Religious Voters Cooling on Republicans

I was listening to "Here and Now" yesterday, and encountered an outstanding interview with Randall Balmer, an evangelical professor of American religious history at Barnard College and author of Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America: An Evangelical's Lament.



Professor Balmer has grown frustrated by the way the right-wing has hijacked the evangelical movement and redefined it to support their ideology. The interview is outstanding and well worth a listen:

Building on the courtship of evangelical Christians during President Bush's 2004 campaign, a group of evangelical leaders is reaching out to voters in states considered key to conservative victories in the upcoming mid-term congressional elections.

But not all leaders want to link their religion to conservative causes and the Republican party. Among them is Randall Balmer, author of "Thy Kingdom Come: An Evangelical's Lament." Balmer says that as evangelicals gain more political power and influence, they risk losing their way as Christians.

Professor Balmer expresses in his interview so eloquently my own frustration with the way the Republicans have fawned on the extreme, religious right wing, to the expense of what I view to be some core Christian principles. It's a major part of why I left the Republican party this year.

We're not alone: disappointment with the Republican party is a growing trend among evangelicals. From Taegan Goddard's Political Wire:

A new poll shows "that fewer Americans view the Republican Party as ‘friendly to religion’ than a year ago, with the decline particularly steep among Catholics and white evangelical Protestants -- constituencies at the core of the Republicans’ conservative Christian voting bloc," reports the New York Times.

"The survey found that the proportion of Americans who say the Republican Party is friendly to religion fell 8 percentage points in the last year, to 47% from 55%. Among Catholics and white evangelical Protestants, the decline was 14 percentage points." Only 26% viewed the Democratic Party as friendly to religion.

Obviously, the Democrats have a way to go to improve their perception of being religion-friendly. I believe that, as more Catholics and evangelical protestants become disillusioned with the Republicans and shift to the Democratic Party, to work within it in favor of core Christian principles, those numbers will improve.

Meanwhile, Professor Balmer's book is on its way and I'll let you know what I think.

Update: Another interview with Professor Balmer, here.