The First Republican Church in America

Opinion : A plea to evangelicals — from an evangelical

By David P. Gushee

Conservative evangelicals are bringing a version of Christian values into the public arena where every American has to deal with it, like it or not. A recent example of this is the way grass-roots "Bible-believing Christians" in the Republican Party are boosting the candidacy of Mike Huckabee, and quite possibly sinking the campaign of Mitt Romney, mainly because Romney is a Mormon — yet another misunderstanding of the way faith is relevant to politics.

Evangelical politics matter to the general public, which is affected
by what conservative evangelicals believe and "value." In the past
seven years, we have seen that laws are written based on these values.
Supreme Court justices are named based on these values.
Executive-branch appointments are made based on these values. And
presidential campaigns now seem to advance or collapse based on these
values.

So the general public has come to understand that what conservative
evangelicals believe and do matter an awful lot to everyone in this
country. Many people are furious about it. But these beliefs and values
also matter to other Christians, especially other evangelicals like me.
Our reputation is at stake, our voice in the culture, and the health of
our religious communities. If the most vocal evangelicals get this
wrong, it damages all evangelicals — all religious believers, really."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20080114/cm_usatoday/apleatoevangelical...