FEB. 6, 2008
ELECTIONS 2008
A guide to evangelicals and politics

Click the map for interview sources in your state and region

RELIGIOUS LEADERS
• The Rev. Leith Anderson is president of the National Association of Evangelicals and senior pastor of Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie, Minn. He supported the Evangelical Climate Initiative. Contact 952-944-6300.
• Richard Land is president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, based in Nashville, Tenn., and the SBC’s leading commentator on public policy. He is the author of The Divided States of America: What Liberals AND Conservative Are Missing in the God-and-Country Shouting Match (2007). Contact through Jill Martin, 615-782-8417, jmartin@erlc.com.
• Frank S. Page is president of the 16 million-member Southern Baptist Convention. He is the pastor of First Baptist Church in Taylors, S.C. Upon his election, which was largely brought about by younger, more progressive Baptists, he said: “I do not want anyone to think I am out to undo a conservative movement. … [But for] too long Baptists have been known for what we are against. Please let us tell you what we are for.” Contact 864-678-8818, pastor@taylorsfbc.org.
• The Rev. Rick Warren is senior pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., author of national best seller The Purpose Driven Life and a leading figure in the evangelical megachurch movement. Contact 949-609-8000.
• Donald E. Wildmon is chairman of the American Family Association in Tupelo, Miss. Wildmon is an outspoken figure who is frequently in the news. Contact through Diane O’Neal, 662-680-3886.

ORGANIZATIONS
• David Aikman is the author of A Man of Faith: The Spiritual Journey of George W. Bush and founder of Gegrapha, an organization of predominantly evangelical Christian journalists based in Washington, D.C. Contact 202-675 2035, david@davidaikman.com.
• Richard Cizik is vice president for government affairs at the National Association of Evangelicals, which includes 43,000 congregations from 50 member denominations, individual congregations from an additional 27 denominations, and 250 parachurch ministries and educational institutions. Contact 202-789-1011, rcizik@nae.net.
• James Dobson is founder, former president and chairman of the board of Focus on the Family and a leading player in evangelical politics. Contact Gary Schneeberger, vice president of media and constituent communications, at 719-548-5853, press@family.org, or Nima Reza, 719-548-4570, culturalissues@family.org.
• The Rev. Louis P. Sheldon is chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition in Washington, D.C., and one of the most outspoken and controversial leaders of the so-called Christian right. Contact in Washington at 202-547-8570 or at the Anaheim, Calif., office at 714-520-0300.
• Ron Sider is president and founder of Evangelicals for Social Action, which works on social concerns from an evangelical Christian perspective. Contact 610-645-9390, ronsider@esa-online.org.
• J. Brent Walker is executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. In speeches, he has outlined “five commandments and 10 lies” of political life for religious Americans who would enter political discussions. Among his advice: “Thou shalt not involve thy church in electoral politics.” Contact 202-544-4226, bjc@BJConline.org.
• The Rev. Jim Wallis is founder and editor of Sojourners, a progressive evangelical magazine in Washington, D.C., and a leading voice among social justice evangelicals. Contact through Jack Pannell, 202-745-4614, media@sojo.net.
• Paul Weyrich has been a leading player in the religious right for decades. He founded the Free Congress Foundation in Washington, which he still heads, and in 1977 co-founded Moral Majority with the Rev. Jerry Falwell. Contact 202-546-3000.
• Many evangelical Christians have become increasingly active on the issue of global warming, although the climate change debate has divided evangelical opinion. The Evangelical Climate Initiative is a centerpiece initiative that includes megachurch pastors, presidents of Christian colleges, and other leaders. They issued a manifesto called “Climate Change: An Evangelical Call to Action.” For more information, contact Debbie Payton, 404-245-8500, dpayton@RooftopMediaWorks.com.

