An evangelical
group that wants to reshape the movement's political
reputation for being focused on opposing abortion and
same-sex marriage is hoping that a series of meetings
stressing its roots in women's suffrage and abolition
will help it break out of the mold.
The stated goal
of the first three-day ''justice revival,'' one of
several to be held around the country, is to tackle poverty
in the city through a collaboration with Big Brothers
Big Sisters.
But the broader
idea is to energize the relatively small liberal end of
the evangelical spectrum by linking religious faith with
social action as earlier American social movements
did, its planners say. Among the areas to be explored
by participants are health care access, immigration,
global warming, and the war in Iraq.
''I have been
very deeply moved by the history of these great awakenings
in our national life, where there was a revival of faith
that led to big change in our society,'' said Jim
Wallis, CEO of Sojourners/Call to Renewal.
The Washington,
D.C.-based group will hold the event April 16-18 in
Columbus, Ohio, with 30 of the city's largest evangelical
churches, representing 10,000 Christians.
''A whole
generation of young evangelicals believes that Jesus would
probably care more about the 30,000 children who died again
today -- as they did yesterday and they will tomorrow
-- from preventable disease than he would about
passing a gay marriage amendment in Ohio,'' Wallis
said.
The group's
leaders seek to reverse the public perception that all
evangelicals are conservative Republicans whose top social
priorities are opposing abortion and same-sex
marriage.
White
evangelicals make up about one third of the Republican
Party.
''Our message is
evangelicals aren't going to be in the pocket of any
party anymore, and they're going to evaluate all candidates
by their own moral compass,'' Wallis said. ''This
revival is entirely nonpartisan.
''It's about
faith and it's about issues, it's not about Barack [Obama]
and Hillary [Clinton] and John McCain,'' he said, referring
to the contenders for Democrats' presidential
nomination and the Republicans' presumptive nominee.
Sojourners/Call
to Renewal has been trying for years to make its voice
heard.
But it has been
boosted recently by growing recognition within the
Democratic Party of the importance of faith. In January,
former President Jimmy Carter led a meeting of
thousands of Baptists, including Southern Baptists who
had distanced themselves from their conservative
denomination, who pledged to work together on social
justice, as well as faith concerns.
''We can disagree
on the death penalty, we can disagree on homosexuality,
we can disagree on the status of women and still bind our
hearts together in a common, united, generous,
friendly, loving commitment,'' Carter said.
Recent surveys
have found that younger evangelicals are less tied to the
GOP than their parents have been, even while remaining
deeply opposed to abortion. They are especially
concerned about environmental protection, leading many
conservative Christians to reassess their views on the
issue. A group of Southern Baptist leaders issued a
statement March 10 saying the denomination had been
''too timid'' on environmental issues and has a
biblical duty to stop global warming.
Wallis's
detractors say he is trying to steer religious conservatives
to the Democratic Party -- launching the effort in
Columbus, the capital of a state that swung the
presidency to George Bush in 2004 by a just
two-percentage-point margin. Bush's Ohio victory was
attributed largely to turnout among religious
conservatives mobilized by a proposed gay marriage ban
that appeared on that year's ballot.
''I think this is
part of a concerted effort to try to reach out to the
values voters and take them away from the pro-life
candidates,'' said Denise Mackura, executive director
of the Chicago-based Thomas More Society public
interest law firm, which opposes abortion. ''It's an
effort to say ... go ahead and vote for Barack or whoever
because there are these other issues, to convince
people not to base their vote on the right-to-life
issue.''
But Wallis and
other activists say many Christians don't need persuading.
''Lots of people
feel that the evangelical label has been taken captive
by a very narrow political program,'' said the Reverend Rich
Nathan, senior pastor at the Vineyard Church of
Columbus, which is hosting the revival. ''Folks don't
feel that that represents them. Many of the so-called
evangelical leaders are saying, we didn't elect these
people, they don't represent us. How did they become
our spokespeople? How did this narrow agenda become
our agenda?''
Besides Wallis,
other evangelical leaders, including Marsha Ford, have
begun to tout a more bipartisan political view, said Warren
Smith, editor and publisher of the Evangelical
Press News and other Christian news
publications.
''There are still
many millions of religious conservatives who believe
that abortion and the sanctity of the family are two of the
most important political issues of our day,'' he said.
''And we can talk about other things, but at the end
of the day those issues are likely going to keep these
religious voters from ever pulling the lever for the
Democratic Party.'' (Julie Carr Smyth, AP)
