Evangelicals Led The Way

The Washington Post has a good article on how the evangelical vote led the way for President Bush's re-election. I think we all realize how an energized evangelical vote can change the country, but it was probably big news to the WashPost.

There's another article in a similiar vein in the Pittsburg Post-Gazette which suggests that Kerry lost because Dems mock Christians. And how about this from Seattle: Saving America From an Extremist Christian Regime. I'm sure there's more than a little soul searching among Dems these days.

I'm wondering, however, about what will happen in 2008? We don't have any idea yet who the Republican nominee will be, but surely the early favorites are Rudy Guiliani and George Potacki, both New Yorkers and both pro-choice and pro-gay rights. Will evangelicals come out in large numbers to support Republicans with stands on moral issues with which they have real problems? I don't think so, and we could see a 1998 all over again when many evangelicals simply stayed home.

I personally think Rudy would make a great president for a lot of reasons, and I would be willing to support him. He certainly did wonders for New York City. We are, after all, voting for president and not pastor. But I'm sure there are many of my brethren who absolutely would not pull the lever for any pro-choice candidate.

The reason that his pro-choice position doesn't bother me as much as it might some is number one, the president cannot on his own outlaw or legalize abortion. It will take the courts to do that. Secondly, the fact is that this issue has already been litigated, and I frankly don't see any possibility that a court will overturn Roe v. Wade no matter who gets confirmed to the Supreme Court. The courts are very big on precedent, and the precedent for the last 32 years has been legalized abortion. I don't like it and wish it could be changed, but realistically, it probably won't be. I hope I'm wrong.