ACADEMICS

SEMINARIES
• Peter Kuzmic is the Distinguished Professor of World Missions and European Studies at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Mass. He can comment on a range of issues related to evangelicalism. Contact through Anne Doll, 978-468-7111 ext. 4141, adoll@gcts.edu.
• R. Albert Mohler Jr. is president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., the flagship school of the Southern Baptist Convention, and a prolific author, commentator and blogger at his Web site. Contact mohler@sbts.edu.
• Richard J. Mouw is a well-known writer and commentator on evangelical Christianity and president of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., a leading evangelical institution. He says there is a withdrawal of support for politics from the religious right, partly because of embarrassment at the comments of prominent evangelicals such as Robertson and Falwell. But Mouw also says disillusionment with Bush is leading some evangelicals to re-evaluate their alliances. Contact 626-584-5201, rjmouw@fuller.edu.
• Grant Wacker is a professor of the history of religion in America at Duke Divinity School in Durham, N.C. He has written extensively about the history of evangelicalism. Contact 919-660-3462, gwacker@div.duke.edu.

UNIVERSITIES
• Randall Balmer is a professor of American religion at Barnard College, Columbia University, and the author of several books on evangelicalism and American religious history. In Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America - An Evangelical’s Lament (2006), he criticizes his fellow evangelicals for abandoning their progressive past, when they fought against slavery and for universal suffrage, in favor of conservative issues such as abortion and intelligent design. Contact 212-854-3292, rb281@columbia.edu.
• J. Budziszewski is a professor of philosophy and government at the University of Texas at Austin and a fellow at the Discovery Institute. He is the author of Evangelicals in the Public Square: Four Formative Voices on Political Thought and Action (2006), in which he suggests that evangelicals could enhance their political clout if they could learn to draw on the broader lexicon of natural law to justify their public policy proposals. Contact 512-232-7229, jbud@austin.rr.com.
• Kimberly Conger is an assistant professor of political science at Iowa State University. She has studied the influence of religious conservatives in state Republican parties, and she presented a paper titled “Evangelicals: Outside the Beltway” at a 2003 seminar at the Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. Contact 515-294-3403, conger@iastate.edu.
• The Rev. David S. Dockery is former chairman of the board of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities, a leading association for evangelical-oriented colleges. He is also president of Union University in Jackson, Tenn. Contact 731-668-1818.
• John Green is a senior fellow in religion and American politics at the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. He is also professor of political science and director of the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron in Ohio. Green is a leading expert on trends in religion and politics. Contact 330-972-5182, green@uakron.edu or jgreen@pewforum.org.
• David P. Gushee is a senior fellow at the Center for Christian Leadership at Union University in Jackson, Tenn., and a well-known author and commentator on evangelical life. He is the editor of Christians and Politics Beyond the Culture Wars: An Agenda for Engagement. Contact 731-661-5024, dgushee@uu.edu.
• James Guth is a professor of political science at Furman University in Greenville, S.C. He has written widely on the emergence of Christian conservatives in the political arena. Contact 864-294-2210, jim.guth@furman.edu.
• James Davison Hunter is LaBrosse-Levinson Distinguished Professor of Religion, Culture and Social Theory at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. He is a leading researcher about the “culture wars” and comments frequently on evangelicals in public life. Contact 434-924-6524, jdh6c@virginia.edu.
• Richard Kyle is a professor of history and religion at Tabor College in Hillsboro, Kan. He is the author of Evangelicalism: An Americanized Christianity (2006), in which he both praises and criticizes evangelicals for their embrace of secular culture and shows how their ideas about sin, women and private enterprise support the Republican Party platform. Contact 620-947-3121 ext. 1064, richardk@tabor.edu.
• D. Michael Lindsay is an assistant professor of sociology and assistant director of the Center on Race, Religion and Urban Life at Rice University in Houston. He is a former Gallup consultant with an expertise on research about evangelicals. Lindsay is author of the 2007 book Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite. At the 2007 Religion Newswriters conference in San Antonio, he broke down several “myths” about evangelical Christians. Contact 713-348-5511, mlindsay@rice.edu.
• George M. Marsden is the Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. His areas of expertise include evangelicalism and American religious and intellectual history. His books include Understanding Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism and American Culture: The Shaping of Twentieth-Century Evangelicalism. Contact 574-631-7319, George.M.Marsden.1@nd.edu.
• Wilfred M. McClay holds the SunTrust Bank Chair of Excellence in Humanities at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and is a widely published author on issues related to religion in America. He is also a senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center and co-director of the Evangelicals in Civic Life program. Contact 423-755-5202, Bill-McClay@utc.edu or mcclay@mindspring.com.
• Laura R. Olson is a political science professor at Clemson University in Clemson, S.C. She is co-editor of the book Christian Clergy in American Politics. Olson says that the end of Mike Huckabee’s candidacy would cause serious soul-searching among evangelicals. Contact 864-656-1457, laurao@clemson.edu.
• Michael J. Perry is the Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law at Emory Law School in Atlanta. His research work focuses on the impact that religious movements, including evangelicalism, have had on American politics. His books include Religion, Politics and Nonestablishment. Contact 404-712-2086, mperry@law.emory.edu.
• Mark Rozell is professor of public policy at George Mason University in Arlington, Va., and co-editor of Religion and the American Presidency (2007), Religion and the Bush Presidency and The Values Campaign?: The Christian Right and the 2004 Elections. Contact 703-993-8171, mrozell@gmu.edu.
• Walter B. Shurden is a retired professor of Christianity and the founding executive director the Center for Baptist Studies at Mercer University in Macon, Ga. In June 2006, he delivered an address before the Religious Liberty Council Luncheon at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly in which he outlined ways in which he thinks some American Christians have mistakenly gone about tearing down the wall of separation between church and state. Contact shurden_wb@mercer.edu.
• Corwin Smidt holds the Paul B. Henry Chair in Christianity and Politics at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich., and serves as executive director of the Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics. He has written widely on the influence of evangelicals. Contact 616-526-6233, smid@calvin.edu.

