Loading ...
Evangelical and a liberal?
- Filed under: Faith In Ohio
- Date: Jan 29,2008
Dr. John Green of the University of Akron's Ray C. Bliss Institute for Applied Politics is a man with a national reputation for his expertise on the relationship between religion and politics. This week, the PBS show NOW has an excellent interview with Dr. Green. The title of the discussion is Evangelicals In Flux. The discussion looks at the new generation of evangelicals and their association with political parties. In the interview, Dr. Green is asked, "Can you be a liberal and an evangelical?" Here is his response:
GREEN: You know [this question] is really interesting. I've done surveys for many years of pastors and evangelical activists and the people in the pews—-surveys of the public. And one of the questions we often ask is, "Is it possible to be an evangelical and a liberal?"
And the reason we ask that is because that is the subject of some contention and debate within the evangelical community. And we find that there really are two opinions on that matter. Some evangelicals, particularly the more conservative ones, really doubt that one could be a true believer and a political liberal.
But there are others, and there always have been others, that don't see that that's necessarily a contradiction and that one could find in the religious teachings of the evangelical community plenty of things that might lead one to adopt liberal positions in politics. It's my sense that in the last few years, that second group, people who don't see a necessary contradiction between evangelical beliefs and political liberalism, has become somewhat larger. And more than that, it's become much more vocal.
It is exciting for me as a Democrat to think about the possibility of evangelicals considering new issues as their top priorities. Will they be the new swing voters of 2008? If the wedge issues of the past are no longer effective at driving the electorate apart, perhaps issues like education, the War In Iraq, the environment, poverty and others will cause evangelical voters to consider voting for a few Democrats. I hope so because it could have a dramatic impact on Ohio politics.
