Christian Conservatives Failed to Sway Voters
They are reeling not only from the loss of the presidency, but from what many of them see as a rejection of their agenda. They lost fights against same-sex marriage in all four states where it was on the ballot, and saw anti-abortion-rights Senate candidates defeated and two states vote to legalize marijuana for recreational use.
It is not as though they did not put up a fight; they went all out as never before: The Rev. Billy Graham dropped any pretense of nonpartisanship and all but endorsed Mitt Romney for president. Roman Catholic bishops denounced President Obamaâs policies as a threat to life, religious liberty and the traditional nuclear family. Ralph Reedâs Faith and Freedom Coalition distributed more voter guides in churches and contacted more homes by mail and phone than ever before.
âMillions of American evangelicals are absolutely shocked by not just the presidential election, but by the entire avalanche of results that came in,â R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, in Louisville, Ky., said in an interview. âItâs not that our message â we think abortion is wrong, we think same-sex marriage is wrong â didnât get out. It did get out.
âItâs that the entire moral landscape has changed,â he said. âAn increasingly secularized America understands our positions, and has rejected them.â
http://richarddawkins.net/news_arti...servatives-failed-to-sway-voters#.UJ_5_8V6vTo
The election results are just one indication of larger trends in American religion that Christian conservatives are still digesting, political analysts say. Americans who have no religious affiliation â pollsters call them the ânonesâ â are now about one-fifth of the population over all, according to a study released last month by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.
The younger generation is even less religious: about one-third of Americans ages 18 to 22 say they are either atheists, agnostics or nothing in particular.
They are reeling not only from the loss of the presidency, but from what many of them see as a rejection of their agenda. They lost fights against same-sex marriage in all four states where it was on the ballot, and saw anti-abortion-rights Senate candidates defeated and two states vote to legalize marijuana for recreational use.
It is not as though they did not put up a fight; they went all out as never before: The Rev. Billy Graham dropped any pretense of nonpartisanship and all but endorsed Mitt Romney for president. Roman Catholic bishops denounced President Obamaâs policies as a threat to life, religious liberty and the traditional nuclear family. Ralph Reedâs Faith and Freedom Coalition distributed more voter guides in churches and contacted more homes by mail and phone than ever before.
âMillions of American evangelicals are absolutely shocked by not just the presidential election, but by the entire avalanche of results that came in,â R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, in Louisville, Ky., said in an interview. âItâs not that our message â we think abortion is wrong, we think same-sex marriage is wrong â didnât get out. It did get out.
âItâs that the entire moral landscape has changed,â he said. âAn increasingly secularized America understands our positions, and has rejected them.â
http://richarddawkins.net/news_arti...servatives-failed-to-sway-voters#.UJ_5_8V6vTo
The election results are just one indication of larger trends in American religion that Christian conservatives are still digesting, political analysts say. Americans who have no religious affiliation â pollsters call them the ânonesâ â are now about one-fifth of the population over all, according to a study released last month by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.
The younger generation is even less religious: about one-third of Americans ages 18 to 22 say they are either atheists, agnostics or nothing in particular.
restricting our freedoms.