Not Your Father’s Religious Right Feb 27 08

One of the roles of this blog is to track trends. One of the more interesting ones is what is ahead for the religious right. A fascinating look at this comes from David Kuo, former deputy director of faith initiatives for the White House under George W. Bush. He has published a piece called Not Your Father’s Religious Right. The link is:

One of the roles of this blog is to track trends. One of the more interesting ones is what is ahead for the religious right. A fascinating look at this comes from David Kuo, former deputy director of faith initiatives for the White House under George W. Bush. He has published a piece called Not Your Father’s Religious Right. The link is:

http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_8370168

An excerpt is:

"There’s now a pitched battle for the soul of the religious right: a horrifying thought to Republican leaders long familiar with the old religious right, a hierarchical group dominated by larger-than-life figures who’d anointed themselves Jesus’s political representatives. But that movement is withering at the top and in revolt at the grass-roots.

Jerry Falwell and D. James Kennedy, two of the most formidable religious right leaders of the past quarter-century, have died. Evangelical stalwarts James Dobson, head of Focus on the Family, and Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson are moving ever closer to retirement. Meanwhile, a slew of self-appointed political shepherds are becoming politically marginalized and out of touch with an increasingly independent evangelical flock.

Just look at this primary season…."

Another part of the piece notes,

"Beliefnet’s poll revealed that a third of all evangelicals now believe that Christian political activism is "damaging to Christianity." This isn’t an isolated poll. As Christian pollster David Kinnaman writes, "The number of young people in our culture who now embrace unflattering perspectives about Christians and politics is astounding. Three-quarters of young (non-Christians) and half of young churchgoers describe present-day Christianity as ‘too involved in politics.’ " Twenty percent of all evangelicals believe that adopting a conservative Christian political agenda has helped destroy the image of Jesus Christ."

Food for thought here. Check it out.