In God they trust

Evangelical Christianity is about more than saving souls. For many, it's also about changing society here and now. How much effect are conservative Christians having on the political landscape?

Mixing politics and religion isn’t new in America. Democrats have long relied on black churches to rally the faithful.

President George W. Bush came of age politically and spiritually as conservative Christian groups such as Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority and Pat Robertson’s Christian Coalition were forging powerful new combinations in national politics. Evangelical voters have been central to the president’s success.

Karen Monroe: I thought it was wonderful when President Bush openly came out and expressed his beliefs. 

Tom Brokaw: Is that a big part of the reason that you were drawn to him?

Karen Monroe: Yes, absolutely. As much as I stay out of politics—I don’t read the paper, I really don’t watch the news since I don’t have time.  The kids come first.—  And that still was important.  Because at least I knew that he is going to preach the word of God.  And he’s going to make sure they don’t strike God’s name out of “In God we trust.” 

President Bush  stays in close touch with the new generation of Evangelical leaders  —and they move easily between the church and the political pulpit.

Phone calls from the White House
In addition to his duties as a local pastor, Ted Haggard is also the president of the National Association of Evangelicals, representing 45,000 churches. Haggard is vigilant about the image of Evangelicals; prior to one of our visits he sent an e-mail to his congregation, urging them to be restrained and not to act too “weird” in front of our cameras.

Along with other religious conservative leaders, Haggard belongs to an association called the Arlington Group, the members push for common goals such as banning gay marriage and restricting abortion.

Brokaw: Let me read you what Senator John Danforth, an ordained Episcopal priest, a Republican says, “Many conservative Christians approach politics with a certainty that they know God’s mind and they can advance God’s will through government.” Is he talking about you?

Ted Haggard: Well, I think all of us have a responsibility to advance God’s will through government.  But we are in a pluralistic society. We’re not talking about theocracy.  We’re not talking about some group of religious leaders dictating to the government how to write law.  I’m not a power broker. I don’t call presidents. I don’t harangue the White House.

Brokaw: You don’t have to call him. He calls you.

Haggard: I’ll be talking to the White House in another three and a half hours.

Brokaw: About what today?

Haggard: I don’t know the subject today. We have a regularly scheduled conference call.

Brokaw: They reach out to you?

Haggard: Yes.

Christianity plays an increasingly visible role in Washington. The outspoken Republican Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, who speaks often and openly of his strict Catholic faith, is a rising star in his party.  The newly-elected Republican Senator from Oklahoma Tom Coburn advocated the death penalty for doctors who perform abortions. And conservative Catholics joined with conservative Evangelicals this spring when Congress took the extraordinary step of intervening in the fight over the death of Terri Schiavo.

“I think the country is more comfortable talking about their beliefs and how it impacts them and the system and in their attitudes and actions on a daily basis,” says Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kan.). "You have a very faith-oriented nation."

And Evangelical Christians are expanding their agenda. This spring, the National Association of Evangelicals put together a much broader manifesto and some of the movement’s best known leaders signed it. It included economic justice and the environment.

Haggard: Bible-believing Christians need to be concerned about the environment.

Brokaw: But you also say that concern should be pro-business and free market. Where in cleaning up the air or cleaning up the water in America, did business lead the way without government mandates?

Haggard: Well, I’m not against government mandates. I think the Republicans are missing it on the area of the environment, and I think if the Evangelicals nationwide would communicate that, the Republicans would be interested instantly.

Religious leaders have also urged the Bush administration to intervene in Sudan, to protect Christians in China and North Korea, and to combat global poverty. Still domestic social values remain the focus for most Evangelical leaders and their constituents.  In a memo to his organization’s board, Haggard listed the NAE’s number one priority as getting rid of what many see as activist judges.

Brokaw: The order of urgency promoting judicial integrity and restraint, protecting traditional marriage and family, affirming a culture of life, fighting for the hearts and minds of the next generation.  And then number five is combating poverty and improving the human condition.

Haggard: Uh-huh. (Affirm)

Brokaw: That’s down on the list. A lot of Christians will say that ought to be number one.

Haggard: Well, that’s not a priority list. That’s an urgency list for that day. That particular day, the most important issue was what’s going on with our activist Supreme Court.

Conservative Evangelicals have been enraged about state court rulings on gay marriage. In a church service, Haggard said: "The Supreme Court of Massachusetts think of this, ordering the legislature that they need to do this or that, unheard of, its lawlessness everyone."

Haggard: Our justices have run amuck in some situations.  And, so I feel very responsible to do what we can to get people on the bench that believe in the rule of law.

In August, conservative Christians staged a rally, simulcast to hundreds of churches, to show their support for John Roberts, the president’s choice later for Chief Justice of the United States. 