OTHER LEADING VOICES
• Jimmy Carter is a former president of the United States and a Southern Baptist. In his book, Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis, he writes of an “unapologetic crusade underway to merge fundamentalist Christians with the right wing of the Republican Party.” Contact via Simon & Schuster publicity, 212-698-7541, or through Tony Clark at the Carter Presidential Library, 404-865-7109, Tony.Clark@NARA.gov.
• Michael Cromartie heads the Evangelicals in Civic Life program at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. Contact 202-682-1200, crom@eppc.org.
• David Neff is editor of Christianity Today, the leading evangelical periodical. It is based in Carol Stream, Ill. Contact through Michael Herman, 630-260-6200 ext. 4309 or 630-803-9432 (cell), mherman@christianitytoday.com.
• Kevin Phillips is the author of American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century (2006), in which he describes the Republican Party as “the first American religious Party” in America. Contact via Laura Tisdel, Viking Penguin publicity, 212-366-2226, laura.tisdel@us.penguingroup.com.
• Peter Wehner is a former deputy assistant to President George W. Bush and is now a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. He wrote a Dec. 31, 2007, National Review article titled “Among Evangelicals, a Transformation.” Contact 202-682-1200, pwehner@eppc.org.

Background

DEFINITION OF ‘EVANGELICAL’
What is an evangelical Christian? Before the Reformation, “evangelical” referred to all Christians and all Christianity. Since then, the term has become differentiated to refer to a more specific, yet more nondenominational, cohort in Protestant Christianity. However, some would associate any “doctrinally conservative Christian” with evangelicalism. In general, evangelicalism has three principal features: The emphasis on a personal conversion experience, the primacy of Scripture, and belief that faith in Jesus Christ is the only means to eternal salvation. Evangelicals are also often distinguished by their public efforts to convert others.

