By VictorM: Starting about 30 years ago, the involvement by evangelical Christians in every day politics has dramatically increased. This group has joined forces with more conservative Catholics on the issues they have in common to forge a formidable political force:

By some measures, the change among evangelicals has been dramatic. A generation ago, leaders rarely spoke out against abortion; even the Southern Baptist Convention voted in 1971 to support making it legal under conditions including rape and "severe fetal deformity." Today, Americans who identify themselves as evangelical are the most opposed of any faith group to abortion -- far more than those who identify themselves as Catholic -- even in cases of rape or danger to the mother's health, according to a new survey by Baylor University.

What changed? Did a new revelation occur? A new Bible verse discovered? No. Then what? I have maintained for many years that the change had nothing to do with religion; all to do with politics.

After getting beaten for decades, conservatives, after many years of studying and organizing, recognized that their best bet was dividing the American people. With the Democrats losing the south over civil rights, Republicans went from a Darwinist party to just about all-religion. Abortion being their golden goose. And so the rolling out of a strategy to divide was carried forward.

This kind of transformation is very easy to do using the Bible. All you need is an eloquent speaker who introduces his interpretation of the words of the Bible, and henceforth the word "up" starts meaning "down". How? Well, by explaining that "up" based on the root Greek word, when compared with the Hebrew word, and analyzing the etymology of the Latin word, really means "down". And presto! -- Mission accomplished. Who in the flock is going to question this PhD guy with the fancy suit and the sharp tongue? No one. So abortion goes from being supported in 1971 to being the work of the devil in 10 years. Same Bible. Same God. Same Jesus. Same word. New guy with sharp suit... and millions from conservatives donors.

Labels: abortion, bioethics, catholic church, evengelicals, religion today

By Kevin Drum: [T]he battle between the "old guard" evangelicals (Dobson, Weyrich, Bauer, etc.) and the younger crowd is heating up... It's not just that [the old guard] want to stay focused on abortion and gay marriage, the Dobson crowd's usual hot buttons... Opening up the evangelical agenda to topics such as citizenship for illegal immigrants, universal healthcare, and caps on carbon emissions risks finding common ground with Democrats:

The best-known champion of such causes, the Rev. Jim Wallis, this week challenged conservative crusader James C. Dobson, the chairman of Focus on the Family, to a debate on evangelical priorities.

"Are the only really 'great moral issues' those concerning abortion, gay marriage and the teaching of sexual abstinence?" Wallis asked in his challenge. "How about the reality of 3 billion of God's children living on less than $2 per day? ... What about pandemics like HIV/AIDS ... [and] disastrous wars like Iraq?"

Just thought I'd let everyone know that there are cracks in the evangelical movement's longtime role as a bought-and-paid-for subsidiary of the Republican Party, and those cracks are getting bigger. The old guys don't like it much, but time may not be on their side.

Labels: evengelicals, James Dobson, Jim Wallis, kevin drum, religion