USA-November elections - A new evangelical center to counter Christian right-by Mark I. Pinski
It's no longer a given that religious equals Republican - as Mao Zedong famously wrote that, when it comes to power, inevitably "one divides into two."
In a subtle yet tectonic shift, a slightly younger, considerably less pugnacious and less reflexively Republican generation of conservative leaders is bidding to dislodge familiar faces such as Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Focus on the Family's James Dobson and the Southern Baptist Convention's Richard Land, who have held a virtual monopoly on the role of movement spokesmen for more than a decade.For example, a recent national study conducted by Baylor University and the Gallup organization in fall 2005 found that nearly 40 percent of evangelicals surveyed did not agree that the Iraq war was justified and that 38 percent no longer had a high level of trust in President Bush.
The open question is whether these changes will make a difference politically, especially in close races in which a slight shift by white evangelicals could change the outcome.Is the GOP's most dependable voting bloc in play? We won't know until November and beyond.
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