is active in Rebuild Resources, a St. Paul work site that helps young people who have abused drugs and alcohol.
Gilbert said, "People do compartmentalize more than we think they do. Evangelicals have multiple views. A lot of Americans are conditioned to believe the separation of church and state should be on an individual level, not just as a description of how government and churches interact."
He believes that John F. Kennedy's assertion in the 1960 presidential campaign that his Catholic faith was not going to dictate how he would run the government "wasn't just a politically expedient statement. It resonated with a lot of people."
In the moderate evangelical online publication, "American Prospect," Ayelish McGarvey wrote, "Compelled by evangelicalism's conservative theology but averse to the right wing's intolerance and lack of charity toward the poor [some evangelicals] occupy a curious political middle ground. Their concerns extend beyond the conservative morality issues of abortion and gay marriage to progressive matters of social justice, America's role in the world and care for the environment."
Wicklund is an example of this. She is a member of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Burnsville. "I'm sick and tired of the Republicans saying 'I love the person but hate the sin' because they feel they can put restrictions on people," she said. "I don't feel like there's compassion from Christians when they say gays cannot marry and shouldn't have the benefits that everyone else has. That's not being loving, caring, compassionate."
Eastern's Sider said, "There are substantial numbers who feel anguished over the choice [for president]. There are significant reasons for voting for him or against him, and they're struggling hard for the balance. I think that Bush is better on family issues -- marriage, pro-life, religious-freedom issues -- and for all those reasons the next Supreme Court nominees are crucial. . . . But he hasn't followed through in what he said after the election about poverty." Too many Republican initiatives have hurt the working poor, Sider says, and that discourages him from supporting Bush.
Bratnober added, speaking of Bush's faith, "He knows there's a God and he's looking over him. He reads his Bible every day. I have a great deal of confidence that he's praying every day and listening." |
