Evanglicalism 2.0?

A thought-provoking report from the Journal about evangelicals and Obama. There's a couple of points I'd like to mention, but it should be said first that the numbers you see in the article seem to be before the "bump" McCain has received in the past few days. In any case, there seems to be a noticeable shift away from the Religious Right in the evangelical community.

The indicators have been around for years. Derek Webb, songwriter and member of the Christian band Caedmon's Call, made a noticeable shift in politics several years ago (he might have made the shift earlier than , but it became more noticeable at the time). His albums She Must And Shall Go Free and Mockingbird were direct in their complaints about modern evangelical-dom. Webb stressed the universal nature of Christianity, and with lyrics such as "God is not a Republican or Democrat" on the records, he made clear his feelings about the political side of his religion.

The response? Positive. Christianity Today, the flagship evangelical magazine, gave it a great review, praising his strong-worded criticism as "much needed." That hardly sounds like the myopic group of Left-Behinders many on the left imagine evangelicals to be.

But it goes beyond one writer. I can speak, at least anecdotally, of how the susurrus of voices questioning Dobson and Falwell have grown into a fully-grown movement opposing the politicizing of what many believe to be a transcendentally spiritual practice.

I'm part of the generation of Christians who came of age during the rise of the Religious Right. At after-church lunches, you would hear about Clinton's waywardness, how the Democrats are, to a one, left-wing secular humanists. One of my neighbors (who is my parents' age), during the 2004 election, said to me, "I don't know how someone can be a Democrat and call themselves a Christian." Yup, you read that right.

To wit: it got pretty bad at points. But as my peers moved from teens to adults, the willingness to speak out grew as well. Yes, we'd say, God does care about the unborn and yes God commands us to be married to one man or one woman. But I don't think that's all. Even some who are like me, with pretty libertarian-anarcho-capitalist instincts, felt that the "conservativism" of the Religious Right was simple-minded and unBiblical. Out of these various discontents has arisen a more unaffiliated church in many ways, where Democrats and Republicans are welcome, and where the faith in Jesus Chris, rather than the faith in the man-made traditional values, holds true.

There's a guy, Rob Bell, who is huge. Dude has a couple of best seller books (with great titles like 'Velvet Elvis' and 'Sex God') and a wildly popular video series called NOOMA. While I was working with a Christian college ministry (it rhymes with "Schmampus Schmuschmade for Schmist") I ran across kids from all over the political and socio-economic spectrum who were crazy about Rob Bell. When he came to campus to promote "Sex God", it was in a standing room only auditorium and thousands of students came. eager to hear him talk.

Rob Bell is a lefty. He wouldn't put it that way, but his politics fall on the left side of any normal dividing line. Anti-war, green, anti-death penalty, &c. He's the James Dobson antidote. Kids know this, but they like his insight into everyday spiritual issues. I know Reaganites who couldn't care less about his politics, and I know Kucinich fans who love his heart and his mind.

What does all this mean? Nothing drastic. . .yet. I think the numbers will slowly make the move back towards the middle, where Christians fall on both sides of the aisle. What would give the moderating movement a guarine boost to the hindparts would be the Democrats moving against abortion. I think even the most conservative evangelicals I know would admit that the majority of their fellow believers are economically liberal, socially conservative. They don't have a problem with Bush giving billions to Africa, or they wouldn't have a problem with more monetary support for faith-based initiatives at home. Get rid of abortion as a pillar of the Democrat party, and I'd guess 30% of self-identified evangelicals would immediately change parties.