Because evangelicalism is not governed by a creed or does not have a high doctrine of church, and because of its emphasis on a personal conversion experience, many streams of Christianity can be covered by this umbrella. They include Baptists, Pentecostals, charismatics and other forms of “renewalist” or “revivalist” Christianity. Evangelicals are often described as — or describe themselves — simply as “born-again” Christians, or “regenerated” Christians. Evangelical congregations can range from small home fellowships to sprawling megachurches.
• Read a ReligionLink summary of the history of evangelicalism.
• Read the Religion Newswriters Stylebook entry on “evangelical.”
• Read the entry on “evangelicalism” in the Encyclopedia of Religion and Society.
• Read a definition of evangelicalism from the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals at Wheaton College. The site also parses the differences with “fundamentalists” and provides a good synopsis of the history of evangelicalism up to the present day.
• Evangelical Christian pollster George Barna posts a definition of “born-again” and evangelical Christianity along with relevant research.
•See a Jan. 30, 2006, ReligionLink edition on Pentecostalism on the centennial of the Azusa Street revival, which is considered the birth of the modern Pentecostal movement.

By many of these parameters, many African-Americans and a growing number of Latinos qualify as evangelicals. But black and Latino Christians have voting patterns so distinct from most white Protestants that the term evangelical is often shorthand for the predominantly white conservative Christians who make up the core of the so-called religious right. In surveys, pollsters often break these groups out by race and ethnicity to get a better picture of political attitudes.

ARTICLES
• Read a January 2008 interview that Barack Obama gave to Christianity Today, the flagship evangelical magazine, about his faith and his approach to evangelicals as a Democrat.
• Read a Jan. 29, 2008, Chicago Tribune story, “Latinos courted as wild card among shifting evangelical voters.”
• Read a Religion News Service story (posted on Beliefnet on Jan. 25, 2008), “Religious Leaders Urge Bush to Redeem ‘Shameful’ Legacy.”
• Read a Jan. 24, 2008, Time magazine story, “Is Dobson’s Political Clout Fading?,” about Focus on the Family leader James Dobson.
• Read a Jan. 23, 2008, Christianity Today story, “Continental Divide: Hispanic evangelicals move toward the Democrats – and away from white evangelicals.”
• Read a Jan. 18, 2008, column in the National Review by editor Rich Lowry titled “Huck Hoax: Bound by his own Christian identity politics,” that takes Mike Huckabee to task for appealing narrowly to evangelicals.
• Read a Jan. 18, 2008, Los Angeles Times story, “Evangelicals not on same page.”
• Read a Jan. 13, 2008, New York Times story, “Huckabee Splits Young Evangelicals and Old Guard.”
• Read a Dec. 31, 2007, article from the National Review titled “Among Evangelicals, a Transformation,” by Peter Wehner, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, where the story is posted.
• Read “The Evangelical Crackup,” an Oct. 28, 2007, story in The New York Times Magazine about the travails of the Christian right during the current election season.
• Read an April 16, 2006, New York Times story, “Big Tent Religion: Evangelicals Debate the Meaning of ‘Evangelical,’ ” which features a useful graphic on surveys on evangelical differences.
• Read a February 2004 article in Christianity Today by church historian Martin Marty on the emergence of evangelicals in American society, titled “At the Crossroads: Evangelicals have become major players in American culture, and that may be their biggest problem.”

POLLS
• See a Jan. 16, 2008, analysis of poll data from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press on religion and the electorate, with a focus on evangelicals and the GOP.
• Read a Feb. 2, 2008, New York Times column by Peter Steinfels, “Evangelical Democrats, Exit Polls and a Matter of Balance,” which analyzes the imbalance of exit polling questions on faith between Republican voters and Democratic voters.
• An extensive survey, “American Evangelicals,” was released in April 2004 in connection with a May special section by U.S. News & World Report and a four-part series by the PBS program Religion & Ethics Newsweekly. The survey is a comprehensive snapshot of America’s evangelical community. In one key finding, 75 percent of evangelicals believe they fit into mainstream American society, and an equal number believe they have to struggle to have their voices heard. Experts say this dynamic is central to understanding evangelical political and social behavior.