But the evangelical community was divided over the nomination of Harriet Miers to the court. Some supported it. But other evangelical leaders questioned her conservative credentials and pressured the president to withdraw her name. At the heart of the battle over the Supreme Court is one of the nation's most divisive issues — abortion.

Brokaw:  Is that your primary objective — to overturn Roe v. Wade?

Haggard: It’s not my primary objective.  But it is one of them.  I do believe we have a responsibility as Christians, as Evangelical Christians, to protect the poor and the needy, those who can’t defend themselves, those who can’t protect themselves.

Fighting same-sex marriage
Rod Parsley, an Ohio minister and televangelist, was a guest preacher at New Life this past spring.

Last November, Parsley canvassed the swing state of Ohio, urging Christians to register to vote and to support the state’s amendment banning same-sex marriage. The initiative passed.

While Evangelical voters are only one of many politically active interest groups in the country, they are unified, they’re increasingly well-educated and affluent, and energized by their recent victories.  

That makes them a powerful force in electoral politics.  In 2004, 3.5 million more evangelical voters turned up at the polls than in 2000 - and they voted overwhelmingly for President Bush.

Rod Parsley, Ohio minister and televangelist: That’s what I told folks when they walked into the booth in Ohio to cast their vote and as I traveled across the country even here in Colorado -- I told folks, “When you go in that voting booth and you pull back that curtain, remember God’s still watching.”

Parsley says he is not committed to any one party or politician, but his sermons are strongly pro-life, pro-traditional marriage, and pro-Christian.

Among the sentences in his sermons include, “I will also raise my voice  watch me against the agenda of America’s tortured and angry homosexuals” and “I will raise my voice against the murder of the old and the unborn alike.”

Imposing their beliefs?
Some Americans say conservative Christians are trying to impose their beliefs on the country.  But devout Christians say mainstream culture is hostile and disrespectful to their values. 

Parsley: You have to understand that we’re not on the attack. We’re not on the offensive.  It was the Supreme Court in Massachusetts that suddenly found same-sex marriage in the constitution.  It’s a federal judge that moves to the forefront after the people say stop partial birth abortion.  We’re not in essence picking these fights, but we’re ready to fight them when they are waged.

Among those in the audience for Rod Parsley was the Lowman family. 

Brokaw: When you come to vote, and think about the people that you would like to have represent you, how important is it, to you, that they share your faith, and share your views on the matters that are important to this church, for example?

Venezia Lowman: Well, it’s very important to me.  I don’t vote based off someone’s political party.  I vote based off of what their views are if they align with my views.

Brokaw:   And your Christian views?

Venezia Lowman: My Christian views primarily.

Brokaw: Are central to that?

Leon Lowman: Definitely.

Venezia Lowman: Definitely that is what it’s based off—my Christian views, yes.

The Lowmans also support the campaign against what they see as liberal judges.

Brokaw: Do you think judges should meet the test of the Evangelical movement?

Leon Lowman: I think the Evangelical movement has a right to voice their opinion on what kind of judges they would like to have represent the people.

Brokaw: Where do you think the civil rights movement would have been without activist judges?

Leon Lowman: I think that the civil rights movement would not have gotten off the ground without Christians.  Christians and Christian belief, are the ones that ended slavery.  Are the ones that actually pushed through civil rights.  And so I would not want to pull Christianity out of the public discourse ever.

Bringing faith into politics?
All of the emphasis on judges has made Air Force cadet and fellow New Life church member Brandon Bernadoni think about the issue of politics and values much more than he ever has before. 

Brandon Bernadoni: I never thought this before. Before I couldn’t care two licks about it. As I read more and more, I want to learn more.  And then I want to get more involved and make sure that we stay true to the things that were written on that original document, the constitution.  You know, our Bill of Rights.

Pastor Ted Haggard believes that bringing faith to bear on politics is simply democracy at work. 

Haggard: We should not be discouraged because of lively debate. And we should not be discouraged or fearful with religious infusion of ideas into that debate. Because that’s the way it should work so that we overall come out with the best idea.

Brokaw: With all due respect, Pastor Ted, people will say that the mega-churches, the charismatic leaders that they have like pastor Ted and others—and their strong involvement in American politics—have put an overlay of religious orthodoxy on American politics. Because they only support those candidates who meet all of their tests, which are very often quite narrow.

Haggard: Yes, and that would be a problem if we were a unified group. Evangelicals don’t have a pope. Evangelicals don’t have a Vatican. Evangelicals are as diverse as the general population of America. There’s no reason to be fearful of the religious community here. There is no government-ordained state church in America. So let the debate continue. It’s that debate that protects all of our freedoms.

At the moment it’s a debate the Evangelicals are winning in the political arena.

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